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Cartier Insists Walmart Not Authorized Distributor
Nov 30, 2016 3:34 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT...
Cartier said Walmart is not one of its official retailers and
distanced itself from an $18,000 diamond watch sold online by the department
store on Black Friday.
Walmart lists the Cartier Roadster XL Chrono men’s timepiece
on its ecommerce site, describing it as stainless steel and containing a
combined 24 carats of round brilliant, G-H color, VS2-SI1 clarity diamonds. The
advertised price is roughly 60 percent off the manufacturer's suggested retail
price of $46,500.
“Walmart is not a Cartier-authorized retailer, therefore
Cartier has no knowledge or involvement in the selling or marketing of this
watch nor can confirm the authenticity of the piece,” Cartier said in a
statement to Rapaport News.
Cartier, a subsidiary of Geneva-based luxury group
Richemont, said it attempts to control its products from creation through to
retail channels and does so by selling them exclusively in its own boutiques or
in “hand-selected” retail partners.
“Cartier has continually monitored the unauthorized
marketplace and discovered that unauthorized dealers try to cover up the fact
that they sell products that are often used, sometimes faulty, occasionally
counterfeit, and never warrantied by Cartier,” the statement continued.
Cartier has filed several lawsuits on this basis, it said.
The $18,000 watch is being sold on Walmart.com by “Jewelry
Unlimited Inc.” Such vendors list their products on the site, ship the orders
to customers and pay a referral fee to Walmart. These third-party sellers have “been able to bring on some brands that
Walmart hasn’t traditionally had in the past,” The Wall Street Journal cited
the store chain's spokesperson Dan Toporek as saying.
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Tags:
black friday, Cartier, Diamond watches, ecommerce, Jewelry Unlimited, Rapaport News, retail, Richemont, Walmart, watches
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