Course Name: Marketing Management

Course Code: MKT 301 Section: 2

A Case Study on Victoria’s Secret:

Keeping Up in a Changing Industry

Submitted By

Mohammad Irfanul Hoque 192000502

Sharfa Nur Yasin 183004902
Jehan Mohammed Kamrul Huda 183000602
Fahim Mahmood 183006502
Nur Mohammad Tanvir 183005702

Submitted to

Ismail Alam

Lecturer

School of Business Administration

East Delta University

 Answer to the question no. 1

Body shaming , exposure of a body as comparing with soft porn , considering young age for
wearing lingerie items ,thought of lingerie items are using for fashions in spite of thinking those
items as necessity innerwear for women and charging high cost for innerwear those are the
significant aspects of the marketing environment for women undergarment industry are
undergoing changes.

Customers attitude towards Victoria secret changed and that brand criticized because of being
antifeminist, organizing hypersexual event and showcasing only tall skinny models. For
overcoming from that image Victoria Secret changed its tagline for repositioning. Repositioning
in the sense that customer didn't like their positioning through tagline as well as to survive
among new competitors. From the perfect body to more accepting of non-supermodels in
order to get rid of thoughts about body shaming and antifeminism. Victoria Secret started
repositioning during its growth stage for increasing their sales and profit again. So, they also
introduced flanker products such as Victoria Secret lingerie, Pink and established them into
business units. Flanker products of Victoria Secret can accomplish better job of desexualization
while remaining existing quality and attractive in a more lighthearted way.

One of the competitors of Victoria Secret was Aerie, positioned themselves as champions of
body positivity and refused to use Adobe Photoshop in the images for promotional activities.
Aerie campaigned in such a way that built a confidence among women so that they could post
photos without photo shopped and more accepting their own body type. After that campaign,
Aerie successfully increased its sales. Another competitor of Victoria Secret was Adore Me.
With a vision of transforming lingerie industry for every body type of women through creating
beautiful and affordable innerwear. Adore Me positioned as the only major lingerie line to offer
accessible and inclusive fashion that ranges from petite to plus. Using variety of body types,
heights and weights Adore Me change the perception of women what's beautiful and sexy have
inherently changed without losing weight or dieting. Adore Me and Aerie both companies made
their advertisement through featuring a range of women of all shapes and sizes. Besides that,
those companies made its consumer to focus on being healthy than on being skinny and for
that they were not much more attracted towards dieting or weight loss.

In 2017, the greatest client base for retail outlets in the women’s undergarment enterprise
have been aged ladies. In order to grab the consumer segment of teenage and college-aged
women, women’s undergarment retailers began providing a number of new products. The
combination of comfort and style selections offered through bralettes appealed to young
women and was once a full-size driver of growth in this category. At the equal time, with these
clients still in college, they had now not but carried out their highest buying power—meaning
that the prospective for widening amongst this age group was significant.
 Answer to the question no. 2

All marketing strategies are built on STP (Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning). According to
the case, Victoria’s Secret was the largest player in women’s garment industry which focused
on tall, skinny women as models. It has segmented into three business units.

 Victoria’s Secret Lingerie: - It focuses on sales of undergarments, lingerie & sleepwear.

 Pink: - That targeted young customer, specifically teenage and early twenties. They sold
the lingerie, sleepwear & undergarments which has variety of features such as
introducing brighter colors’ & designs on their lingerie’s.
 Victoria’ Secret Beauty: -It focuses on sales of cosmetics such as lotions, perfumes &
makeup.

Now, the marketing strategies that are done by Aerie, Adore Me & Soma differs from Victoria’s
Secret because each one of has different segmentation, targeting & positioning. Aerie products
are those which are targeted to young women, specifically aged (14-25). They positioned
themselves as ‘body positivity’. They are also showcasing real models without doing any
Photoshop. Their market segmentation was geographical because they opened 100 Aerie stores
in U.S & Canada. But on the other hand, Victoria’s Secret had 1131 stores in U.S.

Relatively Adore Me’s vision was to reorganize the undergarment industry by producing
beautiful, accessible and affordable lingerie’s for every body type, therefore they have
positioned themselves by selling wide ranges of sizes. The models showcasing their products
had variety of body types such as different height and weight which seemed to be average
American young women rather than tall, thin models hired by Victoria’s Secret. They are
segmenting their products through psychographic segmentation that develops their brand
personality. Therefore, they have sold their products online & opened the first retail showroom
in New York, which focuses on understanding of consumer insights.

Again, Soma is another lingerie brand that sold lingerie as well as sleepwear, swimwear,
loungewear & beauty products as Aerie. Their target customers are over age of 35 and their
products are also available in White House Black Market.

Here, overall case shows that there are many changes in the marketing strategies as
competitors enter the same marketing environment such as: -

 Victoria’s Secret sold bra’s in sizes 30A to 40D whereas Adore Me’s sold bra’s in sizes
30A to 40G and they are trying to bring size 46I in future depending on consumers body
size as too many women are obese.
 Again, the revenue of Adore me is $16.2 to $42.7 million which is low than Victoria’s
Secret $7.781 billion, therefore to gain the market share Adore Me & Aerie reduces the
 price to $49, whereas Victoria’s Secret charged higher prices $50 & $60 each. Thus, it
has higher sales compared other brands.
 Victoria’s Secret also changed their marketing strategy by excluding swimwear/apparel
and introduced comfortable, wireless bralettes in their company. But due to higher price
tags, the purchasing power decreased & the consumers started to shop less frequently
at Victoria’s Secret, since then the stock value dropped over 45% and the sales of the
parent company became weak.

Answer to the question no. 3

To introduce their product efficiently in the market and to adapt their product in the market
there are many strategies Victoria’s Secret can apply to the changing industry environment of
undergarment industry: -

 They can hire not only tall and thin but also different shapes models for showcasing
Victoria’s secret products thus positioning on ‘body positivity’.
 They can unite stores with online which makes it easy for a customer to view something
from online thus, creating a customer feedback option
 They can also change their pricing strategies so that the customers have high purchasing
power on their products than the competitors.
 They can provide a semiannual sale with discounted price, where they can get the
attention of their targeted customers and also can make a good impression among their
customers through this type of pricing strategy.
 They can ensure the authenticity of using the lingerie, by increasing the brand quality.
 They should maintain, brand loyalty & develop strong brand personality which would
increase the memorability of the product. Though they already have brand loyalty and
brand personality but their recent changes in their marketing strategy had made a bad
impression among their customers. So, they must try to recover it through creating new
brand loyalty and personality.
 They should produce lingerie’s for plus sized body types, which can be accessible by all
types of women of various height and weight.

The above-mentioned adaptations might impact the brand and its image positively. By selling
bras of bigger sizes the company will be able to cater to the needs of plus-sized women and
thus will become a one-stop-shop for buying bras and panties of all sizes. By using models that
are similar to typical American young women having different heights, weight, and body types,
the company will be able to reduce or get rid of criticism, enhance its image and establish a
connection with its target customers.