So is Le Labo cheaper in France?
It’s a very good question. Usually I’m not surprised to find that the answer is yes, a French brand — like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Polène — is cheaper in France. (I was more surprised to discover that Cartier is not.)
But unlike these brands, Le Labo isn’t French, at least 100%: It’s an American-French brand, born of both Grasse (in the South) and New York, and it’s now owned by Estée Lauder (which, despite its French name, is a U.S. conglomerate, based in Manhattan.) So — is Le Labo cheaper in France? Let’s do some math!
First, as usual, we’ll fill our basket with goods using French/euro prices. I absolutely love Le Labo, and to get a full sense of the brand’s offerings, we’re going to get a (gorgeous!) fragrance, an (iconic!) candle, and a dumb little treat.
Is Le Labo Cheaper in France? The Paris Shopping Cart
First, 100ml of Thé Noir! My fave! Except for like three others!
As they describe it: “THÉ NOIR 29 combines depth and freshness, softness and strength through permanent oscillation between the light of bergamot, fig, and bay leaves and the depth of cedarwood, vetiver, and musk.” That’ll be €295. Who cares!! What is money, anyway.
To this basket, we’ll add the ultra-classic (some might say overused, I could not possibly) Santal 26 candle, beloved of hoteliers the world around:
That’ll be €73.
Finally, we’ll add the basil face scrub:
It’s €55.
That comes to a tidy: €423.
Now, a few extras:
If you’re buying this in France — at either a Le Labo boutique (here’s a map of them) or at a department store that sells the brand (BHV definitely does), you’re likely paying with a foreign credit card, which means additional fees, at an average of about 3%. That brings us to: €435.69.
Let’s assume, though, that you’ll go through the (small) hassle of getting your VAT back (if that doesn’t immediately ring some duty-free bells, you can acquaint yourself with the process with this VAT primer.) VAT works out to a 12% discount, which brings us to: €383.41.
By today’s exchange rate — noting that the dollar has been very strong lately — that comes to: $399.51.
Is Le Labo Cheaper in France? The US Shopping Cart
Now, some new math!
Here in the U.S., we have different prices. The Santal 26 candle? It’s $87. Thé Noir in 100ml? $335. The basil face scrub? $59. That comes to: $481.
I’ll add NYC sales tax of 8.875% — resulting in an American price of: $523.69.
Is Le Labo Cheaper in France? Conclusion
I have to say: I am really surprised by what a big difference that is. Unless my math is wrong, it’s 31.1% cheaper in France. Not for nothing — this is exactly the same percentage difference as Chanel perfumes between the U.S. and France.
One thing I was reminded of while digging around to understand this better is that international brands will intentionally set U.S. prices higher to increase the products’ aura of exclusivity — no one wants something as much as what they can only just manage to afford. And I’m very curious now about regional pricing strategies. Brands can change prices dynamically, to react to shifting currency conditions — for example, raising the cost in dollars if the dollar is stronger against the euro so that they’re not suddenly getting €100 euros back, after the currency is converted, for a €150 bag. But as always, luxury pricing is totally hocus-pocus:
Let’s not forget the $57 bag sold for $2800.
Weirdly enough, I encountered one exception to this rule: discovery sets. I love Le Labo’s Discovery Sets, even though I’m not sure they offer good value for money (see above). For some reason, the price was the same on both the US$ and € side, at $107/€107 each. If this had followed the example set by all the other products, the number in dollars should have been 14% more, but obviously here it’s the same. As this set would have been $111, and taking into account that with foreign transaction fees and minus VAT the euro version would be $96.98 — so your savings in euros would only be 14%, about half of the other products.
You must be logged in to post a comment.