Here is my final report excluding titles, infographics, the executive summary and the bibliography, figures and appendix lists. The final word count is: 3272
Victoria’s Secret is the leading American lingerie retailer (Condé Nast, 2018) which carries a sexually provocative aesthetic. First establishing itself in the USA, Victoria’s Secret as a brand has grown massively and expanded globally over the past few decades, thanks to their iconic fashion shows and supermodel endorsement.
In recent years Victoria’s Secret has faced challenges within the fashion industry; from inclusivity issues, to debate about their ethical values. This has led to a significant drop in sales, ‘Victoria's Secret saw its fiscal third-quarter operating income tumble 89%, or a whopping $120 million, to $14.2 million.’ (A. Cheng, 2018). These losses could be due to unsuccessful marketing strategies, and a lack of adaptation within the brand.
Victoria’s Secret was founded in 1977 by businessman Roy Raymond to combat the “racks of terry-cloth robes and ugly floral-print nylon nightgowns” (Newsweek, 1981) he encountered when lingerie shopping for his wife. The name ‘Victoria’ is based off Queen Victoria, to give a “fanciful” and “private” (Vogue, 1992) illusion, and the Victorian-esque decor followed, to “impart the sense of class and dignity associated with the Victorian era” (Time, 2015).
Although Victoria’s Secret is a brand that is still loved by many, they are faced with a lot of competition from both high-street and online lingerie retailers. In recent years, the brand has begun to crumble under the new market of increased diversity and inclusivity that Victoria’s Secret does not exhibit. With fresh brands which promote body-positivity like SavagexFenty and Aerie on the rise, consumers are looking away from Victoria’s Secret’s perfect aesthetic and high prices.
This report will investigate into the current market position of Victoria’s Secret, analysing the successful and unsuccessful strategies the brand currently uses, including product selection and social media and influencer marketing. Research will then be done into the brand’s competitors, and why they have an advantage over Victoria’s Secret. Finally, new strategies will be suggested with an overall clear recommendation being made to help Victoria’s Secret become more appealing to the modern consumer.
There are a variety of factors to consider when evaluating a company’s success in the fashion market. Marketing communications management is complex and uncertain, because of the nature of marketing variables, including political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors (Fill, C., 2013).
At current, the future of the market in the UK is very uncertain due to Brexit. Although Victoria’s Secret is an American brand, they currently have many stores in the UK, including a flagship store on Bond Street. Trade barriers could be modified as the UK gains independence, as well as the value of the pound coin fluctuating throughout the duration of the Brexit timeline, and this uncertainty could make foreign companies such as Victoria’s Secret apprehensive to trade within the UK.
Victoria’s Secret has encountered many controversies in recent years. Firstly, they have had issues with diversity and cultural appropriation, namely by wearing Native-American headdresses on the runway in 2012, and more recently appropriating Chinese culture in 2016, and tribal culture in 2017. They have also experienced controversy related to their values in body-image and gender. In an interview with Vogue in November 2018, chief marketing officer Ed Razek concluded that Victoria’s Secret should not use transgender models “because the show is a fantasy”, resulting in adverse reactions from the public. Victoria’s Secret has been heavily criticised for their use of very slim models and lack of plus-size angels in their runways, as well as backlash from their ‘the perfect body’ campaign which promoted unrealistic beauty standards.
With online-exclusive retailers on the rise, and brick-and-mortar shops transferring to online and apps, Victoria’s Secret faces added pressure to keep up with the current market. As for social media, Victoria’s Secret has a high follower count, but low engagement rate. This may be due to the lack of influencers featured on their page or doing sponsored posts. This influx of modern social media use has resulted in a shift of power differential towards individual consumers and away from large organisations, resulting in pressure for Victoria’s Secret to stay relevant on these platforms.
Victoria’s Secret has a very strong brand image, with over 1500 stores worldwide in over 80 countries (L Brands, 2017), making many consumers are aware of the brand’s presence. This, combined with the world-famous Victoria’s Secret fashion show, has made the brand the leading US lingerie retailer.
Recently, the brand has faced backlash from consumers for being transphobic and exclusive of certain body-types, particularly within the Victoria’s Secret fashion shows, resulting in the number of viewers to drop from 5 million in 2017 to 3.3 million in 2018. Despite knowing Victoria’s Secret does not use transgender or plus-size models, 72% of people would continue to shop from the brand, meaning they have a loyal fanbase (appendix 1). This has the potential to change however, especially with more inclusive brands such SavagexFenty on the rise, and consumers are beginning to look elsewhere for their lingerie. Victoria’s Secret has the potential to capitalise on the plus size market, especially as it continues to grow and gain importance, in order to attract more audiences.
Another strength of Victoria’s Secret is that they use very powerful influencers to represent the company, such as Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid. However, these influencers are not very relatable to consumers as they are so famous. Nowadays, the power is shifting to more accessible micro, mid and macro influencers such as youtubers rather than celebrities. Victoria’s Secret have the opportunity to capitalise on this by using new models, particularly on their social media.
Although Victoria’s Secret has a strong presence in the US, it is still overshadowed by big retailers such as M&S and Primark in the UK (appendix 2) and faces competition from online-exclusive retailers with competitive pricing (appendix 3). Many of their competitors use influencer marketing, for example reposts and paid collaborations, such as M&S with their Rosie for Autograph range, whereas Victoria’s Secret only use their own ‘angels’ in campaigns and on their social media.
As mentioned before, Victoria’s Secret has a lot of competition from inclusive lingerie retailers which promote body positivity, such as Aerie and SavagexFenty. Millennials are more likely to shop from places that promote inclusivity, with 48% expressing they “try to use brands of companies that are active in supporting social causes”, according to a BCG survey. Both brands have created campaigns featuring plus-sized models, from a range of ethnic backgrounds, which Victoria’s Secret is yet to do.
At the top end of the map is high-end lingerie retailers such as La Perla and Agent Provocateur. Both brands carry a luxury aesthetic at a high price point, with a high-quality finish. At the lower end is high-street retailers such as Primark and H&M, who focus more on fast-fashion and trend over quality.
Victoria’s Secret has been placed somewhat in the middle, on the lower quality side but high price end. This is because Victoria’s Secret is like the high-street stores in which they produce the trends quickly and are manufactured in sweatshops, but many people believe they are overpriced for the quality they are receiving. In a survey with Wells Fargo, 58% of consumers who had shopped there less in the last year said it was because of high prices (Business Insider, 2017).
This moodboard represents Victoria’s Secret’s current position in today’s market, compared to their competitors. The underwear/lingerie market is becoming increasingly socially and environmentally aware, with companies such as SavagexFenty and Aerie focusing on body positivity, and Svala and Ayten Gasson putting an emphasis on sustainability, both with very positive feedback from consumers. Nowadays, Victoria’s Secret’s biggest selling point is the fashion show, which has suffered declining views in recent years.
Victoria’s Secret is a brand which portrays itself to be very sexually provocative and luxurious. However, according to a Condé Nast survey, Victoria’s Secret was the favourite brand of Millennial and Gen Z consumers (girls aged 13-34). This could be due to the association of the brand with ‘it girls’, such as Kendall Jenner and the Hadids, who young audiences look up to, as well as so closely linking Victoria’s Secret with their sister brand PINK, which is specifically aimed at younger audiences. With the way that Victoria’s Secret brand themselves combined with their high pricing, it is alarming that their consumer demographic is so low.
Most Gen Z consumers and a proportion of Millennials are students, and therefore do not have much of a disposable income. This can make revenue for Victoria’s Secret unstable, as political factors such as rising tuition fees may affect the amount of money consumers are spending on lingerie.
It is also controversial that a shop as highly sexualised as Victoria’s Secret is attracting such a young audience. With the promotion of extremely fit models, combined with a sexually provocative aesthetic, Victoria’s Secret are sending out the wrong message and not catering to their target demographic.
This moodboard represents the current consumer that shops at Victoria’s Secret. Victoria’s Secret styles their stores with a luxurious, boudoir theme to appeal to a mature audience, with decor such as chandeliers and sexually provocative quotes. This is a contrast to their actual consumer demographics, with Victoria’s Secret being the favourite store amongst girls as young as 13. Their current consumer looks up to young angels such as Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid, as they are very influential role models to Generation Z and Millennials. These models also place an emphasis on fitness and very slim, toned bodies, which Victoria’s Secret’s current consumer may have or aspire to have.
The Victoria’s Secret brand itself sells under 4 different categories; Victoria’s Secret, PINK, Victoria Sport and Victoria’s Secret Beauty. The main Victoria’s Secret brand consists of mostly intimates, such as bras and underwear, and sleepwear, such as their signature robes and pyjama sets. To add to their main collection, Victoria’s Secret created their sister brand PINK in 2004, which consists of apparel targeted to college students. There is also the sportswear brand Victoria Sport, and Victoria’s Secret Beauty, which stocks the extremely popular body-mists and other skincare and beauty products.
Victoria’s Secret offer a very wide range of bras and pants. They offer 10 different bra collections ranging from sizes to 30A-40DDD and priced between £15 and £129. There are also 10 panty collections ranging from XS-XL and ranging from £9-£49.
Victoria’s Secret do regular offers within their stores and online, such as seasonal sales and 5 for £25 underwear deals. They also offer online incentives, such as discount codes and free delivery when you spend over £75.
The main social media platforms Victoria’s Secret utilises to communicate with their audience is Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, with 11M, 30M and 65M followers respectively. Instagram is their biggest platform with the widest reach, and the one they update most frequently, with on average between 3-5 posts per day.
The type of photos Victoria’s Secret posts fit a very specific motif, with every post following a certain theme and order. This can come across as repetitive to their audience, which may be why their engagement rate is only 0.22%, according to phlanx.com (appendix 4). Each photo is very professional and airbrushed, which lacks realism. Competitors such as Aerie (1.3% engagement rate) and SavagexFenty (1.42% engagement rate) use more variety in their posts, such as reposting micro, mid and macro influencers on their Instagram pages, posting relatable memes and promotional videos.
Victoria’s Secret makes an attempt to communicate with their audience through various interactive hashtags including #wearitdaily, #VSBeauty and #VSBombshell. They use #regram a lot when reposting photos of their own models wearing the brand, however they do not regram photos of anyone who isn’t a Victoria’s Secret angel. They have the opportunity to feature more influencers on their Instagram page to attract a wider audience, rather than just fans of the Victoria’s Secret angels.
During Halloween 2018, the Victoria’s Secret Instagram page reposted a photo of the Kardashian/Jenner sisters wearing Victoria’s Secret angel costumes. Their average interactions per post is 142k likes and 493 comments, however this particular post attracted over 1.5M likes and 11k comments, making it hugely successful. The Kardashian/Jenner sisters featured in the post are some of the most influential people on social media, with Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Kylie and Kendall Jenner being within the top 15 most followed people on instagram. This means they have an enormous out-reach with many young fans looking up to them; thus showing that influencer marketing is successful, therefore Victoria’s Secret should utilise this technique more.
This moodboard represents Victoria’s Secret’s current position within social media. Victoria’s Secret does not use any external influencer marketing on their social media, except that of their own angels, and the occasional repost of a celebrity that endorses the company, e.g. the Kardashian/Jenners. They also receive social media support from celebrities that perform in their fashion shows, for example Taylor Swift, but these posts only occur once a year around the time of the shows. Victoria’s Secret’s social media pages generally follow a set theme, only using their own photos with a recurring design/colour palette.
Victoria’s Secret has a wide and extensive range of products, consisting of mostly underwear with a sexy aesthetic, and the addition of apparel such as nightwear and also a beauty range. The underwear selection is varied, meaning there is a style suitable for most consumers, however some of the more favourable styles feature the Victoria’s Secret brand name itself, meaning people like to display the fact they shop at Victoria’s Secret.
The average bra cost at Victoria’s Secret is £34.39, which is deemed too expensive by many people. The high price point is not fitting to their current consumer demographics - which averages out at 13-39 year olds.
Victoria’s Secret has a global presence, with over 1,600 brick-and-mortar stores worldwide (L Brands, 2017). Victoria’s Secret also has an online shop, with shipping to most countries, with exceptions for their beauty range. Finally, they also have an online app for both iOS and Android, which allows the consumer to shop and get access to behind-the-scenes news and exclusive offers.
Victoria’s Secret’s main source of promotion is through their annual fashion shows, which attract millions of viewers every year. Although they use no influencer marketing, the Victoria’s Secret angels which model for the brand are a huge selling-point as they all have very large reaches and social media presences.
Based off of primary and secondary research gathered and the analysis of these findings, recommendations have been made to ensure Victoria’s Secret is able to continue to progress as a successful lingerie company. Victoria’s Secret is already established as store with a luxurious and sexually provocative aesthetic with a high price point, therefore recommendations will maintain these things to an extent in order to preserve the strong brand image.
Some of Victoria’s Secret’s biggest competitors include Aerie and SavagexFenty, both of which place a strong emphasis on being inclusive and promoting body positivity. In order to become more relatable and desirable to the modern consumer, Victoria’s Secret should also make efforts to become more diversified, both in terms of size and ethnicity, in store and on the runway. For the 2018 fashion show, Victoria’s Secret introduced model Winnie Harlow, who has vitiligo. This received a vast amount of praise and therefore Victoria’s Secret should continue to diversify their model cast even further, by involving a range of body types and ethnicities.
At current, the average Victoria’s Secret consumer is aged between 13-34, and is not reflective of its high prices, as many of their customers are young and therefore students or on unstable incomes (part time jobs/unemployed). Victoria’s Secret should aim to attract a higher age demographic that is more reflective of the high prices, more specifically middle-class 18-39 year olds with stable and disposable incomes.
The sexually provocative aesthetic that Victoria’s Secret possesses is also not reflective of its current consumer. The store itself features suggestive quotes throughout such as “bombshell” and “showstopper” (appendix 6), which is not appropriate to the audience that they are currently attracting and is also not very liberating to the current consumer. Victoria’s Secret’s particularly young audience may be due to consumers of sister-store PINK crossing over to Victoria’s Secret due to how closely-linked they are. To overcome this issue, Victoria’s Secret should further implement their segmentation strategy by creating a bigger differentiation between Victoria’s Secret itself and PINK. There are many ways in which this could be done. Firstly, Victoria’s Secret could use different models than PINK, as currently there is no disparity between the two, making them appear as the same brands. PINK would be better suited using the young models such as Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid, as they are looked up to by the young fans who shop at Victoria’s Secret and are more appropriate to the ‘student’ aesthetic that PINK markets towards. Secondly, most Victoria’s Secret and PINK stores are linked together, allowing access from one store to the other with almost no separation between the two. Segmentation strategies could be applied further by completely isolating the two stores from each other, preventing such a large crossover of young PINK consumers shopping in Victoria’s Secret, thus maturing the audience of Victoria’s Secret.
One of Victoria’s Secret’s most notable factors is their luxury aesthetic; however, this is a big contrast to their social media, which features models posing again blank backgrounds with plain compositions. To strengthen their brand identity, Victoria’s Secret should incorporate their luxury store aesthetic into their Instagram page. This could be through a range of ways, from models posing in interesting places, or showing off collections in a fancy room, this would make their Instagram more varied and interesting to the consumer, whilst also building on their brand image.
Unlike other big lingerie companies such as Boux Avenue, Victoria’s Secret does not engage in any influencer marketing, and their social media only consists of photos of their own ‘angels’. As mentioned before, one of their most successful Instagram post was a repost of the Kardashian/Jenner sisters, proving that influencer marketing is successful. Therefore, Victoria’s Secret should engage in more paid sponsorships and collaborations with social media influencers, whether it be reposts, YouTube videos such as hauls, or sponsored posts. This would also attract a bigger audience, as fans of the influencers would be more likely to shop at Victoria’s Secret after seeing their favourite influencer endorse the brand. To further combat their diversity issues, Victoria’s Secret could also capitalise on new and widened markets through their social media page, by collaborating with plus-size or transgender influencers, such as Ashley Graham or Nikita Dragun.
This moodboard represents the proposed brand market position of Victoria’s Secret, based off previous recommendations. Aerie and SavagexFenty, two of Victoria’s Secret’s biggest competitors in the US, put an emphasis on diversity and body positivity. Victoria’s Secret should focus on becoming more inclusive both in campaigns and on the runway in order to keep up with today’s market.
This moodboard represents the proposed consumer that would shop at Victoria’s Secret. Victoria’s Secret is already defined as a store with a luxurious and provocative aesthetic and high price point, therefore Victoria’s Secret’s proposed consumer should reflect this. This would result in the target demographic shifting from 13-34 to a more appropriate 18-39, through a mix of segmentation and branding strategies.
This moodboard represents the proposed position of Victoria’s Secret within social media. Victoria’s Secret should make an effort to start to engage in influencer marketing, as it is proven to be effective. They should also use more varied compositions for their Instagram posts, to avoid repetition and keep people interested.
Victoria’s Secret is the leading American lingerie retailer (Condé Nast, 2018) which carries a sexually provocative aesthetic. First establishing itself in the USA, Victoria’s Secret as a brand has grown massively and expanded globally over the past few decades, thanks to their iconic fashion shows and supermodel endorsement.
In recent years Victoria’s Secret has faced challenges within the fashion industry; from inclusivity issues, to debate about their ethical values. This has led to a significant drop in sales, ‘Victoria's Secret saw its fiscal third-quarter operating income tumble 89%, or a whopping $120 million, to $14.2 million.’ (A. Cheng, 2018). These losses could be due to unsuccessful marketing strategies, and a lack of adaptation within the brand.
Victoria’s Secret was founded in 1977 by businessman Roy Raymond to combat the “racks of terry-cloth robes and ugly floral-print nylon nightgowns” (Newsweek, 1981) he encountered when lingerie shopping for his wife. The name ‘Victoria’ is based off Queen Victoria, to give a “fanciful” and “private” (Vogue, 1992) illusion, and the Victorian-esque decor followed, to “impart the sense of class and dignity associated with the Victorian era” (Time, 2015).
Although Victoria’s Secret is a brand that is still loved by many, they are faced with a lot of competition from both high-street and online lingerie retailers. In recent years, the brand has begun to crumble under the new market of increased diversity and inclusivity that Victoria’s Secret does not exhibit. With fresh brands which promote body-positivity like SavagexFenty and Aerie on the rise, consumers are looking away from Victoria’s Secret’s perfect aesthetic and high prices.
This report will investigate into the current market position of Victoria’s Secret, analysing the successful and unsuccessful strategies the brand currently uses, including product selection and social media and influencer marketing. Research will then be done into the brand’s competitors, and why they have an advantage over Victoria’s Secret. Finally, new strategies will be suggested with an overall clear recommendation being made to help Victoria’s Secret become more appealing to the modern consumer.
There are a variety of factors to consider when evaluating a company’s success in the fashion market. Marketing communications management is complex and uncertain, because of the nature of marketing variables, including political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors (Fill, C., 2013).
At current, the future of the market in the UK is very uncertain due to Brexit. Although Victoria’s Secret is an American brand, they currently have many stores in the UK, including a flagship store on Bond Street. Trade barriers could be modified as the UK gains independence, as well as the value of the pound coin fluctuating throughout the duration of the Brexit timeline, and this uncertainty could make foreign companies such as Victoria’s Secret apprehensive to trade within the UK.
Victoria’s Secret has encountered many controversies in recent years. Firstly, they have had issues with diversity and cultural appropriation, namely by wearing Native-American headdresses on the runway in 2012, and more recently appropriating Chinese culture in 2016, and tribal culture in 2017. They have also experienced controversy related to their values in body-image and gender. In an interview with Vogue in November 2018, chief marketing officer Ed Razek concluded that Victoria’s Secret should not use transgender models “because the show is a fantasy”, resulting in adverse reactions from the public. Victoria’s Secret has been heavily criticised for their use of very slim models and lack of plus-size angels in their runways, as well as backlash from their ‘the perfect body’ campaign which promoted unrealistic beauty standards.
With online-exclusive retailers on the rise, and brick-and-mortar shops transferring to online and apps, Victoria’s Secret faces added pressure to keep up with the current market. As for social media, Victoria’s Secret has a high follower count, but low engagement rate. This may be due to the lack of influencers featured on their page or doing sponsored posts. This influx of modern social media use has resulted in a shift of power differential towards individual consumers and away from large organisations, resulting in pressure for Victoria’s Secret to stay relevant on these platforms.
Victoria’s Secret has a very strong brand image, with over 1500 stores worldwide in over 80 countries (L Brands, 2017), making many consumers are aware of the brand’s presence. This, combined with the world-famous Victoria’s Secret fashion show, has made the brand the leading US lingerie retailer.
Recently, the brand has faced backlash from consumers for being transphobic and exclusive of certain body-types, particularly within the Victoria’s Secret fashion shows, resulting in the number of viewers to drop from 5 million in 2017 to 3.3 million in 2018. Despite knowing Victoria’s Secret does not use transgender or plus-size models, 72% of people would continue to shop from the brand, meaning they have a loyal fanbase (appendix 1). This has the potential to change however, especially with more inclusive brands such SavagexFenty on the rise, and consumers are beginning to look elsewhere for their lingerie. Victoria’s Secret has the potential to capitalise on the plus size market, especially as it continues to grow and gain importance, in order to attract more audiences.
Another strength of Victoria’s Secret is that they use very powerful influencers to represent the company, such as Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid. However, these influencers are not very relatable to consumers as they are so famous. Nowadays, the power is shifting to more accessible micro, mid and macro influencers such as youtubers rather than celebrities. Victoria’s Secret have the opportunity to capitalise on this by using new models, particularly on their social media.
Although Victoria’s Secret has a strong presence in the US, it is still overshadowed by big retailers such as M&S and Primark in the UK (appendix 2) and faces competition from online-exclusive retailers with competitive pricing (appendix 3). Many of their competitors use influencer marketing, for example reposts and paid collaborations, such as M&S with their Rosie for Autograph range, whereas Victoria’s Secret only use their own ‘angels’ in campaigns and on their social media.
As mentioned before, Victoria’s Secret has a lot of competition from inclusive lingerie retailers which promote body positivity, such as Aerie and SavagexFenty. Millennials are more likely to shop from places that promote inclusivity, with 48% expressing they “try to use brands of companies that are active in supporting social causes”, according to a BCG survey. Both brands have created campaigns featuring plus-sized models, from a range of ethnic backgrounds, which Victoria’s Secret is yet to do.
At the top end of the map is high-end lingerie retailers such as La Perla and Agent Provocateur. Both brands carry a luxury aesthetic at a high price point, with a high-quality finish. At the lower end is high-street retailers such as Primark and H&M, who focus more on fast-fashion and trend over quality.
Victoria’s Secret has been placed somewhat in the middle, on the lower quality side but high price end. This is because Victoria’s Secret is like the high-street stores in which they produce the trends quickly and are manufactured in sweatshops, but many people believe they are overpriced for the quality they are receiving. In a survey with Wells Fargo, 58% of consumers who had shopped there less in the last year said it was because of high prices (Business Insider, 2017).
This moodboard represents Victoria’s Secret’s current position in today’s market, compared to their competitors. The underwear/lingerie market is becoming increasingly socially and environmentally aware, with companies such as SavagexFenty and Aerie focusing on body positivity, and Svala and Ayten Gasson putting an emphasis on sustainability, both with very positive feedback from consumers. Nowadays, Victoria’s Secret’s biggest selling point is the fashion show, which has suffered declining views in recent years.
Victoria’s Secret is a brand which portrays itself to be very sexually provocative and luxurious. However, according to a Condé Nast survey, Victoria’s Secret was the favourite brand of Millennial and Gen Z consumers (girls aged 13-34). This could be due to the association of the brand with ‘it girls’, such as Kendall Jenner and the Hadids, who young audiences look up to, as well as so closely linking Victoria’s Secret with their sister brand PINK, which is specifically aimed at younger audiences. With the way that Victoria’s Secret brand themselves combined with their high pricing, it is alarming that their consumer demographic is so low.
Most Gen Z consumers and a proportion of Millennials are students, and therefore do not have much of a disposable income. This can make revenue for Victoria’s Secret unstable, as political factors such as rising tuition fees may affect the amount of money consumers are spending on lingerie.
It is also controversial that a shop as highly sexualised as Victoria’s Secret is attracting such a young audience. With the promotion of extremely fit models, combined with a sexually provocative aesthetic, Victoria’s Secret are sending out the wrong message and not catering to their target demographic.
This moodboard represents the current consumer that shops at Victoria’s Secret. Victoria’s Secret styles their stores with a luxurious, boudoir theme to appeal to a mature audience, with decor such as chandeliers and sexually provocative quotes. This is a contrast to their actual consumer demographics, with Victoria’s Secret being the favourite store amongst girls as young as 13. Their current consumer looks up to young angels such as Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid, as they are very influential role models to Generation Z and Millennials. These models also place an emphasis on fitness and very slim, toned bodies, which Victoria’s Secret’s current consumer may have or aspire to have.
The Victoria’s Secret brand itself sells under 4 different categories; Victoria’s Secret, PINK, Victoria Sport and Victoria’s Secret Beauty. The main Victoria’s Secret brand consists of mostly intimates, such as bras and underwear, and sleepwear, such as their signature robes and pyjama sets. To add to their main collection, Victoria’s Secret created their sister brand PINK in 2004, which consists of apparel targeted to college students. There is also the sportswear brand Victoria Sport, and Victoria’s Secret Beauty, which stocks the extremely popular body-mists and other skincare and beauty products.
Victoria’s Secret offer a very wide range of bras and pants. They offer 10 different bra collections ranging from sizes to 30A-40DDD and priced between £15 and £129. There are also 10 panty collections ranging from XS-XL and ranging from £9-£49.
Victoria’s Secret do regular offers within their stores and online, such as seasonal sales and 5 for £25 underwear deals. They also offer online incentives, such as discount codes and free delivery when you spend over £75.
The main social media platforms Victoria’s Secret utilises to communicate with their audience is Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, with 11M, 30M and 65M followers respectively. Instagram is their biggest platform with the widest reach, and the one they update most frequently, with on average between 3-5 posts per day.
The type of photos Victoria’s Secret posts fit a very specific motif, with every post following a certain theme and order. This can come across as repetitive to their audience, which may be why their engagement rate is only 0.22%, according to phlanx.com (appendix 4). Each photo is very professional and airbrushed, which lacks realism. Competitors such as Aerie (1.3% engagement rate) and SavagexFenty (1.42% engagement rate) use more variety in their posts, such as reposting micro, mid and macro influencers on their Instagram pages, posting relatable memes and promotional videos.
Victoria’s Secret makes an attempt to communicate with their audience through various interactive hashtags including #wearitdaily, #VSBeauty and #VSBombshell. They use #regram a lot when reposting photos of their own models wearing the brand, however they do not regram photos of anyone who isn’t a Victoria’s Secret angel. They have the opportunity to feature more influencers on their Instagram page to attract a wider audience, rather than just fans of the Victoria’s Secret angels.
During Halloween 2018, the Victoria’s Secret Instagram page reposted a photo of the Kardashian/Jenner sisters wearing Victoria’s Secret angel costumes. Their average interactions per post is 142k likes and 493 comments, however this particular post attracted over 1.5M likes and 11k comments, making it hugely successful. The Kardashian/Jenner sisters featured in the post are some of the most influential people on social media, with Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Kylie and Kendall Jenner being within the top 15 most followed people on instagram. This means they have an enormous out-reach with many young fans looking up to them; thus showing that influencer marketing is successful, therefore Victoria’s Secret should utilise this technique more.
This moodboard represents Victoria’s Secret’s current position within social media. Victoria’s Secret does not use any external influencer marketing on their social media, except that of their own angels, and the occasional repost of a celebrity that endorses the company, e.g. the Kardashian/Jenners. They also receive social media support from celebrities that perform in their fashion shows, for example Taylor Swift, but these posts only occur once a year around the time of the shows. Victoria’s Secret’s social media pages generally follow a set theme, only using their own photos with a recurring design/colour palette.
Victoria’s Secret has a wide and extensive range of products, consisting of mostly underwear with a sexy aesthetic, and the addition of apparel such as nightwear and also a beauty range. The underwear selection is varied, meaning there is a style suitable for most consumers, however some of the more favourable styles feature the Victoria’s Secret brand name itself, meaning people like to display the fact they shop at Victoria’s Secret.
The average bra cost at Victoria’s Secret is £34.39, which is deemed too expensive by many people. The high price point is not fitting to their current consumer demographics - which averages out at 13-39 year olds.
Victoria’s Secret has a global presence, with over 1,600 brick-and-mortar stores worldwide (L Brands, 2017). Victoria’s Secret also has an online shop, with shipping to most countries, with exceptions for their beauty range. Finally, they also have an online app for both iOS and Android, which allows the consumer to shop and get access to behind-the-scenes news and exclusive offers.
Victoria’s Secret’s main source of promotion is through their annual fashion shows, which attract millions of viewers every year. Although they use no influencer marketing, the Victoria’s Secret angels which model for the brand are a huge selling-point as they all have very large reaches and social media presences.
Based off of primary and secondary research gathered and the analysis of these findings, recommendations have been made to ensure Victoria’s Secret is able to continue to progress as a successful lingerie company. Victoria’s Secret is already established as store with a luxurious and sexually provocative aesthetic with a high price point, therefore recommendations will maintain these things to an extent in order to preserve the strong brand image.
Some of Victoria’s Secret’s biggest competitors include Aerie and SavagexFenty, both of which place a strong emphasis on being inclusive and promoting body positivity. In order to become more relatable and desirable to the modern consumer, Victoria’s Secret should also make efforts to become more diversified, both in terms of size and ethnicity, in store and on the runway. For the 2018 fashion show, Victoria’s Secret introduced model Winnie Harlow, who has vitiligo. This received a vast amount of praise and therefore Victoria’s Secret should continue to diversify their model cast even further, by involving a range of body types and ethnicities.
At current, the average Victoria’s Secret consumer is aged between 13-34, and is not reflective of its high prices, as many of their customers are young and therefore students or on unstable incomes (part time jobs/unemployed). Victoria’s Secret should aim to attract a higher age demographic that is more reflective of the high prices, more specifically middle-class 18-39 year olds with stable and disposable incomes.
The sexually provocative aesthetic that Victoria’s Secret possesses is also not reflective of its current consumer. The store itself features suggestive quotes throughout such as “bombshell” and “showstopper” (appendix 6), which is not appropriate to the audience that they are currently attracting and is also not very liberating to the current consumer. Victoria’s Secret’s particularly young audience may be due to consumers of sister-store PINK crossing over to Victoria’s Secret due to how closely-linked they are. To overcome this issue, Victoria’s Secret should further implement their segmentation strategy by creating a bigger differentiation between Victoria’s Secret itself and PINK. There are many ways in which this could be done. Firstly, Victoria’s Secret could use different models than PINK, as currently there is no disparity between the two, making them appear as the same brands. PINK would be better suited using the young models such as Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid, as they are looked up to by the young fans who shop at Victoria’s Secret and are more appropriate to the ‘student’ aesthetic that PINK markets towards. Secondly, most Victoria’s Secret and PINK stores are linked together, allowing access from one store to the other with almost no separation between the two. Segmentation strategies could be applied further by completely isolating the two stores from each other, preventing such a large crossover of young PINK consumers shopping in Victoria’s Secret, thus maturing the audience of Victoria’s Secret.
One of Victoria’s Secret’s most notable factors is their luxury aesthetic; however, this is a big contrast to their social media, which features models posing again blank backgrounds with plain compositions. To strengthen their brand identity, Victoria’s Secret should incorporate their luxury store aesthetic into their Instagram page. This could be through a range of ways, from models posing in interesting places, or showing off collections in a fancy room, this would make their Instagram more varied and interesting to the consumer, whilst also building on their brand image.
Unlike other big lingerie companies such as Boux Avenue, Victoria’s Secret does not engage in any influencer marketing, and their social media only consists of photos of their own ‘angels’. As mentioned before, one of their most successful Instagram post was a repost of the Kardashian/Jenner sisters, proving that influencer marketing is successful. Therefore, Victoria’s Secret should engage in more paid sponsorships and collaborations with social media influencers, whether it be reposts, YouTube videos such as hauls, or sponsored posts. This would also attract a bigger audience, as fans of the influencers would be more likely to shop at Victoria’s Secret after seeing their favourite influencer endorse the brand. To further combat their diversity issues, Victoria’s Secret could also capitalise on new and widened markets through their social media page, by collaborating with plus-size or transgender influencers, such as Ashley Graham or Nikita Dragun.
This moodboard represents the proposed brand market position of Victoria’s Secret, based off previous recommendations. Aerie and SavagexFenty, two of Victoria’s Secret’s biggest competitors in the US, put an emphasis on diversity and body positivity. Victoria’s Secret should focus on becoming more inclusive both in campaigns and on the runway in order to keep up with today’s market.
This moodboard represents the proposed consumer that would shop at Victoria’s Secret. Victoria’s Secret is already defined as a store with a luxurious and provocative aesthetic and high price point, therefore Victoria’s Secret’s proposed consumer should reflect this. This would result in the target demographic shifting from 13-34 to a more appropriate 18-39, through a mix of segmentation and branding strategies.
This moodboard represents the proposed position of Victoria’s Secret within social media. Victoria’s Secret should make an effort to start to engage in influencer marketing, as it is proven to be effective. They should also use more varied compositions for their Instagram posts, to avoid repetition and keep people interested.
