Vera Bradley got started in my hometown, so I’m a little out of touch with just how big a phenomenon it has become. I’ll explain a little about the company first:
Vera Bradley’s principle product is a line of quilted bags. They’re made out of paisley fabric with floral borders, and come in all kinds of shapes and sizes–purses, luggage, cosmetic bags, you need the bag they sell it. Since the company is based in my home town, I have seen the bags for most of my life, but the company seems to have really taken off in the last 2-3 years. I now see them all the time in my current town, which is in a different part of the state.
VB began as a cottage industry. Women are provided with industrial sewing machines, and make the bags in their homes. Because of the relatively high labor costs (since it’s not sweatshop or oversease production) and the incredible complexity of pockets and fastenings on the bags, the product is pretty expensive. It is quite definitely a vanity item.
VB does not have a mail-order catalogue. It does not sell its products on its website. In fact, they recently forbade anyone from selling their products on the internet. If you want a VB product, you have to look up a store on their website, and go to the store hoping that they stock what you want. If they don’t, you can have the store special-order the item, but at present it takes about a month for the special order to be filled.
What set me off is this: I just tried to buy a new-with-tags VB tote on eBay, and set my maximum bid so that the bid plus shipping would be equal to the tote’s retail price–I wasn’t trying to save money, just to get my hands on a scarce product. I was actually outbid. Yes, that means that the person who outbid actually paid *more than retail * for the bag. I’m sure that this happened because the person lives in a place where there are no stores that sell VB.
So the situation is this: the company’s fame and the product’s desirability have outrun the company’s ability to produce the product. As a result, they actually restrict access to their product by allowing it to be sold only in authorized shops. Their products are being sold secondhand at inflated prices on eBay–the company is LOSING SALES by not finding a way to increase production.
My question: what the heck? I understand saying “enough is enough” on a personal level, but shouldn’t a business be ready for every expansion?
