Diane Batoukina wears a Hermes Birkin bag, during a street style fashion photo session, on Nov. 20, 2024 in Paris, France. On Walmart.com, as surreal as it is to see a US$40,950 Birkin bag listed on the same site that advertises Great Value potato chips, blending luxury into its assortment is a necessary move.Edward Berthelot/AFP/Getty Images
Birkin bag owner Candice Sinclair has a theory about the so-called “Wirkin,” the dupe of the iconic Hermès Birkin, which sells for upward of $10,000, if you can even buy one. Hermès classifies the Birkin as a “quota bag” and limits its purchase to two per customer a year. The Wirkin, on the other hand, was selling for less than US$100 on the Walmart website around Christmas, resulting in a viral frenzy of giddy TikTokers showing off their new bags.
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“I think Walmart did it for the fashion girlies out there and to create a huge buzz,” says Sinclair, who frequently chairs black-tie galas for organizations such as the National Ballet of Canada and CANFAR. Supporting her theory is a partnership that Walmart announced shortly after with Rebag, a luxury bag and accessories reseller based in the U.S. If Walmart intended for the Wirkin to lure label-conscious fashionistas to its site in advance of the Rebag launch, it succeeded.
Walmart has since removed the Wirkin from its U.S. and Canadian sites, and genuine Birkins and Chanel bags, Cartier Love bracelets and Rolex watches are now available at Walmart.com. Since Rebag only ships within the U.S., Walmart.ca does not have the Rebag offerings as of yet. But on Walmart.com, as surreal as it is to see a US$40,950 Birkin on the same site that advertises Great Value potato chips, blending luxury into its assortment is a necessary move.
“The resale market is now approaching a point where it is growing faster than the fast-fashion market,” says consultant Doug Stephens, founder and president of Retail Prophet. “So if you’re Walmart, that’s been hurting you, because you’re losing 25-year-old consumers who are saying, ‘Why would I go to Walmart and buy a George T-shirt when I can go to Value Village or Goodwill or Salvation Army and get a higher or even a luxury brand for about the same price?’ And you can add to that H&M, Forever 21, Zara – the list goes on of brands who are now watching resale eat their lunch.”
For many years, Walmart has also been attempting to gain a more affluent shopper in order to expand its customer base, Stephens says. The incentive to do so is even stronger now that inflation has shrunk spending power for its core consumer.
In 2010 Walmart embarked on a makeover of some stores in a move called Project Impact. “They hired a merchandiser from Target who cleaned up and uncluttered the store, improved the lighting, raised the ceilings,” he recalls. “Walmart sales tanked.”
The upgraded environment gave the core customer a perception that products were more expensive and so the retailer quickly reverted back to the original store experience. “I think this Rebag deal is a means, in a very crafty way, of reaching up into a higher economic class,” Stephens adds.
With its existing infrastructure and inventory in the tens of thousands, Rebag gives Walmart a swift way into luxury resale. But Walmart may have created a credibility issue by teasing the preloved Pradas, Guccis and Diors with the Wirkin.
“Why would I go to Walmart and buy a real Birkin when they just sold a bunch of fake ones?” Sinclair asks. “Then if I told people I got my bag from Walmart, everyone would think it’s a dupe.”
