Thu 10 Jul 2008
Knowing Your Customers the Victoria’s Secret Way
Posted by Megan Dorn under Random thoughts, Small Business
I would absolutely LOVE to do an interview with someone from the Victoria’s Secret marketing department. Why? Quite frankly, they’re brilliant. No company knows its customers quite like Victoria’s Secret. They are always on the ball…with everything. They are the premier retailer of high-class, luxury lingerie, and yet they find a way to reach all women. For decades the chain has used intense branding to maintain an upscale image, making women feel glamorous and sexy, yet paired it with department store-like price promotions, making it an affordable luxury.
On top of knowing women in general, Victoria’s Secret marketers know their individual customers as well. Every year for my birthday they send me a gift card, which even though I’m sure was done by computer is still thoughtful. They even send one of my coworkers a gift card a few weeks before his wife’s birthday and send her a card before his. How do they even know to do that? It’s genius. The one that really suckers people in is the “one free panty” coupons that they frequently send in the mail. You go into the store planning to spend nothing and come out having racked up a $200 bill.
Small businesses can learn more about marketing from Victoria’s Secret than they could from just about any other company in the world. If anyone from the marketing department at Victoria’s Secret happens to stumble across this post, please, please, please email me at startupblog_at_partnerup_dot_com…pretty please! If you do, I promise to go on a huge spending spree. Just throwin’ that out there.
October 6th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Excellent observations. It really does help to know your customers and care enough to give them offers that meet their needs. Good post!
October 7th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Unfortunately, Victoria’s Secret doesn’t actually reach all women. The only sell bras in a very narrow range of sizes, meaning only a small amount of women are being catered to. The others either do without or wear a improperly fitted bra, as 80% of women do.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Props to Kitty. My wife used to work at Victoria’s Secret and it really was a terrible environment. Not to mention how galling it was for my wife to ensure that her store made a ridiculous amount in sales on a quarterly basis, and all of that went out to those models.