Brand Awareness

Victoria's Secret does a great job when it comes to brand awareness.  When they want consumers to get excited for the holiday shopping season, they put on a show to spread the awareness of the brand.  However, this is not just any show.  Victoria's Secret creates a media spectacle with its annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.  The show is seen by millions worldwide during the Christmas buying season and generates tons of publicity for the brand.  Besides the fashion show, Victoria's Secret is mostly known for their celebrity models.  These models are the key factor in spreading the brand awareness for the company.  The models go on interviews and appearances, make commercials and pose for the catalogue in order to create a buzz for the awareness of the brand.  Lastly, Victoria's Secret is on almost every social media website there is.  They have pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc.  They are really getting involved in the social media aspect of E-commerce.  This is how they let their customers know what is going on with the company and new products or promotions that are going to take place.   

Building awareness for Victoria's Secret outside the U.S. is especially important now that the company has begun to expand internationally.  They have opened a few Victoria's Secret shops in international airports, such as in Dubai and Buenos Aires, that will serve as a testing ground for overseas expansion.  In order to bring more awareness internationally, they should look into cheaper shipping costs to international countries as well as expand where they ship to.  By doing this, their brand awareness will spread tremendously fast.   

Customer Behavior & Attitudes

You can rarely go into a local shopping mall and not find a Victoria's Secret store.  Victoria's Secret uses "girly" colors like pinks and reds in order to create a visually appealing store for their customer to walk into.  They also use their "sexy" models in order to sell the brand to the consumer.  Advertising plays a large role in the fashion decisions made by the customer of the brand.  Victoria's Secret immediately comes to a person's mind when they think of lingerie, bras and panties.  By using the models to appear in commercials and advertise the brand, the consumer begins to believe that they can be just as seductive as the Victoria's Secret supermodels if they purchase the lingerie.  This is what draws the customer to the stores and what gives them the drive to shop at the store.  

For women who think that the Victoria's Secret line is too sexy for them, the "Pink" line offers a casual alternative that allows young women to feel cute and playful.  A Pink consumer uses personal influences to make purchase decisions.  They like to take their personal sense of style to the next level by wearing clothing that better suits their personalities. 

Target Market/Market and Customer Segmentation

Victoria's Secret's Target Market is the middle class woman or man shopping for a middle class woman aged 21-49.  The customer wants to feel sexy and look sexy, which is why she comes to shop at Victoria's Secret.  Whether she is trying to buy lingerie to wear on a casual day or on a night to impress someone, Victoria's Secret caters to her needs and wants.  She is not afraid to look sexy or wear skimpy lingerie.  

Victoria's Secret's PINK line attracts people outside of the Victoria's Secret market.  These are the younger age women, such as the college student aged 16-29.  The bright colors, trendier prints and smaller attire appeals to be more casual and laid back than the traditional Victoria's Secret line.  This line inspires the younger generation to come into the store and shop.  Victoria's Secret recognized that there is a fad with females who are growing up faster and faster.  The Pink line position's itself as an acceptable method of offering female young adults the opportunity to purchase items where not many other apparel brands will. 

Brand, Product and Company Positioning

Victoria's Secret has 1,040 stores globally with more than 6 million square feet of retail space.  Net sales are more than $5 billion and average sales per selling square foot are $581.  However, when the word globally is used, it actually means the United States.  International sales are mostly mail order or at a handful of airport stores.  Victoria's Secret could position their international presence better and is something they should work on.

Victoria's Secret still might be a secret to a lot of people in the Middle East as well.  Sexy lingerie and conservative societies do not always mix.  This means that expansion into the region will be slow and is most likely going to be led by beauty and branded accessories.  That is what the brand current does in their Mirdiff City Centre Mall in Dubai.  

Victoria's Secret's Corporate site says: "Visit one of the most powerful, sexy and glamorous stores in the world, Victoria's Secret, where you'll find a dazzling assortment of intimate apparel, beauty products, sleepwear, hosiery  and more."  Sexy and glamorous are the keywords, with the brand one of the dominant players in the mid to up-market lingerie stakes.  Victoria's Secret has never made any secret of its highly sexualized merchandise, which has allowed it to establish a strong brand positioning. 

Addressability

Strength:  Victoria's Secret has a very easy URL Addressability to remember.  It is simply Victoriassecret.com (their name).  This is a huge strength because if someone wants to buy something from Victoria's Secret online, they will actually go to the website right away, instead of trying to figure out what the URL is.  Some stores cannot make their URL Addressability the name of their store.  This is where Victoria's Secret has a huge advantage in the business. 

Threats: A possible threat could be if someone made an URL Addressability say "Victoriassecrets.com" or "Victoriassecretlingerie.com"  They are very similar to their current URL, so customers might get confused as to which website is the real website. 

Interactivity

Strengths:  Victoria's Secret does a great job with interactivity on their website with their customers.  If there is a sale going on, the main page will state the sale and any additional discounts offered.  The customer immediately is aware of the promotions and can respond by actually buying the promotion that is being offered  On their Facebook page they also tell their "followers" what is happening with the company, what is the new "hot" item, what the Angels are up to, etc.  They really like to keep their customers involved in the process of creating new products and love to hear the customers opinions.  Lastly, Victoria's Secret sends tons of emails.  They are always trying to communicate with their customer's through email.  Email is how they mainly get their customer base that is needed in order to make the brand as successful as it is today. 

Weaknesses: A main weakness that Victoria's Secret has is that they do not have an online chat on their website.  Since they do not have an online chat on their website, they are most likely loosing potential sales that could really benefit the brand.  If someone needs help measuring what bra size they are at home or was not sure about a particular item, an online chat could help tremendously.  This weakness should be fixed immediately for the brand.

Opportunities: An opportunity for Victoria's Secret's interactivity is getting an online chat.  With the online chat being accessible by the online shoppers, more questions would be answered, more products would be sold, and a lot more customers would be happy with their purchase decision.  Also, there will probably be less online returns since the customer can get any questions answered before they buy the product. 

Threats:  A huge threat to Victoria's Secret's interactivity is the use of online chat's from competition.  Competitors already have online chats on their websites to ask questions.  Their websites are more advanced with this technology and they are able to access their customer directly, more than Victoria's Secret can since they do not have an online chat.  

Memory

Strengths: Victoria's Secret allows you to make an account on their website.  Once you have made an account, all of your information is stored on the website including your address, credit card information and email address.  This gives the customer a convenient shopping experience and saves them time and aggravation. 

Weaknesses: One main weakness that Victoria's Secret has is that their Credit Card website does not link to their own website.  It is through a different company, so in order to pay your Victoria's Secret "Angel Card" you have to go to a separate website and do any necessary transactions regarding your credit card there. 

Opportunities: Victoria's Secret has the opportunity to link their website with their credit card website. By doing this, it will be easier for the customer to take advantage of all the benefits the "Angel Card" offers and will be convenient for the customer. 

Threats: Other websites already link their credit card website to their main website.  If anything, they have all of the credit card information in the "Your Account" section on the website.  Customers who have a credit card might prefer this option better and shop at competitors rather than Victoria's Secret.