Apparently, You Can Be Too Sexy
By: Amy Merrick
Shalene Rhodes Jeffrey Tuma Aimee Suelzle
The Old Strategy
Capitalize on the “Pink” product line which has seen large growth since the early 2000’s Focus on bright colors and less modest product lines. At the same time, updating the store atmosphere to be more hip-loud music and bright colors Target market focusing on pre-teen and high-school age students
Why Sexy Strategy Didn’t Work
Attempted to keep up with the “changing times” by hyping up sex in their product lines Defined “sexy” in such a way that came cross as too sexy causing consumers to be turned off from VS products Created a store environment that didn't fit the type of products they where trying to sell – came across as “loud, trashy, and uninspiring”
Secret’s New Strategy
Move away from Pink and design ultra-feminine and sophisticated products – redefine what sexy means for the company
Hire new executives for the head of beauty division and product and store design.
Focus on what the customer wants rather then trying to stay caught up with the “changing times”
According to COTM
Girls are inefficient shoppers-but are the most frequent shoppers
Each teenager is worth about $200/week The typical college freshman carries $2000 balance on credit card
The Outcome
By changing their “Pink” strategy, VS could lose the youth portion of their target sales It may be too late for VS to bring back customers who have been turned off by the current “sexy” The new strategy will reach a larger and older target audience with a greater income
Sales
The Limited Inc. is a $10 billion dollar plus company VS contributes $5 billion to those sales Pink line was estimated to reach $900 million in sales in 2007
Questions?
Video Sources
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7ul5E vzrHw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIjvb_ WjPWc&feature=related