The secret of the leading underwear brand Victoria has not kept up with the preferences of customers. The share price of parent company L Brands (LB) fell 46% this year.
According to research firm Euromonitor International, the brand still leads the field of women’s underwear, including bras, underwear and underwear.
But gorgeous fashion shows, push-up bras and celebrity models are not as attractive as they used to be. Instead, women are calling for more suitable products.
A young online competitor, ThirdLove, announced last month that it had 1.3 million women on its waiting list for its 24 new sizes, including 28 to 48 bands and AA to H Cups, including half size.
In the first five days of the new size available, ThirdLove said it was priced at $1 million.
Online stores such as ThirdLove, Lively and True&Co. Technology and utilization data are being used to provide custom sizes and new products.
Instinet retail analyst Simeon Siegel said the recent trend in bracelets – bras without liners or rims, using traditional sizes such as small, medium and large – helped open the door to online retailers .
“With the emergence of the bralette… the size has changed dramatically,” he said.
Bras come in a variety of sizes, and finding the right size for women without trying to wear can be tricky. Siegel explained that because the tray does not use a specific belt size or cup size, customers can purchase it online with confidence.
He explained that once women are used to buying bras on the Internet, they start experimenting with more complex exercises.
“All of a sudden, the moat that was dug deep around Victoria’s secrets began to run out,” he said.
Lively’s founder and CEO, Michelle Cordeiro Grant, said her company is focused on “the way women feel about products when they see themselves,” rather than how they want to be seen by other important people.
After the customer complained that the bralettes did not provide enough support, Lively introduced a larger “full buste”. Grant said that the new products were sold out in one day and thousands of women signed up for the waiting list.
Heidi Zak, co-founder of ThirdLove, said that after Victoria’s secret was dissatisfied, she began to seriously consider underwear.
“I walked around the store and thought about myself, ‘Why am I here?’” she recalls. When she got home, she began to study the market. “I thought, ‘If there is nothing, I will create it.'”
Zach said that for many women, bra shopping is an unpleasant experience. It’s hard to find your size, and stripping it for measurement by a salesperson can be embarrassing.
“This is not a social shopping experience,” she added.
She explained that ThirdLove was beta tested in 15 new sizes last year and sold out in a few weeks. “Between last year and this year, the demand for these sizes has been suppressed a lot,” she said, helping to increase the waiting list to 1.3 million.
Both ThirdLove and True&Co are. Use online fit quizzes to ask about bands, cups and chest shapes to help women find the right bra size. Victoria’s Secret’s online fitness test does not include questions about breast shape.
As more and more women use quizzes, companies can collect more data about customer needs.
True&Co. Michelle Lam, CEO and co-founder, said her company has more than 130 million data points due to tests.
Cowen analyst Oliver Chen said that Victoria’s Secret can benefit from a better loyalty program. They “must really rethink customer data,” he said. “If you run a big brand, you will have a hard time changing.”
L Brands did not respond to requests for comment. But the company is already making changes.
In a conference call with investors in May, L Brands’ chief financial officer, Stewart B. Bergdorfer, said he was “unsatisfied” with the recent decline in Victoria’s secret sales and promised to improve.
Victoria’s Secret introduces new products, such as a series of bras with seams, no clothes and a more fitting T-shirt bra.
“These bras are attracting new and young customers,” said Victoria’s Secret CEO Jan Singer. Singh added, “We will continue to develop.”