Victoria's Secret

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## Victoria's Secret

### Founded

June 12, 1977; 43 years agoStanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, CA, United States

### Products

Underwear, Lingerie, Beauty products, Sportswear, Swimwear

### Subsidiaries

Pink

**Victoria's Secret** is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest retailer of lingerie in the United States, the brand has struggled since 2016 due to shifting consumer preferences and ongoing controversy surrounding corporate leadership's business practices.

Founded in 1977 by Roy and Gaye Raymond, the company's five lingerie stores were sold to Leslie Wexner in 1982. Wexner rapidly expanded into American shopping malls, growing the company into 350 stores nationally with sales of $1 billion by the early 1990s when Victoria's Secret became the largest lingerie retailer in the United States.

From 1995 through 2018, the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was an essential part of the brand's image featuring an annual runway spectacle of models promoted by the company as fantasy Angels. The 1990s saw the company's further expansion throughout shopping malls along with the introduction of the *miracle bra*, the new brand *Body by Victoria*, and the development of a line of fragrances and cosmetics. In 2002 Victoria's Secret announced the launch of PINK, a brand that was aimed to appeal to teenagers. Starting in 2008, Victoria's Secret expanded internationally, with retail outlets within international airports, franchises in major cities overseas, and in company-owned stores throughout Canada and the UK.

## History

### 1977–1981

Victoria's Secret was founded by Roy Raymond, and his wife, Gaye Raymond, on June 12, 1977. The first store was opened in the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California. Years earlier, Raymond was embarrassed when purchasing lingerie for his wife at a department store. *Newsweek* reported Roy Raymond stating: "When I tried to buy lingerie for my wife, I was faced with racks of terry-cloth robes and ugly floral-print nylon nightgowns, and I always had the feeling the department store saleswomen thought I was an unwelcome intruder." Raymond reportedly spent the next eight years studying the lingerie market.

At the time when the Raymonds founded Victoria's Secret, the undergarments market in America was dominated by pragmatic items from Fruit of the Loom, Hanes, and Jockey, often sold in packs of three at department stores, while lingerie was reserved for special occasions such as one's honeymoon. Considered niche products, lingerie items (such as lacy thongs and padded push-up bras) were only found in specialty shops like Frederick's of Hollywood, located “alongside feathered boas and provocative pirate costumes“. In 1977, Raymond borrowed $40,000 from family and $40,000 from a bank to establish Victoria's Secret: a store in which men could feel comfortable buying lingerie. The store was named in reference to Queen Victoria and the associated refinement of the Victorian era, while the "secret" was hidden underneath the clothes.

Victoria's Secret grossed $500,000 in its first year of business, enough to finance the expansion from a headquarters and warehouse to four new store locations and a mail-order operation. The fourth store, added in 1982 at 395 Sutter Street, operated at that location until 1990, when it was moved to the larger Powell Street frontage of the Westin St. Francis.

In April 1982, Raymond sent out his 12th catalog at a cost to customers of $3 (equivalent to $7.95 in 2019); catalog sales accounted for 55% of the company's $7 million annual sales that year. Victoria's Secret was a minor player in the underwear market at this time, with the business described as "more burlesque than Main Street."

### 1982–1990

In 1982, Victoria's Secret had grown to five stores, a 40-page catalog, and was grossing $6 million annually. Raymond sold the company to Les Wexner, creator of Limited Stores Inc of Columbus, Ohio, for $1 million. In 1983, Wexner revamped Victoria's Secret's sales model towards a greater focus on female customers. Victoria's Secret transformed into a mainstay that sold broadly accepted underwear with "new colors, patterns and styles that promised sexiness packaged in a tasteful, glamorous way and with the snob appeal of European luxury" meant to appeal to female buyers. To further this image, the Victoria's Secret catalog continued the practice that Raymond began: listing the company's headquarters on catalogs at a fake London address, with the real headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. The stores were redesigned to evoke 19th century England.

*The New York Times* reported in 1982 that the financial success of the Victoria's Secret catalog influenced other catalogs by presenting lingerie as "romantic and sensual but tasteful", "in which models are photographed in ladylike poses against elegant backgrounds." Howard Gross became president in 1985. In October of that year, the *Los Angeles Times* reported that Victoria's Secret was stealing market share from department stores; in 1986, Victoria's Secret was the only national chain devoted to lingerie.

*The New York Times* reported that Victoria's Secret swiftly expanded to 100 stores by 1986. and described it in 1987 as a "highly visible leader" that used "unabashedly sexy high-fashion photography to sell middle-priced underwear." In 1990, analysts estimated that sales had quadrupled in four years, making it one of the fastest growing mail-order businesses. Sales and profits from the catalog continued to expand due to the addition of clothing, swimwear and shoes and wider circulation.

Cynthia Fedus-Fields oversaw the company's direct business, including its catalog, from the mid-1980s until 2000.  During her tenure, total revenues increased to nearly $1 billion. In 1987, Victoria's Secret was reported to be among the best-selling catalogs.

### 1991–2005

Victoria's Secret experienced quality problems with their product in the early 1990s and was working to resolve the issues. In 1991, Howard Gross was assigned to fix the L Brands subsidiary Limited Stores. *In* 1993, *Business Week* reported that both divisions suffered. Gross was succeeded by Grace Nichols, who worked to improve the product quality. The company's margins tightened, resulting in a slower growth of profits.

Victoria's Secret expanded beyond apparel in the 1990s with the launch of their own line of fragrances in 1991, followed by their entrance into the billion dollar cosmetics market in 1998.

Victoria's Secret introduced the *Miracle Bra* in 1993, selling two million within the first year. When faced with competition from Sara Lee's WonderBra a year later in 1994, the company responded with a TV campaign. At the same time, in 1994, Wexner discussed the creation of a company fashion event with Ed Razek. The first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, held in 1995 in New York, became a mainstay for the company's image for the next 23 years.

By 1998, Victoria's Secret's market share of the intimate apparel market was 14 percent and the company also entered the $3.5 billion cosmetic market. The following year, in 1999, the company added the *Body by Victoria* line. The catalog had achieved "an almost cult-like following”. In May 2000, Cynthia Fedus-Fields stepped down as CEO after delivering record profits in 1999 and early 2000. Fedus-Fields later stated that, up until the point of her departure, the company was guided by sensibilities of what a European woman would choose to wear. After her departure in 2000, the brand pursued an image that was “much more blatantly sexy.”

In May 2000, Wexner installed Sharen Jester Turney, previously of Neiman Marcus Direct, as the new chief executive of Victoria's Secret Direct to turn around catalog sales that were lagging behind other divisions. *Forbes* reported Turney stating, "We need to quit focusing on all that cleavage." In 2000, Turney began to redefine Victoria's Secret catalog from "breasts—spilling over the tops of black, purple and reptile-print underthings" to one that would appeal to an "upscale customer who now feels more comfortable buying La Perla or Wolford lingerie."; "dimming the hooker looks" such as "tight jeans and stilettos"; and moving from "a substitute for Playboy in some dorm rooms," to something closer to a *Vogue* lifestyle layout, where lingerie, sleepwear, clothes and cosmetics appear throughout the catalog. Beginning in 2000, Grace Nichols, CEO of Victoria's Secret Direct, led a similar change at Victoria's Secret's stores—moving away from an evocation of 1800s England (or a Victorian bordello).

### 2006–present

By 2006, Victoria's Secret's 1,000 stores across the United States accounted for one third of all purchases in the intimate apparel industry.  In May 2006, Wexner promoted Sharen Jester Turney from the Victoria's Secret catalog and online units to lead the whole company. In 2008, she acknowledged "product quality that doesn't equal the brand's hype." In September 2006, Victoria's Secret reportedly tried to make their catalog feel more like magazines by head-hunting writers from *Women's Wear Daily*.

The company had about a third of the market share in its category in 2013.

In February 2016, Turney stepped down as CEO of Victoria's Secret after serving for a decade. Victoria's Secret was split into three divisions: Victoria's Secret Lingerie, Victoria's Secret Beauty, and Pink, each with a separate CEO.

## Products

In addition to the primary brand of lingerie for Victoria's Secret, the company has secondary product lines: namely, activewear known as Victoria sports, swimwear, and a beauty division with fragrances, make-up, accessories, and other bath and body products.

The swimwear, introduced in 2002, was made available until April 2016, when the company announced that the line would end and be replaced by a new line of activewear. The swim line was relaunched in November 2018. In March 2019, the swim line was made available in shops.

In 2010, Victoria's Secret launched the *Incredible* bra.

The company released the Victoria's Secret *Designer Collection* in 2012, described by *Vogue* as the company's "first high end lingerie line."

In 2016, Victoria's Secret confined the elimination of swimwear, apparel, shoes, and accessories.

In 2017, the company began to put more emphasis on bralettes (bras without underwire, often intended to be worn visibly) and sports bras (under the Victoria Sport label) to appeal to a younger customer base.

In 2019, Victoria's Secret relaunched its product line of eyewear and footwear, in hopes of boosting struggling sales for the brand.

## Operating divisions

The Victoria Secret's brand is organized into three divisions: **Victoria's Secret Stores** (physical locations), **Victoria's Secret Direct** (online and catalog operations), and **Victoria's Secret Beauty** (bath and cosmetics). The change was made in 2016 by Wexner to “refocus on core business” and it required each division to have its own CEO.

### Victoria's Secret stores

The physical store locations were an important part of establishing the brand and remained concentrated in the United States from 1977 until the early 2000s.

Victoria's Secret stores took over the lingerie market during the 1980s by using a fabricated sense of Britain, featuring this romantic styling and soft classical music. In the early years, Wexner himself was involved in carefully orchestrating store interior design through the use of English floral wallpaper circa 1890, gilded fixtures, classical music, soft lighting, the scent of old-fashioned sachet, and elegant perfume bottles that "look like your grandmother's crystal".
**August 2011** map of store locations in the United States
During the 1990s, in-store sales at Victoria's Secret increased by 30% after the company tracked and applied data analysis of where specific styles, sizes, and colors were selling. The decade also brought an expansion of store size to triple from 1,400 square feet to an average 4,500 square feet. The trend continued into 2002 when the average Victoria's Secret store was 6,000 square feet.

In 2000, the *Los Angeles Times* reported that the company continued the practice of putting on "a British air—or what the Ohio-based chain thinks Americans believe is British. Boudoirish. Tony. Upscale."

By 2010, there were 1,000 Victoria's Secret lingerie stores and 100 independent Victoria's Secret Beauty Stores in the United States, mostly in shopping centers, then offering bras, panties, hosiery, cosmetics, and sleepwear.

#### International stores

The international expansion of Victoria's Secret stores began in 2008. As of 2016, L Brands maintained control of operations at company-owned stores in Canada, the UK, and China but relied on franchises elsewhere in the world for its Victoria's Secret Beauty & Accessory (VSBA) locations.

##### Canada

The drive for growth coupled with a maturing American retail market led to a shift towards expansion, first into Canada. In 2010, the first Canadian store opened in Edmonton, Alberta. In 2012 Victoria's Secret opened a store in Quebec. Several of the company's stores in Canada are considered large by retail standards and span more than 10,000 square feet each. As of 2020, the company's Canadian locations included cities in all ten provinces, from British Columbia all the way to the Maritimes. However, the company announced, in May 2020, plans to permanently shutter 13 of its 38 Canadian stores, representing a loss of one third of the Canadian fleet.

##### United Kingdom

Victoria's Secret opened a store at the Westfield Shopping Centre, Stratford, London in July 2012. Their flagship 40,386-square-foot- (3,752.0 m2) store on New Bond Street, London followed in August 2012. Locations in the United Kingdom include the cities of Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol, Westfield London, Bluewater, Brent Cross and Glasgow.[*citation needed*] As of June 2020, there were 25 stores in the United Kingdom. That same month, *Retail Dive* reported that as the brand's UK arm filed the "equivalent of Chapter 11" bankruptcy, as it struggled with falling sales, profits, and market share.

##### China

In 2016, it was reported that L Brands fully purchased 26 stores back from its franchise partners in China. The company announced plans to expand on the existing 26 Victoria's Secret Beauty & Accessory (VSBA) stores (boutiques which sold beauty products in airports or malls), through the addition of flagship stores in Shanghai and Beijing.

*Reuters* reported that, as of June 2020, Victoria's Secret had two dozen stores in Greater China. That same month, the company permanently closed its 50,000 square foot flagship store in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong after only two years of operation.

### Victoria's Secret Direct

#### Catalog (1977 - 2016)

Prior to the emergence of e-commerce, the company's catalogs were a key aspect of successfully marketing a product considered risqué to consumers in the privacy of their own homes. According to Joseph Sugarman, the 1979 catalog was “a lot more sensuous” and took the form of “an upmarket version of a Frederick's of Hollywood lingerie catalog.”

*The New York Times* reported that the success of Victoria's Secret catalogs influenced others to present lingerie as "romantic and sensual but tasteful" with models photographed in elegant settings. The company was known for accepting phone orders at any hour which helped it establish dominance of the lingerie market. The *Los Angeles Times* described the catalog in 2000 as having achieved "an almost cult-like following." The company was mailing more than 400 million catalogs annually in 2010.

In May 2016, the brand decided to discontinue the catalog which had run at a cost of $125 million to $150 million annually due to concern that catalogs had grown stale as a marketing device and confidence that sales would not be affected.

#### E-commerce

Victoria's Secret spent three years building an e-commerce website that was officially launched on December 4, 1998. Following heavy promotion of the 1999 fashion show, the website experienced high traffic volumes, with visitors enduring "slowdowns and bottlenecks" while viewing the first online fashion show on February 3, 1999. Ad placement in the *Wall Street Journal* and a 30-minute TV spot during the Super Bowl contributed to drive record numbers of visitors to the website.

### Victoria's Secret Beauty

In 1998, Intimate Brands Inc., the parent company of Victoria's Secret, created a new entity: Intimate Beauty Corporation. The goal for Intimate Beauty Corporation was to manage and develop the bath, fragrance and cosmetic products for Victoria's Secret. By 2006 the Victoria's Secret Beauty division had reported sales of nearly US$1 billion. The company sought to expand its beauty and accessories stores at airports around the world in the early 2010s.

#### Franchise locations worldwide (VSBA)

Victoria's Secret Beauty opened a provisional UK boutique at Heathrow Airport in 2005 through partnership with World Duty Free.

In 2010, Victoria's Secret expanded with Victoria's Secret Beauty & Accessory (VSBA) franchises internationally. That year M.H. Alshaya Co. opened the first Victoria's Secret store in the Marina Mall in Kuwait, selling cosmetics and accessories but not the company's lingerie line. Two VSBA stores were opened in the early 2010s at Schiphol International Airport, Netherlands. That same year the first Latin American franchise store opened in Isla Margarita, Venezuela, followed by a store in Bogota, Colombia, in July 2012. An additional store opened in the Multiplaza Mall in San Salvador, El Salvador in 2012.

A Caribbean location opened in November 2011 at Plaza Las Americas in San Juan, Puerto Rico followed by a store in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic at the Agora, and Sambil Santo Domingo malls in 2012. In July 2012 the first Polish store opened at the Złote Tarasy shopping mall in Warsaw, also operated by M.H. Alshaya Co..

A Serbian store opened in January 2014 at the Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade.

As of 2016, L Brands had more than 370 VSBA franchise shops worldwide, with the company's largest international market reportedly in Turkey and the Middle East.

## See also

* Victoria's Secret/Locations

**Big Box/Department Store Chains**
*Dick's Sporting Goods*
Field & Stream | Galyan's | Golf Galaxy
*Regent Brands*
*Other Chains*
Belk | Staples

**Casual Mall/Store Chains**

*Ann, Inc.*
Ann Taylor | LOFT | Lou & Grey
*Ascena Stores*
*Claire's*
*Closeout*
Casual Corner Annex
*Express*
Express Men | Ruum American Kid's Wear
*Hot Topic*
Blackheart Lingerie | BoxLunch | ShockHound | Torrid
*Journeys*
Journeys Kidz | Shii by Journeys | Underground by Journeys
*The Limited*
The Limited Men
*Regent Brands*
Henri Bendel | La Senza (La Senza Girl)
*Tween Brands*
Brothers | Justice | Limited Too (Limited Too Boys)
*Other Assets*

**Other Assets**

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