Victoria’s Secret Cuts Swimwear, Accessories, Catalogues; Lingerie Label Hires CEO Jan Singer
May 21, 2016 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
Victoria’s Secret is currently working to simplify and narrow its retail focus and just confirmed the rumored elimination of swimwear. Additionally, the lingerie powerhouse has eliminated catalogue mailers and hired a new CEO, Jan Singer.
Singer was previously CEO at Spanx and will replace Sharen Jester Turney — who unexpectedly departed the company back in February. Singer will report to Les Wexner, CEO of the Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands, beginning in September, British Vogue reported.
Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, Pink and Victoria’s Secret Beauty are now the company’s overall labels. To focus on these three facets, Victoria’s Secret also eliminated its shoes, accessories and apparel — in addition to swimwear.
“We’re making these changes proactively, from a position of strength and following a record fourth quarter and 2015 for the brand,” Stuart Burgdoerfer, the company’s finance chief, told The Wall Street Journal, adding that swimwear has been a “flattish business for the last several years”
Victoria’s Secret also plans to focus less on “traditional catalogues and offers.” The company currently spends $125 million to $150 million a year producing its catalog.
“One of the things that we try to do is we say, if we were starting this business today in current context 2016, would you start with one of your major ideas being a catalog, a paper-based catalog, sent through the mail as one of your key — if not your key — marketing activity for a global brand?” Burgdoerfer told BuzzFeed.
Victoria’s Secret reportedly experimented by completely halting its catalog distribution in two “significant markets” for a year and didn’t see any meaningful change in sales. Also, in the fourth quarter of 2015, the company eliminated all catalog activity by a whopping 40 percent and saw a significant increase in direct channel sales during the same timeframe.
