There's More Than a Designer Label in These Bags

Top designer handbags are very expensive and styles change at least seasonally. Therefore there is a great opportunity for Bag, Borrow or Steal. This service is basically a Netflix for designer handbags. Women sign up for one of three service levels, the basic Trendsetter, medium Princess or the $99.95 a month Diva level. Each level provides a selection of several hundred handbags. The more exclusive designers are reserved for the Diva level. Members can borrow the bag of their choice and use it for as long as they want before replacing it with another selection. Twelve hundred dollars a year for handbags seems like a lot to my male ears but I can understand that these are expensive handbags and the added ability to switch often is a real bonus.

What's not seen here is the incredible permission marketing asset that this company is building. It's been said before that women don't just use brands they join them. This is a perfect example. Women are literally joining the BBS brand which in turn allows them to sample other brands. Bag Borrow or Steal has a great opportunity to build trust with their customers through great service and products. This trust can be used to market other luxury goods to members. Shoes, cloths, cosmetics, jewelry, luggage, travel, cars, etc. can all find an audience here.

Success depends on how this is accomplished. The all to usual pattern of selling or renting the mailing list to "affiliates" just doesn't work anymore. Marketers see it as a way to find pre-qualified (interest, income, etc.) prospects. The system fails because the customer receives this type of marketing as spam. Often this backfires reflecting negatively on the original company. "I signed up for this cool service but then they spammed me…"

If Bag Borrow or Steal serves as host and guide to information about other trusted products the goodwill customers have with BBS will translate to other products and brands. My advice find a Diva who has just bought a new luxury car, approach that car company to make a special offer to BBS members in the next member newsletter which features a profile of the Diva and her new car. The opportunities for this brand are endless.

I hope my friends at Reinvention, Lip-Sticking and Wonderbranding are watching this one.

Comments

[Sam]

An excellent idea indeed. I have a hobby of sitting in cafes and food courts spotting fake desinger handbags, and laugh at these desperate women. I've checked their site out, each bag comes with a certificate from the designer outlet to certify its authenticy. However, a company like this will have to spend a good amount of time and money educating its staff to spot the fake ones, as they are always people who try to keep the real one and return a knock off.

[Michele]

Hi, my name is Michele. I'm a purse-aholic.

You've got me pegged, Peter. Now if I could only get them to start a DayPlanner division (I'm a sucker for changing book covers...)

VERY interesting idea, by the way - kinda like the Netflix biz model. Will be interesting to see how it works with wear and tear.....

[carol-anne]

please come to london, england that is!

[Melissa]

I think that the concept is great, but they are unable to pull it off at the "diva" level of $99.95 a month. It is not just your male ears, this is A LOT. And this from a woman who wears Manolo Blaniks!

To justify $100 a month, they need much better designers, much more exclusive and expensive bags. Most of what they have appears to be either clearance items they bought from last season, and perhaps a bit of closet cleaning among themselves and many friends. The most exclusive lable on the diva level is Fendi, which is so last week. No Chanel, no Louis Vuitton, no more trendy exclusives like Marc Jacobs or Luella. Basically they had a great idea, but for a hundred bucks a month, I could probably buy 8 of the purses they offer with a year's membership fees and shipping fees by shopping the sales and outlets! The $19.99 level, I would not be caught dead with one of those bags. ANd the $49 level, I would JUST be caught dead with! I found almost nothing in the DIVA level I even liked, let alone found value in.

[Yvonne DiVita]

Lip-sticking is watching. LOVE it!! I was just talking to a client about this idea yesterday! Now I have a URL to refer to...what's not to like about that? Hey, Peter, Lip-sticking is sad we are not listed on your Marketing Think list. Can we beg a link? We have you on our blog...offering the best in blogging there is!

[sara mann]

I know this is a late posting but you gotta check out a new and I think much better site, frombagstoriches.com. No membership fees and better upscale Designers like LV.

[Amy]

I have seen another site that borrows bags called ... (thought this genuine until it was posted twice to different posts on my blog....spammer)

[Tammy]

Interesting stuff about bag borrowing. I have used both sites. I continue to use From Bags To Riches (frombagstoriches.coml). They have Louis Vuitton that I love and just added Balenciaga. Also I like that they don't require membership so I don't have to borrow bags every month....I can't afford to through out cash every month just to borrow a bag, but sometimes I have something going on and I want to carry arm candy...That's why I chose to use from bags to riches.

[Katie]

I bought a gift certificate for my sister on Bag Borrow or Steal. It took them three days to email the gift certificate to her, then she borrowed a bag and never got it. She spent 5 weeks playing phone tag with them, having their customer service reps tell her they were sorry and her bag is on its way. In the 5th week, she finally got ahold of a manager who claimed to have personally picked up the bag, and overnighted it to her. Four days later, she still had no bag. And to top it all off, they charged her two months of membership fees even though she still has not received a bag.
When she called back to see what had happened, they offered no consolation except that they would refund her gift certificate (only after she threatened to have the charge reversed).

[Angela]

Hi Peter,

I've had nothing but troubles from Bag Borrow or Steal. They have inept customer service, their website goes down all the time and says bags are available when they are not! And not to mention they rip you off! HORRIBLE COMPANY! I will never do business with them again! EVER! I urge you to not to business with them either!

[Angela]

Hi Peter,

I've had nothing but troubles from Bag Borrow or Steal. They have inept customer service, their website goes down all the time and says bags are available when they are not! And not to mention they rip you off! HORRIBLE COMPANY! I will never do business with them again! EVER! I urge you to not to business with them either!

[true religion jeans]

I bought a gift certificate for my sister on Bag Borrow or Steal. It took them three days to email the gift certificate to her, then she borrowed a bag and never got it. She spent 5 weeks playing phone tag with them, having their customer service reps tell her they were sorry and her bag is on its way. In the 5th week, she finally got ahold of a manager who claimed to have personally picked up the bag, and overnighted it to her. Four days later, she still had no bag. And to top it all off, they charged her two months of membership fees even though she still has not received a bag.armband thomas sabo
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