Fashion Management & Marketing 1: MARKETING MIX

PRODUCT

Victoria’s Secret offers a wide product line and it includes the following categories: Underwear (bras and panties), Lingerie, Sportswear, Sleepwear, Beauty Products and Accessories. In total, they sell more than 1200 items on their website, but have less products in most of their store portfolio, as it would be really difficult to stock such a variety of items. Their bra sizes range from 32A to 38F while clothes are available in sizes ranging from XS to XL. The brand aims to attract customers by making a bold fashion statement with their sexy and feminine product range. In addition, Victoria’s Secret also launched a brand extension called PINK, both online and in-store, aimed at a younger consumer demographic, namely college girls. Currently, PINK is partnering with 13 universities to create a collegiate clothing line, “perfect for everything from game day to class” (VS PINK website) and more than 100 universities have campus reps, students that act as representatives of the PINK brand and are able to get “real-life experience through event planning, marketing, and advertising” (VS PINK website).

Additionally, the mix of available services and overall shopping experience gives them an advantage over competitors because consumers perceive their products as superior and trend-setting (Mintel). Providing excellent in-store experiences for their clients, makes a purchase feel like an investment. Moreover, their fitting service is also available online as “Angel bra guide”. Customers have to answer a series of questions about your current bra and how it fits you and the system will recommend what size would actually suit you better.

PRICE

Their products, services and overall marketing strategy allow VS to place their merchandise in the affordable luxury category, making their product line status enhancer. Because of this perceived value in the minds of consumers, they are able to adopt a prestige pricing strategy, having higher prices than competitors. “…pricing is a major quality cue for customers. In the absence of other information, customers tend to equate higher prices with higher quality.” (Ferrell & Hartline, 2011).Some push-up bras are sold for $63, while some lingerie items like corsets cost only a bit under $100. Because they mainly outsource production through a company called Mast Global, a great deal of their products are manufactured outside the US: “L Brands sources goods from approximately 350 factories around the world — the vast majority of which are located in the United States, China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and India”(L Brands website), allowing for even greater profit margins.

When talking to Victoria’s Secret customers, we discovered that many shop only when sales are on because otherwise they consider their merchandise over-priced. Therefore, introducing major discounts twice a year under the label “Semi-annual sales” has been one of the brand’s chief pricing strategies over the years and one that proved to be successful. Taking place both in stores and online, Victoria’s Secret fans are always going crazy for the huge price reductions of sometimes even 70% and those who own an ‘Angel card’ can often get early access to the Semi-Annual Sales. Other strategies the brand uses for their e-commerce business is the constant ‘promo-codes’ offering. Free shipping codes or a free gift and promo code is what people are looking for when shopping on the brand’s website.

PLACE

Since 1977 when the first VS store was open in a shopping mall in Palo Alto, California, the brand went through some changes and further expanded its brick-and-mortar chain worldwide, selling its products in more than 1,600 stores today, according to the L Brands website. The brand chooses store locations that are usually either in or near shopping centres or airports. Other information regarding geographical location that can be found on the official website is that Victoria's Secret operates about 1,170 locations in the U.S., Canada and other direct sales locations. Other partner locations can be found in more than 80 countries (Vault, 2018) situated in Europe, Asia, Central and South America, Africa, Saudi Arabia and Australia. In addition to their physical stores their products are also sold worldwide on the official website “Victoriassecret.com”, “enabling customers to shop the brand anywhere, anytime, from any place” (L Brands website). Besides from online retailing, the company also has a mobile app available only in the U.S. Customers have to create an online profile and can shop the brand anywhere, at any time. In the UK, their beauty products or accessories are sold through a number of online retailers like: Amazon; Sportsdirect.com; TJ Hughes; Chemist.co.uk; Beautytheshop and many others. Modern technology allows consumers to shop VS products worldwide and at all times.

PROMOTION

Initially the brand’s promotional attempts were pointed towards men who wanted to buy sexy and intimate gifts for their wives or partners, but when the company was acquired by L Brands, the marketing strategy changed and the focus shifted towards women. Today, the brand uses a multitude of promotional strategies to attract more customers and increase revenue. At their brick-and-mortar locations they use photographs with their famous angels all around the shop and screens that continuously play their latest fashion show. Besides using famous supermodels on the catwalk and “promoting” them to the Angels status, the brand also uses celebrity endorsement as a promotional strategy. Every year they have big names join as spectators and invite top rated artists to perform on stage alongside the models during the world-famous fashion show. Moreover, they use billboards and other printed media around cities to further promote the brand.

Another promotion strategy represents the use of the angel cards as loyalty rewards and direct mailing based on customer preferences or online purchasing behaviour, in order to seed a satisfactory feeling in the minds of customers. Since 2009, a big part of their promotional strategy has been the use of social media. The main online platforms they operate on are Facebook (29 M likes), Instagram (64.6 M followers), Twitter (11.2 M followers), and Youtube (1,740,593 subscribers). Nowadays, using social networking to market to a younger consumer demographic has become a must and is not only cost-effective, but also profitable. Through their platforms, annual sales, limited time offers, new collections and products are being revealed to customers. Besides from their official accounts, the brand also gains online promotion through their brand ambassadors’ accounts (angels) that rejoice in having millions of followers.

The in-store layout also includes a marketing technique called point-of-purchase. Near high-traffic areas like the tills, numerous products such as accessories or beauty products are displayed in order to induce impulse purchases and also further advertise their merchandise through the eye-catching arrangements.