Luxury Vacation
Photo: Sasha Kaunas

Saks Asks Associates to Sell Luxury Travel Subscriptions

Saks has formed a partnership enabling it to sell luxury travel subscriptions to its customers in stores and online.

Sales associates will introduce the Inspirato subscription service to customers beginning in May. Inspirato’s sales team will support the associates. Saks will receive a fee from Inspirato based on the number of subscriptions purchased by Saks customers, according to WWD. Sales associates making referrals earn a cut of the fee.

“At Saks, our strategy is centered on providing our customers with access to the very best in luxury,” said Marc Metrick, Saks CEO, in a statement. “As the largest luxury ecommerce platform in the U.S., it’s our mission to establish lasting, meaningful relationships with our customers and that includes delivering an assortment of experiences tailored to their unique lifestyles.”

As part of the agreement, all Inspirato members will be invited to apply for the SaksFirst Card to enter the luxury retailer’s rewards program. Based on their annual Inspirato spend, they may be eligible for an elevated SaksFirst status level. SaksFirst member perks include complimentary gift cards, participation in Saks Beauty Rewards, special event invitations, and early sales access.

Saks and Inspirato will also collaborate on multi-channel marketing efforts and brand activations.

“Like Saks, we focus on building long-term relationships with our members to help them live richer lives, handcrafting unparalleled travel experiences designed to delight and inspire,” said Brent Handler, co-founder and CEO, Inspirato.

According to its website, Inspirato offers access to “more than 1,200 luxury accommodations in exciting destinations worldwide, ranging from Europe’s best cities to quaint American ski towns, Mexico’s top resorts, and the most exclusive Caribbean islands.” Subscriptions range from $650 to $2,500 monthly, although yearly subscriptions are significantly less.

The partnership comes as the retailer’s latest Saks Luxury Pulse survey, fielded in January, showed that most luxury shoppers prioritize their travel spending, with 72 percent having already booked or planning to book a future trip. Of those, the top luxury items they buy in preparation for their journey are clothing, 60 percent, and shoes, 36 percent.

BrainTrust

"Smart move. Not only does the luxury consumer travel, but in general experiences have been re-prioritized through the pandemic and are a key purchase for younger generations."

Brian Delp

CEO, New Sega Home


Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What do you think of using Saks associates to sell luxury travel subscriptions from a third-party service? Does the overall marketing partnership align with Saks’ positioning and not carry too many risks?

Poll

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Mark Ryski
Noble Member
1 year ago

The connection between luxury and travel is obviously strong, so selling high-end travel subscriptions is not misplaced at Saks. But while conceptually this makes sense, I wonder if luxury buyers will want to purchase travel subscriptions from an associate at Saks rather than the trusted travel advisors they use today. I respect Saks’ attempt at broadening their offering, but only time will tell if their customers respond favorably.

Georganne Bender
Noble Member
Reply to  Mark Ryski
1 year ago

Right! You buy luxury travel from trusted luxury travel agencies/advisors.

Gene Detroyer
Noble Member
Reply to  Georganne Bender
1 year ago

Is Inspirato a trusted travel expert?

Georganne Bender
Noble Member
Reply to  Gene Detroyer
1 year ago

I am not familiar with travel subscription companies, but I do work quite a lot in the travel industry. Luxury clients generally have a trusted travel advisor at an agency they work with on a regular basis, someone who knows and understands their specific needs.

Craig Sundstrom
Craig Sundstrom
Noble Member
Reply to  Gene Detroyer
1 year ago

Is Saks a trusted fashion expert?? It’s hard not to think the impetus for this move is that not enough people are answering “yes”.

Gene Detroyer
Noble Member
Reply to  Craig Sundstrom
1 year ago

Interesting question. Certainly, the answer should be yes.

Paula Rosenblum
Noble Member
Reply to  Craig Sundstrom
1 year ago

Oh God….am I the only one old enough to remember that Macy’s and (I think) Filenes used to do this? They stopped for a reason.

Brian Delp
Member
1 year ago

Smart move. Not only does the luxury consumer travel, but in general experiences have been re-prioritized through the pandemic and are a key purchase for younger generations. Aligning this with retail is a great way to match up to shifting consumer desires.

Chuck Ehredt
Member
1 year ago

The brand alignment seems strong and the ability to cross-promote each brand’s services/products to the other should generate synergies, but I´m not sure how much effort it will take to make Saks associates competent at selling subscriptions, even if a shopper on a mission (at that moment) has the time for a non-travel associate to talk about travel. It will be interesting to monitor whether this works, but I do think the co-marketing collaboration is on solid footing.

Bob Amster
Trusted Member
1 year ago

Saks customers will buy the subscription to Inspirato if they already know what Inspirato is, and prefer Inspirato over all others. I doubt that the luxury customer will buy a subscription to any travel service unless they are already familiar and satisfied with it.

Melissa Minkow
Active Member
1 year ago

These two brands make sense together, but I don’t know what the travel planning process is like for most. Travel is quite self-serve, so I wonder if Saks shoppers will see the value in this resource.

DeAnn Campbell
Active Member
1 year ago

While this strategy has the potential to add a much needed new revenue stream for Saks it places undue pressure on employees to make sales, and has the potential to irritate shoppers who would rather not be pitched with buying a vacation when they just want to shop for clothing. A better strategy would be to task the travel company to offer a Saks promotional incentive to their vacation buyers to send customers over to buy clothing, rather than trying to sell vacations from within Saks.

Gary Sankary
Noble Member
1 year ago

I don’t see this moving the needle for Saks or Inspirato. There was a time when Best Buy associates were selling everything from magazine subscriptions to satellite TV plans. On paper, these offers aligned (mostly) with Best Buy’s other offers. In reality, customers didn’t like the experience of getting pitched for complimentary offers at every turn. I think there is a risk of this for Saks. I don’t like companies getting distracted by offers outside of their core competency. This feels like it might be one of those. Savvy travelers interested in the service probably aren’t interested in being pitched by the same person who helped them buy a pair of shoes.

Rich Kizer
Member
1 year ago

When first reading this article, I was taken back to my old days at Sears selling travel. This program fits Saks customers perfectly. New wave thinking will build customer interaction. This will be well accepted by Saks’ loyal customer.

Steve Montgomery
Steve Montgomery
Member
1 year ago

This seem to be a logical fit but there are some wrinkles. As pointed out by Mark and others one of the issues is people who might purchase a travel subscription would turn first to people that they already work with and trust.

I would assume the selling a travel subscription is an involved process and would take more time than assisting a customer with a typical Saks purchase. As a customer, do I want to wait to speak with a salesperson while they are selling a travel subscription?

Gene Detroyer
Noble Member
Reply to  Steve Montgomery
1 year ago

I hope the same salesperson selling various Saks apparel is not also selling travel.

DeAnn Campbell
Active Member
Reply to  Gene Detroyer
1 year ago

So right! And when during the customer journey is this travel selling injected? Is it perhaps more disruptive than inspirational?

Gene Detroyer
Noble Member
1 year ago

It seems a week doesn’t go by that I don’t receive a travel pamphlet from the two universities I graduated from. I assure you these trips they are selling are luxury in experience and price. This activity is nothing new. It seems they have been doing it since I graduated a century ago. It is a domino strategy for the universities that leverages the alumni demographic. I see Saks’ endeavor as even more compelling.

Leigh Roberts
Leigh Roberts
1 year ago

First a possible casino in the flagship store and now this? Saks has lost its way, sadly. How is being pitched a travel subscription by the person selling you a pair of shoes any different than the timeshare hucksters at a low-end mall? Make the original store mission work because this will be nonsensical to the Saks customer base.

Richard Hernandez
Active Member
1 year ago

This is called attachment sales, and there is not anything wrong with that. Saks can easily become a destination just as travel centers can for other clients.

Craig Sundstrom
Craig Sundstrom
Noble Member
1 year ago

Travel…hmm??? So why not cars…or condos?? I suspect in each case people who are actually engaged in selling those things would deliver a prompt lecture on how unqualified a typical Saks associate is to offer them. This strikes me as a dumb idea, like something a retailer that’s owned by people who aren’t actually retailers would come up with (oh, wait…)

Phil Rubin
Member
1 year ago

This is a refreshing new partnership to see, especially for a brand/merchant like Saks. Saks has always been in the front of its category in terms of partnerships that are more than promotional or merchandise specific (i.e., Neiman Marcus) and this kind of initiative is overdue. It’s very good for Inspirato given the awareness it has among luxury consumers and it stands to benefit from whatever members it can acquire (and reward) with a new channel like this.

Great to see.

Ron Kurtz
Ron Kurtz
1 year ago

As a former travel executive, I know Inspirato is recognized as a provider of quality travel products, which addresses one of the potential problems of a firm like Saks entering the travel industry without experience and lending its name to a third party.

I have found sales people are reluctant to present products with which they have limited experience and knowledge, as the Saks associates likely will in this situation. Also, the Inspirato subscription service is a bit complicated and could be time consuming for the Saks associates to explain, thus diluting the time they can devote to their primary responsibilities.

II don’t expect this to be a winner for Saks. It will give Inspirato good exposure to its target market in which it has somewhat limited awareness.

Anil Patel
Member
1 year ago

Saks intends to take things a step further by capitalizing on its luxury brand reputation to increase sales potential. The goal is clear: provide a holistic luxury shopping experience that makes customers feel unique. In the long run, we will have to wait and watch how their new initiative turns out!