Research On Victoria’s Secret Company

INTRODUCTION

Legend

The lacy lingerie store was created, first of all, for men, not women. In search of a kit as a gift to a girl, Stanford graduate Roy Raymond faced the most severe stress - the mountains of transparent bras and consultants' questions "she has the same as me?". Deciding that the guys should not be uncomfortable with shopping, he founded in 1977 a real mecca of eroticism and fashion, where guests were greeted with champagne, put on pink padded stools and offered all the actual underwear-models. Victoria's Secret taught men to go after work, not in the bar, but behind the beautiful lingerie of their spouse, largely contributing to demographic growth - first in California, and by 1982 - in other cities in America and Europe.

Company Background

Established in 1977 by Roy Raymond Purchased by Limited Brands in 1983Also own Bath and Body Works, Henri Bendel and La SenzaWell established internationally with a presence in 80 countries VS primarily lingerie and intimate apparel but has expandedVS has over 1000 nationally (in USA) and has a presence in Canada, United Kingdom, Europe. Vision, Mission «Victoria’s Secret is committed to being global trendsetter in premium women lingerie providing superior shopping experience to both men and women. Tradition and employee expertise help us attain loyal customers and therefore create sustainable value for our shareholders. »Core global competencies«At limited Brands, we are guided in our work and our interactions with others by four core principles - our values: Customer rules, passion leads to success, inclusion makes us stronger, and in matters how we play the game»

The role of sustainability and CSR of Victoria’s Secret event

As part of the company Limited Brands, Victoria´s Secret states its responsibility in four areas: environment, community, inclusion, labor practices and product information. Environment: We believe in what is right in our industry, in our community and in our world. This includes running our business in an environmentally responsible manner. To this end, we are always looking for ways to reduce our impact on the environment. We are working to reduce our base by improving the management of natural resources. As a member of Limited Brands, Victoria's secret, signed several years ago, to the Detox campaign in the international Greenpeace community, which aims to eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals from fashion products. The company has agreed to stop using phthalates and perfluorinated chemicals in its apparel before 2020. L Brands is now the 14th international retailer to commit detox since the launch of the campaign in July 2011.

In addition, since 2007 the mystery of Victoria ceased to use paper directories, are made from pulp from a canadian forest that is important habitat for wild animals. The company has moved its catalog paper, or it is 10% consumer waste, that is, recycled or has at least 10% of its content certified by the Forest stewardship Council.

Donated more than 37 000 associate volunteer hours in the US, Canada and Asia. “we believe it matters how we play the game – and that includes making our world outside of work a better place. It’s why for more than 40 years we’ve remained dedicated to improving the communities where we do business and focused on making a positive difference in the lives of our associates, our customers and the global community at large. ”Inclusion: supermodels. Fashion shows. They all speak for themselves. But behind the brilliance and glamor is a team of dedicated partners from different backgrounds, who combine a variety of skills, talents and abilities to protect themselves, to meet the expectations of our customers. Labor practices: we all have a responsibility to improve the world where we live. Honesty and fair treatment of partners, customers and suppliers are fundamental values. We insist that our business is conducted in accordance with ethical standards with which we can proudly point out.

Product information: Our mission is to make our customers feel sexy, sophisticated and forever young. And we strive to fulfill that promise by providing high quality, safe and effective products. Brand Identity. Victoria’s Secret Personality: We can clearly see the secret of Victoria through her Angles. Angels are VS supermodels that can show all the different types of beauty in the whole world and from which we can see the sides of fantasy, sexuality, complexity and attractiveness of the brand. In addition, we can see the success of the Angels due to their popularity, as they are conceived as the most popular and rated models in the world. We can also notice that the brand takes great care when choosing their angels, as they must have some specific criteria that attract a brand that will make every customer want to buy VS products to look and feel like angels.

These criteria are mostly charming models with not only beautiful faces and bodies, but they should be appreciated by the public.

Victoria’s Secret Reflection: Victoria's Secret makes women fulfill the requirements of being beautiful, sexy and glamorous. With a large selection of sizes, colours and patterns, Victoria's Secret offers all women the opportunity to look and feel beautiful every day. In addition, women can reflect on angels and live in a fantasy world that is not offered by any other brand. Victoria’s Secret assets: Thinking about the VS brand, we can't ignore the huge beautiful things that come to our mind.

In addition, one of the most important assets is the logo, which is mostly written in either pink or black, or both, which represent elegance, sophistication, glamour, sexiness, happiness and beauty. This later also differs from the Victoria's Secret collection for PINK. We should also not forget the Wings badge, which is a very important asset for the brand, as this one represents the fantastic side of it, and also represents the angels that make up a very important part of the brand. We should also not forget the colors, which are a very important aspect of the brand, and they are usually cool colors for VS and bright and shiny colors for the PINK collection. Shopping bag is also an important part of assets. In addition, Victoria's Secret show is a very important aspect of the brand as it complements VS's fantastic, trendy, refined and glamorous sides through their annual special themes, Supermodels "Angles" and special guests who are the main world famous singers.

Target Consumers

The main target consumers are women aged 18-30 (millennia) who are attracted to brand-style and prestige and want to look and feel sexy, glamorous and fashionable. Moreover, they are attracted by sensual impressions of purchases, they are among the groups with an average level of income and are willing to spend their money on brand proposals, are confident, independent, strive for prestige and pay attention to their appearance. A group of secondary consumers are men who buy their girlfriends and wives. Unstable market of Victoria Secret According to a consumer study conducted by Wells Fargo, Victoria's Secret, the Brands Inc. companies lose customers at a price, and even the brand's efforts to locate popular items such as diamonds will not return them. A study by Wells Fargo shows that 48% of customers surveyed bought Victoria's Secret less last year. And 28% said that they plan there less stores in the next 12 months. Of those who bought less in the last year, 58% said that prices are too high, which, according to Wells Fargo, makes him the best explanation for depletion.

Сompetitive field

The share of VS in the underwear market in the United States is estimated at more than 30%, making it the best player in the industry without any seemingly close competitors. There are many underwear market players in the United States that cover trends towards natural appearance, diversified adoption of forms body, promote health, self-confidence and beauty, as a state of mind. These smaller players in the US tend to quickly gain growing incomes and popularity of consumers by challenging various aspects of VS's marketing strategy, such as brand image, pricing and segmentation. The most vivid examples of strategies and price proposals for new competitors were decided in more detail. First competitor (Aerie):Aerie is the Belgian division of American Eagle, which has been on the US market since 2006. Currently, it becomes a strong player in the underwear market and the main competitor of PINK. It exists since 2006 and, in particular, focuses on 15-25 years, which also partially covers the demographic task VS. Like Victoria's and PINK, it has very attractive and fashionable product offerings not only in underwear, but also in bathing suits and home clothes and accessories, accompanied by good strategies in inventory and distribution. Some experts argue that with further further steps, including expanding its coverage, Aerie can become a serious competitor to both PINK and VS, especially for driving the good quality and quality it offers.

However, the main difference between VS and Aerie is that the second goal is to keep your brand image as natural as possible. He claims that he does not use the retouching of the bodies of his models since 2014, which in turn is notorious and positions himself as a brand for "real" women and states in his campaigns «The real you is sexy. "Recently, he has partnered with the National Association of Eating Disorders (NEDA), and Aerie models serve as NEDA ambassadors who teach courses in schools that are aimed at preventing the emergence of eating disorders among adolescents in the USSince 2014, when Aerie got rid of retouching, sales are constantly growing rapidly - for example, in the last quarter of 2015 they grew by 21% and continue to grow at a rate exceeding VS rates. President Aerie commented on the use of Photoshop: "I think if you look outside of what we’re doing, the lingerie industry's models are not realistic, and I don't think it sets a good example” Differences and similarities between Victoria’s secret and AerieVictoria’s secret has recently seen a decrease in sales while American Eagle's sub-brand, Aerie, continues to grow. Differed greatly in terms of sizing, atmosphere, and overall shopping experiences. Aerie and Victoria's Secret had similar pricing and apparel optionsSecond competitor (Adore me):Adore Me was found in 2011 by a Harvard graduate, who saw this opportunity in the underwear market in the US, dominated by L Brands and Victoria's Secret.

In an effort to buy a gift for her girlfriend, he was surprised at how expensive underwear was and how narrow the range of sizes, and which laid the foundation for a new business concept to “make high-quality lingerie affordable for everyone” Since 2016, Adore Me is one of the most intensively growing private companies in the US, which sells its online linen products to Millennials in a wide range of sizes, usually at a price half the price of VS, and offers homemade clothing and swimwear. Elements are created by ex-Creative Executive VS and every month 30-40 new items of clothing are introduced. However, while the online selling strategy has its obvious advantages, such as significantly lower operating costs, obvious shortcomings are also present - consumers still prefer to buy underwear in person in order to secure themselves a better shape. Adore Me seeks to overcome this problem by setting up a wide range of proposals, offering all women-respondents a quick questionnaire. It also has an advanced retention strategy, which includes special deals with members, such as, for example, a free set of underwear for every 6 orders.

The fact that Adore Me offers a really wide range of sizes, suitable for various body shapes, has only positive aspects for the brand, which is currently considering opening the first physical stores. The problem of VSNumerous requests for plus-sizesVictoria's Secret is notorious for not selling to plus-size women. Costumers who have plus-size constantly ask that VS managers run larger sizes of underwear. The largest size of panties that he offers is 16, while, as a rule, the fashion industry determines plus-sizes, as in 14-24, and some retailers of models even sell sizes up to 28 to cover the existing demand. The consumer group experiences a feeling of limited ability to buy and wear VS. "My money and my credit are good enough for them, but the fact that I can only buy items like perfume, lotion, and body spray sends the message that my body is not," Dana Drew wrote last year. "Every year I watch the Angel fashion show and would love to purchase the items I see on my screen but can't because Victoria's Secret doesn't sell plus sizes. " But the reason that the brand does not release large sizes from stores is not at all cruel. This is due to the construction of large bras; they are made differently than their smaller counterparts.

Curvy models

Difference between plus-size and curvy women

The main difference between this two «types» is that women of any size can be curvy, because the designation has to do more with proportion rather than size. Plus-size women and also skinny women can be curvy. Women, who we can give a name «curvy», are going to have like a real feminine figure, which resembles an hourglass and in the same time «plus-size» women have to wear big sizes of clothes and can have unshapely body. The VS show and curvy models The show needs models. Models that do not look like Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner. Models that will make viewers tune in the hope of seeing the story. Nowadays curvy models becoming more and more popular in fashion industry It’s time to consider on this type of models, because new generation understand that no frame and division into thick / thin, beautiful / ugly in the world. People must be loyal and understand that not everyone can adapt to one stereotype of beauty.

The world «beauty» has a diversity meaning for everyone and we are all different, but at the same time each of us is special and unique. The industry should not forget about it and open up new horizons and opportunities of Victoria Secret and other companies. Some underwear brands in the market have already changed standards of beauty and «perfect» body. Not everyone can understand that it’s necessary to include curvy models in a show, because of stereotypes in their minds. However, in order to love our own bodies and take our sizes, we need to change how we look at these beautiful women with large sizes. And this in itself is an opportunity that even the media cannot handle. This task belongs to the people.

The Communication Strategy

Victoria's Secret uses a combination of social networks and traditional media channels to communicate with its consumers. According to Business Insider, VS controls 35% of the underwear market. To do this, they made some sensible marketing decisions. They have combined their storefronts with their website-any product that is on display in stores is presented on the website. Using traditional mediums like TV commercials, magazines, and even TV shows (the annual VS Fashion Show), they continue to reach the masses. But adding their social media pages-Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. - Continues to elevate them to powerhouse status.