Silversea's new revamped boutiques

[wripro]

spinnaker2,

 

I think they may have OVER estimated SS's clientele, not underestimated it.

[spinnaker2]

Perhaps that's one way of looking at it.

whichever way you approach it, someone who did the marketing study made a large mistake.

Unless of course the idea was to take a loss.

Who knows?

[CanadianKate]

How do you know they are taking a loss?

 

The markup on luxury goods is usually huge, around 300% for jewelry, label fashions and handbags. So if they have a 50% sale, they are usually making over 100% profit.

 

Between the crew with their discount (which still leaves profit for the seller) and passengers with shipboard credit to spend, I bet there's more than enough of a profit to be made. As well, it gets their products in front of the people who are able to afford them, even if they aren't purchased while on a cruise. So there's a targeted advertising component to the boutiques on board.

 

I haven't been on SS since the new boutiques opened but in the old boutiques, I seldom bought anything that had a guestimated mark up of more than 100%. Most items I bought were under $20 except for cologne (once) and a lovely folding suitcase (to use up credit) once.

 

The t-shirts I bought were $7 each and quite nice "Canada" ones which I pull out every year for Canada Day. I'm still amused that I bought souvenirs from my own country while on that cruise, when I never buy t-shirts from any other place I go to, but aside from the shipboard credit I had to use up, I could see myself wearing these so bought them.

 

They'd have to make 100 sales to a person like me before getting the profit of one sale of high-end goods. So if the number of sales are down 99%, they are still making money.

[spinnaker2]

Kate, you are 100% right. I have no idea if the boutiques are making money or not.

I can only speak for myself, and the merchandise they have does not appeal to me personally.

[spinnaker2]

And, one would be hard pressed to find a 7 dollar tshirt, or anything else for 7 dollars for that matter.

I think our bug repellant was more than that, and that was one of the closeted items, not on display.

[CanadianKate]

I was pretty surprised to find a $7 t-shirt even years ago. It was one of those specials advertised and available for only a short time since it was a cruise up the St. Lawrence River so there was only one sea-day (although we ended up with another when we missed a port.) I figure they were trying to unload the merchandise before the ship left for non-Canadian waters.

[wmfabian]

The brand names I plan to enter are Snickers, Pringles and M&Ms!

 

Not many posts make me laugh out loud, but yours did!

 

I am sailing on the Spirit for the second time this August. I hope they take your comments to heart. During the Atlantic crossing in November of 2013 the Spirit had a trunk show for a reasonably priced jewelry designer and that was fun. I hope they do something similar in August.

[nfcu]

If Silversea ever stops offering on board credit on a routine basis, then I don't know how the shops would survive with the current merchandise.

[farbster]

I haven't been on a SS cruise since 2013, but I remember the logo clothing to be awful. I would have bought a polo shirt, but I'm only really interested if it is an "Under Armour" type of material, ie. a golf shirt. The days of me buying heavy cotton shirts are long gone. I suspect I'm not the only one.

 

As to buying really expensive stuff onboard, I'd rather buy from my local stores.

[brimary]

If Silversea ever stops offering on board credit on a routine basis, then I don't know how the shops would survive with the current merchandise.

 

Thought they had stopped OBC except for Charters.

[nfcu]

Thought they had stopped OBC except for Charters.

 

 

No, we recently booked the Spirit for March 2016 and received $750 OBC direct from Silversea.

[brimary]

No, we recently booked the Spirit for March 2016 and received $750 OBC direct from Silversea.

 

Thanks for the info,this is the opposite to what SS told us.Time for questions to be asked re all future bookings!

[V8Babe]

Sorry for going off-topic but which cruise are you on in March 2016 nfcu? We're also on the Spirit in March and no OBC offered.

 

Thanks.

[nfcu]

Sorry for going off-topic but which cruise are you on in March 2016 nfcu? We're also on the Spirit in March and no OBC offered.

 

Thanks.

 

 

It is not the 3/21/16 cruise you are going on, sorry. Our OBC was given as a "gift" of sorts from our Silversea cruise consultant.

[AnitaEE]

Obviously I am in a minority because these boutiques stay in business, but I have never understood the desire to spend a lot of money on shipboard. I'm traveling to different places, seeing unique things. If I want souvenirs, I will buy them in those places and they will represent memories. If I'm just shopping, I can do that at home, save vacation time, and pay less. Just a thought.

[wripro]

I think it's called impulse buying. People are emotionally looser while on vacation and more apt to part with money than they are at home and these boutiques take advantage of it. That's why all luxury hotels have small boutiques with outrageous prices as well.