'Victoria's Secret'- The secret behind its Downfall

Roy Raymond the Victoria's Secret's founder, wanted to give his wife an underwear gift.

She found a women's underwear store in the mall. But her heart was terribly uncomfortable.

It was a bit of a ‘sold out’ thing for a man to hang around in a women’s underwear store.

So, Raymond started a women's underwear store where men as well as women could go in and out comfortably.

It was called 'Victoria's Secret'.

It was the will to reproduce the elegance and sophistication of the British Queen Victoria era in underwear.

It was in 1977. Business didn't go very well.

By 1982, it was on the verge of bankruptcy. It was then that Leslie Wexner appeared.

He pays $1 million to buy six failing Victoria's Secret stores and catalogs.

Sales reached $500 million in two years, and by the early 1990s, there were 350 stores, and annual sales had grown to $1 billion.

Since then, Victoria's Secret has become synonymous with lingerie. It was evaluated as a company that leads the women's underwear culture, and I've heard that it is a company that defines the sexiness of modern women.

The news is that Victoria's Secret is being sold to a private equity fund.

Victoria's Secret parent company L Brands recently decided to sell a 55% stake in Victoria's Secret to private equity fund Seeker more Partners.

The sale price is 525 million dollars. The remaining 45% of the stake will remain owned by L Brands, but Wexner will step down as CEO of L Brands, the company he founded.

L Brands is a global retailer founded by Wexner in 1963 in a small store in Ohio, USA.

In addition to Victoria's Secret, it owns a body care brand 'Bath and Bodyworks'.

How the hell did it happen? There may be several reasons.

There must have been some mismanagement, and there must have been some thing that failed to cope with the emergence of competing companies.

But perhaps most notably, the concept of sexiness is changing. Let's take a look at several reasons why Victoria's Secret went down.

The decline of shopping malls and the growth of online stores.

Victoria's Secret is one of the must-see stores in any US shopping mall.

It was because they moved into as many malls as possible in line with the shopping mall construction boom that occurred in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s.

It was also thanks to this strategy that it became one of the most famous brands in the United States. Because I saw it everywhere.

But as online shopping becomes mainstream, this strategy becomes obsolete.

It reached 31.7% in 2013, but dropped to 24% in 2018. Although it still has the highest market share, it is a decline compared to its former glory.

Tired of sexy marketing Victoria's Secret held their first annual fashion show in 1995.

Supermodels walked the runway in high heels and expensive jeweled underwear.

Even with wings.

In 2000, Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen wore a $15 million bra studded with diamonds and rubies.

It's called a 'fantasy bra'. This annual fashion show becomes a cultural phenomenon

In 1999, when the fashion show was first broadcast online, 15 million people logged in at the same time and the site went down.

It was broadcasted on TV later. At its peak in popularity in 2013, it reached 97 million viewers.

With this sexy marketing on its back, Victoria's Secret is on the verge of success.

Sharen Jester Turney, who became CEO in 2006, increases the brand's sales by 70% in 10 years.

Annual sales reach $7.7 billion. However, Victoria's Secret has been on a downtrend since 2016, when Jester Turney stepped down as CEO.

Fashion show viewership continues to decline, reaching 33 million in 2018

In 2019, the fashion show was even canceled. While focusing on sexiness from a male point of view, they failed to notice the change in women's perception of beauty and sexiness.

Kalinda Ukanwa, Professor of Marketing, USC Marshall Business School, said:
“We live in the #MeToo era. Ideas are changing and people are asking for and wanting to be accepted, both racially and physically. If apparel companies can’t adapt and evolve, it’s a huge flaw.”

In this way, Victoria's Secret was eventually evaluated as 'out of date'.

The rise of 'athleisure' and the popularity of sports bras Women now buy sports bras rather than push-up bras.

More and more women are not even wearing bras. According to a 2018 survey, sports bras accounted for a third of millennials' bra purchases.

That's catastrophic for a company that makes and sells lace-up padded bras and push-up bras.

Here, Victoria's Secret suffers even more as the 'athleisure look' becomes popular.

Athleisure is a compound word of ‘athletic’ meaning ‘exercise’ and ‘leisure’ meaning ‘leisure’.

Women started wearing underwear from Lululemon, Nike, and Under Armor, even if they didn't have to exercise. It's comfortable to work with.

Of course, Victoria's Secret also sells sports bras, but they weren't very popular.

Online Companies winning over The Victoria's Secret

Victoria's Secret is also starting to fall behind online companies that emphasize comfort and practicality.

Women-owned brands such as ThirdLove and True & Co. and pop star Liana's Savage X Fenty offer comfortable and practical underwear that can be selected in a variety of sizes and skin tones. Because it's giving out.

The relationship between billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and Wexner CEO Wexner, who caused a stir in American politics over juvenile sexual assault allegations, also had a negative impact on Victoria's Secret's image.

Has there ever been a time when a famous brand that everyone has heard of has gone down so sharply without a decisive accident or major flaw in the product?

The fall of Victoria's Secret shows that no matter how good a product is, it will inevitably be pushed out if it does not keep up with changes in consumer perceptions.

In the women's underwear market, where sexiness from a man's point of view was important, it can be seen that women have finally regained their identity.

Maybe underwear should have been viewed from the point of view of comfort and practicality, not from the point of view of sexy. Consumers now want clothes and brands that are comfortable and comfortable for anyone to wear, not underwear that looks good when worn by supermodels.

In that sense, the downfall of Victoria's Secret is highly suggestive.