FINAL DRAFT

FINAL REPORT:

1.    Executive Summary:

Like many other retailers, Victoria’s Secret has many strengths and weaknesses of the brand which will be outlined within this report, as well as many other details about the company. The purpose of this report is to produce an improved brand strategy for Victoria’s Secret in order to give the company a better name and increase their sales. Primary research has gone into conducting this report such as creating an Instagram poll, interviewing different people and even visiting different Victoria’s Secret stores to compare the difference in the set design and feel the overall of the shop.

 Secondary research has also gone into conducting this report, for example, several websites including articles, social media posts and additional reports. The proposal will be surrounding the subject of body image and how to make the brand more equal and accepting as this is a serious issue that is damaging the youth of our generation. In addition, sustainability will also be another large feature in the new brand strategy in order to try and save the planet. This new approach will target the models and campaigns to portray to members of the public that everyone is beautiful in their own skin, and in their own way and nobody should ever be judged if they aren’t what society calls the ‘norm’. 

An underwear brand like Victoria’s Secret should be supporting all women and all body types, to make everyone feel comfortable and sexy in their own skin no matter what they look like. Overall, the researcher has come to a conclusion that Victoria’s Secret is not an inclusive or diverse brand, this is a feature that is vital for any brand to include in their campaigns, especially a company that revolves around lingerie and should be about self-love, which has led the reporter to feel very passionate about changing the ways of the brand. In addition, they are not a sustainable company which was proven when they lied about their products being fair trade, this is also an issue that needs to be addressed, to give the brand a better name and help to save the planet. 

2.     Introduction to the Brand:

Victoria’s Secret needs a new brand strategy to save their brand from the bad name it has been given by society. The aim is to arise beneficial strategies in order to do this, and there are a number of methods to do so. Online secondary research is one the best ways to collect reliable information from various sources as they are up to date with the current news and information valuable to the topic, as well as primary research being one of the most efficient and accurate ways to collect research as it is quick and reliable if the right group of people are chosen.

Main issues that will be targeted inside this report are body image and sustainability because of research that has already been conducted portraying these are current issues within the company. This will be to aid the brand to improve and increase its sales by introducing improved morals that the company stands by. 

In addition, a negative outlook on body image is very damaging to young women and can cause many mental illnesses for certain individuals which is awful and therefore something that the reporter would like to improve. These issues were found from the initial competitor analysis and consumer research. Victoria’s Secret was originally launched in 1977 by Roy and Gaye Raymond. The brand started up when Roy wanted to buy his wife some lingerie as a present without coming across suspicious for purchasing women’s underwear. This progressed into the idea to begin the company for men to feel comfortable buying underwear as gifts for their significant others (Insider, 2015). 

Victoria’s Secret sales are targeted at both men and women to shop, and for middle class women of ages 16-49 to wear. It is known that all ages are welcome to buy from the brand, however the consumer demographics are also in place (Jodi, 2014). Victoria’s Secret are known for their superior and sexy underwear, they have many different sections of their store and company such as a makeup line, a body care line, obviously the lingerie and finally their PINK teenage line including sportswear, underwear, bags and other accessories (Gullivan, 2013).

3.     Macro-Economic Analysis (PESTEL):

Political:

Victoria’s Secret would not want to pay a high tax rate and this would therefore discourage them from maximizing the profits made.

Brexit will make it difficult and more expensive for the brand to import and export materials and goods to make the products, and the products in general to sell in store (Tobin, 2018).

Economical:

Some individuals (such as the younger target audience e.g. university students) cannot afford to pay for the products as the brand is known to be of a high price point meaning a lack of sales.

As the economy increases and decreases, so does the exchange rate in the countries that Victoria’s Secret is sold in, the prices of the products then fluctuate resulting in the rate of consumers purchasing goods from the brand going up and down constantly. 

Due to products being cheaper in different countries, consumers will purchase these products while on holiday, again, due to exchange rate causing different Victoria’s Secret stores to vary in business.

Social:

Consumer demographic is down to the age, gender and all about the customers who shop in Victoria’s Secret, in order to market certain products to them.

Class distribution because most consumers who shop at Victoria’s Secret are of the middle class which is exactly what the target market is, however if the consumers were of the lower class, the brand would not be able to market the products to them. 

The health and sizing of the customers is important because the brand does not cater for all sizes which is a large and obvious issue and as a result the company would not be able to market the products to a consumer that cannot physical wear it (48, 2013).

Victoria’s Secret has decided to enter the Chinese market and to do this they have had to agree and pay to test on animals, fully well knowing that is their policy in China, they decided to go through with it anyway (PETA, 2019).

The brand is not sustainable as they use child laborer’s to hand pick their cotton and lied about their products being fair trade when they are not. 

Technological:

Victoria’s Secret has a website where you can order products to your house all over the world, however, the price does vary depending on where the shipping address is (Customer Service, 1977).

The brand is constantly posting on their social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter, in order to keep their loyal consumers up to date about what is being sold in store, what offers are going on and any new arrivals for the brand.

Victoria’s Secret have a high tech sports bra product, this uses built-in electrodes that measure your heart rate. It’s also a very wearable product as it looks like any normal sports bra which is an advantage (Dickson, 2014).

Environmental:

Victoria’s Secret uses Nylon within their products and theproduction of Nylon gives off greenhouse gases that contributes to global warming (Edwards, 2016).

The brand uses hazardous chemicals in the manufacturing of their products which can harm habitats and the environmental as a whole as it can kill living things (Manning, 2016).

Victoria’s Secret uses glossy paper for their catalogues and carrier bags that is non-recyclable, which will causes huge landfill issues (Kennedy, 2004).

Legal:

Immigration laws would be an issue for the models who are of different ethnicities and are travelling for the fashion shows. This is because if they do not have specific passports or depending on the destination, they may not be able to walk in these specific fashion shows.

All labels must have the correct washing instructions to allow the consumer to know exactly how the product should be washed to keep it in perfect, along with all materials on the labels too to avoid allergic reactions and to keep the consumers safe and to also cover themselves.

Foreign governments have made laws on body image and the UK have banned false and photoshopped images and body image posts on public transport as it is a huge cause of eating disorders and mental health issues around the world (Halliwell, 2017).

4.     Brand Marketing Position (SWOT):

Strengths:

Powerful influencers are used as ambassadors and models within the brand in order to entice members of the public to buying their products, such as Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid. 

Victoria’s Secret is very active on their online marketing. The social media team is constantly posting on the various platforms that they have, updating their consumers with activity taking place within the company such as new releases and sales/offers.

The company also uses television adverts which is a positive for those who do not follow their social medias, they have good brand strategies in order to entice members of the public into their brand (Gullios, 2013).

Weaknesses:

Victoria’s Secret have many competitors that members of the public prefer to buy from for many reasons such as price, quality and/or ethics which can cause loss of sales.

The brand does not sell all the same products in all of the Victoria’s Secret stores, this makes the experience for the customer difficult and frustrating (Gullios, 2013).

Victoria’s Secret also stocks only a small range of sizes, meaning some individuals cannot shop at the brand as they do not cater for their size (WordPress, 2016).

The brand is not sustainable as proved in a 2008 campaign where they lied about using fare trade products when they were actually getting child laborers to hand pick their cotton (Post, 2011).

Opportunities:

An improvement in sustainability can be made to help save the environment as well as make Victoria’s Secret one of the first lingerie brand to be sustainable.

The plus sized market should definitely be a feature that the brand targets as it would appeal to a larger target audience and most likely increase their sales (Richard, 2014).

Expansions can be made onto more and international markets with the use of a collaboration with an extremely famous and well cherished company such as Savage X Fenty (WordPress, 2016).

Threats: 

Counterfeits are a huge threat in the fashion industry, these are products that other retailers create in exact imitation of a valuable artifact to trick people into thinking they’re real.

There is a strong competition in the French lingerie market as it is where lingerie originated from and where consumers heart’s lie (WordPress, 2016).

The economy is another threat as the brand is highly priced which majority of consumers (especially their younger target audience) would not be able to afford meaning customers would rather buy from cheaper brands (Richard, 2014).

Conflict with customers who think beauty is skin deep and not from what you see, this could cause issues within the media and give Victoria’s Secret a bad name (WordPress, 2016).

5.     Competitors (Brand Positioning Map):

Victoria’s Secret’s top competitors as of January 2019 are Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan New York, and all three just like Victoria’s Secret, work in the Systems Software Industry, which is a type of computer programmer that is used to run a computer’s applications (Owler, 2019). In addition, as found in some primary research that has been conducted of an Instagram Poll, (See Appendix A) there are also many other brands that are competitors of Victoria’s Secret (See Appendix B for infographics on the Instagram poll). For example, Ann Summers, Boux Avenue, Primark and H&M. There are a large amount of competitors that consumers would lean towards rather than Victoria’s Secret because they are cheaper, better quality and have better ethics/morals and therefore customers have more respect for those brands. Even though Victoria’s Secret is a successful business, alternative brands have many features buyers worship that Victoria’s Secret do not have, resulting in a loss of sales for the company. 

6.     Consumer Demographic:

Victoria’s Secret has a relatively wide consumer demographic, they have two boutiques of the store which have separate target markets. The Victoria’s Secret boutique has a target market of both men who are wanting to buy their partners lingerie without feeling uncomfortable and also women of ages 21-49. The PINK boutique has a target market of females aged 16-21 (Laamoud, 2014). PINK targets young female customers who have a high school/early college lifestyle whereas Victoria’s Secret focuses on females in University and work, who are both sexy and confident (Leinbach, 2013). The brand targets millennials who are in fact the main percentage of buyers in the store. 90% of heavy online buyers shop at Victoria’s Secret, majority of which are millennials (Mantis, 2016). The company targets consumers of the middle class due to the highly priced products that less wealthy individuals cannot afford as easily. However, less wealthy consumers may be able to purchase from the store when there are specific sales on, as the brand do frequently have sales on in store and also online, which was proven in some primary research we conducted when visiting the Brent Cross store in London (See Appendix C).

7.     Product Selection:

Victoria’s Secret items are retailed in over 1,600 stores worldwide meaning consumers can shop the products wherever and whenever they desire to (Brands, 2017). Customers can shop from a range of products that the brand offers such as; underwear, bodysuits, bras, bustiers, t-shirts, robes, jackets, shorts and pants. These products range from £8.10 to £61.33 (Krause, 2018). The brand actually offers an even bigger range of products such as makeup and beauty, fragrance, pyjamas and bags. Furthermore, the PINK boutique part of the store sells additional sportswear and many items mentioned prior to this, however it is just targeted at a younger age group. As underwear is the brands focus, it is clear that they have a wide range of different styles and cuts of bras, along with various styles of knickers. This is a really positive aspect of the brand as they have something that will suit everyone meaning a high sale margin. Their best seller is the bra with the ‘VICTORIA’S SECRET’ strap, which is a very successful piece. It is arguable that this is because this specific product makes it obvious that the consumer is wearing Victoria’s Secret, which is what the customer would want; hence why they would spend so much money on the item. 

8.     Social Media and Influencer Marketing:

Victoria’s Secret is a brand that uses social media very regularly,they use different social media platforms such as; Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, along with a large amount of promoters and ambassadors to help uphold the brand (Kemp, 2017). These social media platforms are where the fashion shows, new products and faces of the Victoria’s Secret Angels are showcased. Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner are both huge influencers of the brand along with many others who are also Victoria’s Secret Angels (Hodgkin, 2018). They have walked in the fashion shows a number of times and they also post Instagram photographs wearing the products in order for consumers and the public to view. In addition, Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez were also not only included in the fashion shows, but also the campaigns, by using famous faces that the population follow and look up to as idols, is appropriate for the brand to grow and attract more consumers (Kemp, 2017). An additional aspect of the influencer marketing that really added leverage to Victoria’s Secret was when the Kardashian-Jenners were included (Addo, 2018). This is because they are huge social media influencers, as a large population of the public follow and look up to them and their style, as a result this ended up grasping the majority of people’s attention and therefore attracting attention to the brand which is good marketing and publicity for Victoria’s Secret.

9.     Marketing Mix:

Product: 

Victoria’s Secret handles all areas of the brands products regarding the manufacturing, marketing and the designs of the items. Products that the brand stocks are lingerie including corsets and slips, a variety of styles of panties, different types of shapes of bras, sportswear such as yoga pants and tanks, beauty products like makeup and fragrances, sleepwear including pyjamas, accessories such as bags and wallets and finally swimwear including bikinis and one pieces (Bhasin, 2018).

Price: 

The brand targets middle class consumers which is well reflected on the prices, however the price of the products changing depending on the collections within the brand. The items within the PINK boutique tend to be cheaper than the classic Victoria’s Secret boutique products (Chat, 2016). Victoria’s Secret is one of the more pricier lingerie and undergarments brand.

Place:

The brand was founded in San Francisco, California and the first store was opened in the Stanford Shopping Centre in California. Victoria’s Secret own 1017 stores that are located in Hungary, United States, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Serbia, Denmark, Sweden, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Iran, Taiwan, Australia and Singapore (Bhasin, 2018).

Promotion:

Every year the bets pieces of the collections are showcased in a fashion show as, ‘it’s all about the show’ as the brand states (Thakkar, 2016). The brand announce their sales, new collections and products on their social media and also use coupons and catalog advertisements to draw attention to be company (Chat, 2016).  Finally, they use influencer such as Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner to attract the public’s attention.

10.  Proposed Strategy (Recommendations):

From the research conducted within this report, the researcher has invented some proposed strategies in order to improve the brand. There are many negatives of Victoria’s Secret which approximately needs to be transformed in order to improve the company. 

10.1 DIVERSITY:

Victoria’s Secret will benefit highly from including plus sized models not only in the fashion shows, but also in the campaign photographs and online shop. This will give the brand inclusivity and diversity meaning the public will gain more respect for them, therefore increasing their sales. Models such as Jordyn Woods and Ashley Graham will be the type of ‘New Angels’ that the brand will now work with. The ‘New Angels’ will be a new hashtag that is portrayed within the brand to overwrite the toxic meaning of the current ‘Victoria’s Secret Angels’. This is to give Victoria’s Secret a fresh face for members of the public to appreciate and relate to more. In addition to this, Victoria’s Secret will have a larger consumer demographic. This will include any race, any gender and any age. It is important that a brand such as Victoria’s Secret promotes and supports everyone in the community no matter who they are or what they look like. 

10.2 VICTORIA’S SECRET CURVE: 

Positivity within body image will be incorporated by using a new line that the reporter has said to introduce called Victoria’s Secret Curve. Victoria’s Secret Curvewill be for plus sized women, meaning anyone of any size and/or shape can shop at the brand building an equal and accepting community. Body image can be such a hugely damaging mechanism in an individual’s life and can cause many eating disorders and mental illnesses. 69% of American school girls said the media influences their perception of the ‘ideal body’ and 47% explain that pictures in the media make them want to lose weight (Martin, 2010). Therefore, images of the Victoria’s Secret Angels are most likely damaging to young women and as a result; the Victoria’s Secret Curve line will help the brand to move away from this.

10.3 SUSTAINABILITY:

Sustainability within a brand is a huge part of promotion. 66% of global consumers and 73% of millennials are enthusiastic enough about sustainability, that they are willing to pay more for sustainable products (Curtin, 2018). In order to make the brand sustainable at all, a £5 scheme will be introduced into the brand. This was taken from inspiration at H&M where they allow customers to bring in a bag of old textile products and in return receive a £5 voucher to use on their next purchase if they spend over a certain amount. The brand then reuses these old textile products to manufacture their own products to sell to consumers. H&M call this scheme ‘H&M Conscious’ (H&M, 2017). This is an organization that Victoria’s Secret would hugely benefit from as the majority of consumers of the brand are millennials and therefore; if the company is more sustainable, the sales will increase. 

10.4 LANE BRYANT COLLABORATION:

Collaborations are a movement that help many brands increase sales, for example the collaboration with Louis Vuitton and Supreme brought together two completely different consumers of street wear fanatics and luxury shoppers. (Law, 2017). Collaborations manage to increase sales due to the merging of different target audiences and consequently, a larger amount of altered consumers then buy from the brand. In this case, Victoria’s Secret will collaborate with a company called Lane Bryant. This is due to the presence of diversity and inclusivity of the brand which a variety of individuals respect and therefore the reason why they shop at this apparel. This is also one of the new aims for Victoria’s Secret to reach. The collaboration will revolve around body image in order to create a new and improved name for the brand in the fashion industry, and also to try and decrease the statistics of eating disorders due to the media. 

10.5 INTROUDING AN APP:

The brand does not have an app which means it is behind it’s time as most other fashion retailers have this feature. This piece of technology will benefit the brand as 57% of online shopping comes from apps over websites (Abramovich, 2018). This will feasibly increase their sales as consumers will have a more accessible platform to shop from wherever they are. In addition, the app will also have an aspect where the fashion shows are broadcasted live. As 2018 was the lowest view rate they have ever had, this new app feature will increase the fashion show views back up, because members of the public can view it from their phone as it happens (Petter, 2018). Furthermore, the fashion shows that have been broadcasted will be saved on the app and as a result can be viewed anytime, meaning consumers will never miss the show, keeping them connected to the brand.

11.  Bibliography:

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