The high-end underwear brand most familiar to Chinese consumers-Victoria's Secret, is currently facing unprecedented difficulties.
Following the announcement of Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands (LB) in May this year that it would permanently close 250 stores in North America, it has recently been exposed that Victoria’s Secret UK has declared bankruptcy due to the epidemic. 25 All stores are closed, and more than 800 employees are facing unemployment. Globally, in addition to the planned closure of 250 stores in North America, a considerable number of stores will be closed.
After Victoria's Secret UK was "taken over", Stuart Burgdoerfer, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of L Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret, issued a statement stating that stores in other regions of the world will not be affected. It is reported that Victoria's Secret stores in China are still open.
But the epidemic is not the last straw to overwhelm Victoria's Secret UK. The real cause of bankruptcy can be summarized in one sentence, that is, "success is sexy and failure is sexy" is the most appropriate.
The original Victoria's Secret did not have a gorgeous Victoria's Secret show, nor did it use sexy supermodels and luxurious underwear to put a "sexy" brand on itself. All this turning point originated from the fact that Roy Raymond (the founder of Victoria's Secret) had to sell Victoria's Secret to The Limited Group, the predecessor of L Brands, due to the rupture of the capital chain due to intense expansion.
And Les Wexner, the owner of The Limited, a marketing genius who "knows women better than women", had a whim to cut the Victoria's Secret Show into a 30-second video. In the 1999 American Super Cup professional football game live broadcast, the Victoria's Secret show became famous overnight, and it also let the public know for the first time that underwear can also run on the show.
Since then, Victoria's Secret has risen and become the vane of the underwear market.
From then on, Victoria's Secret started crazy "sexy marketing". The long wavy hair of the Victoria's Secret Angels, tight and slender A4 waists, well-proportioned slender legs, cast a drowsy eyes and sweet smiles at the audience in a cheerful rhythm, made Victoria's Secret once "sexy." Synonymous with.
In 2003, Victoria’s Secret’s annual sales reached 2.8 billion US dollars, with 1,000 stores worldwide; in 2009, the annual sales reached 10.75 billion US dollars, and the peak period also set a record per minute. An amazing record of 600 pieces of underwear. The annual Victoria's Secret Show has consolidated the "sexy" label for Victoria's Secret year after year. Supermodels all over the world are aiming for the Victoria's Secret show, T Tai, and are proud of having angel wings.
But with the awakening of female consciousness in recent years, the pursuit of long buttocks The negative side of the single aesthetic of the leg, Victoria's Secret, has frequently appeared, and Victoria's Secret has been bitten by "sexy".
In 2014, Victoria's Secret used "Perfect Body" as a poster slogan, which aroused tens of thousands of signatures and opposition, although the slogan was changed to "A body for Every body", but the all-slim model on the poster still angered the public, so this advertisement was spoofed.
But this change did not arouse the vigilance of Victoria's Secret. L Brands has overlooked a reality: female consumer demand has changed from pleasing to pleasing to oneself, resulting in Victoria's Secret’s market share from 2013 31.7% dropped to 24% in 2018.
In 2018, Victoria's Secret's then Chief Marketing Officer Edward Lazek said in an interview that "Victoria's Secret will never use transgender and large-size models". This remark made Victoria's Secret directly labeled as "materialized". "Female" and "please men" labels.
Not only that, Victoria’s Secret has also been exposed by the New York Times that “the Victoria’s Secret Company has a deep-rooted culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment”, up to internal executives, Even the photographers are involved. Hundreds of models jointly signed a petition to resolutely safeguard the rights of the models and resist sexual harassment and violence of various natures.
On November 22, 2019, Victoria’s Secret officially announced the cancellation of this year’s Victoria’s Secret Show and the closure of 53 stores around the world, a fashion event that has attracted much attention. In this way, everyone's sight faded out of sorrow.
Nowadays, the public's impression of Victoria's Secret, except for the lingering sex scandal, is the stereotype of "sexy". "Sexy" has become Victoria's Secret's heaviest burden.
In this contrast, the public began to tend to choose those that respect consumers and pay attention to consumer needs New brand. For example, Aerie, which advocates "real and natural", not only invites models of various shapes to shoot commercials, but also keeps pregnant women's stretch marks in the advertisement without processing. There is also Savage x Fenty, who advocates "diversity", who believes that any body, skin color, or race has its own unique beauty, and no one should be excluded.
Due to the situation, Victoria's Secret had to make new attempts, using large-size models and transgender models.
In order to stabilize the Chinese market, Yang Mi, He Sui, and Zhou Dongyu were invited to become the new spokespersons of the Victoria's Secret brand. They wanted to show a more diverse and redefined "sexy".
But under the negative influence accumulated over the years, can the "becoming" Victoria's Secret use these actions to change everyone's inherent impression? Being "revived" in the Chinese market through digital transport, we can only wait for time to verify.
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