Waikiki’s Fukubukuro is a Jaw Dropping Marketing Strategy

At Michael Kors, Fukubukuro is a practice of selling surprise “luxury” merchandise, discounted to retail.

Jaw dropping is not the expression for Fukubukuro but it will suffice. I must have been living under a rock to have never encountered this marketing strategy before. In fact, if I hadn’t witnessed this phenomenon with my own eyes, I would not have believed it existed. I would think they were making it up. But it’s an honest-to-goodness retailing strategy that will blow you away.

Let me share the story. My friend and fellow Realtor Hella Rothwell and I met up in Honolulu this year to celebrate New Year’s Eve. I flew over from Big Island where I’ve been winter-vacationing from Sacramento, and Hella arrived in Oahu to visit her daughter for the month from California. I will share photos and the tale of our exciting New Year’s Eve in Honolulu in another blog. Today’s blog is about Fukubukuro, the ancient Japanese custom of ripping off the vulnerable luxury addicts.

After a leisurely brunch at House Without a Key at the Halekulani, we decided to traipse through the stores of Waikiki. We don’t have stores like this in Sacramento. At Michael Kors, we spotted the Fukubukuro bags you see pictured above. On each bag, the employees marked a retail price followed by a discount price. Like $800 value, $404 sale. The contents of each bag remain a surprise and is part of the marketing strategy. One employee enthusiastically referred to it as “Christmas all over again!” Because you don’t know what’s inside the bag.

I really could not believe my eyes and ears. I asked the Michael Kor’s salesperson:

So, you’re telling me you have last year’s merchandise inside these bags. Nobody knows what they are buying because it’s a surprise. And you’ve found a way to get shoppers to pay luxury prices for something they probably don’t want or need. Further, you’ve set the retail price and they don’t know if that’s an actual retail price because you just made it up? Is that right?

Yes, isn’t it incredible? Big grins.

You’re shitting me, right? I think it’s crazy. Nuts. Insane. Hasn’t anybody ever told you that?

He ignored me.

This is the same strategy employed by Trump. Fabricates outrageous shit and then ignores reality, acting like it’s normal when it is not.

Was I the only sane person in that store? Who would pay $400 for an unknown thing? Moreover, why would anybody take a retailer’s word that the actual value is $800? And even if it was $800, 50% off would not make me hand over my Chase Sapphire if I didn’t know what I was getting. Fukubukuro is a foreign concept to me.

I am probably not their targeted audience. I’m pretty fussy about what I buy. For example, first, I need to desire the product over the discount. I would not buy a piece of luxury crap just because it was on sale.

Somehow, they made the discount more desirable than the product.

Truth is evidently a 50%+ discount, whether it’s real or not, is enough to make people buy luxury goods, even when they don’t know what they are getting. Their audience doesn’t care what they buy as long as it’s on sale. This is so bizarre to me. What is happening to the world? Hey, maybe I wish I could find a way to apply this concept to selling Sacramento real estate. Hmm?

Maybe I could wrap a house in Christmas paper, tied with a big bow, and tell buyers it’s 50% off by doubling the value and then applying a discount. How do you think that would go over in Sacramento? The catch is they’ve got to buy it sight unseen. Oh, wait, there is a scam like that. Ha, it’s called foreclosures. But at least you can drive by a piece of real estate. You are not allowed to peek inside these bags.

I bet the salespeople were happy when Hella and I left Michael Kors. Nobody wants a loud mouth pointing out the emperor is wearing no clothes. In my world, Fuku does not mean “good fortune or luck.” Because I believe the enunication itself conveys the true message. Just say it out loud to yourself.