Why Are Victoria&#39, S Secret Sports Products Becoming Cheaper And Cheaper?

Victoria's Secret sports products are getting cheaper and cheaper.

In contrast, forever 21's basic sports bra sells for $9.9 to $15.9, of which two top bras sell for up to 88 dollars.

And its other main competitor, Lulu Lemon.

The price ranges from 48 to 68 dollars, which is higher than Victoria's Secret.

However, with the reduction of the price of the new products,

The increasingly intense competition seems not a bad thing.

Gabriella Santaniello, the founder and analyst of A Line Parter, told reporters: "Victoria's Secret's most attractive to consumers is that they can buy reliable products at affordable prices, which are very competitive in the same market at present."

In addition, Victoria's Secret also follows the trend to develop bralette products, Santanuello points out: "because of bralette

The price is low but the profit is high, so many retailers have to sell this type of product.

Stuart Burgdoerfer, chief financial officer of L Brand group, also pointed out that bralette will be the next popular item in last week's earnings call conference.

Santaniello also believes that the price reduction of Victoria's Secret sports series and the follow up trend of launching bralette series products seem to mean that brands are gradually pforming into fast fashion brands.

The essence of fast fashion brands, such as Zara and H&M, is to maintain the relevance between brands and consumers through the continuous introduction of fashion trends.

Victoria's Secret is exploring and adapting to the needs of young consumers. Taking into account the economic capabilities of young consumers, it also adjusts the prices of its products.

Victoria's Secret re launched the sports underwear business, but "sexy" will no longer be the main player.

But it is precisely because consumers gradually become accustomed to lower prices and accelerate the changing style. Many retail brands, including Banana Republic and J.Crew, are facing huge inventory backlog risks. Even recently, the hot Lulu Lemons is also struggling to solve the inventory problem. Therefore, some people have questioned Victoria's Secret's move towards fast fashion pformation, which is not considered a wise move.

However, Burgdoerfer said in a conference call last week: "Victoria's Secret sports bra and bralette series have significant growth, the company is very optimistic about this."

The fast fashion model is being verified as a successful fashion industry. At the beginning of last year, Victoria's Secret has said that the brand is following ZARA to speed up its design and delivery process.

Former CEO Sharen Turney has said that Victoria's Secret basically has all kinds of underwear styles in a fast process, and the replenishment time is shortened to 15 to 25 days. At the same time, the brand is still trying to reduce the time from product design to shop.

A Goldman Sachs report summarizes the reasons why fast fashion retailers are subverting traditional retailers: fast fashion retailers have specialized buying groups to purchase seasonal popular products from third party suppliers, while traditional retailers use design teams to produce goods that they think will be popular in 12 months.

ZARA is built on an unconventional philosophy: speed and responsiveness are more important than cost.

ZARA is famous for its small batch and quick release of new products in stores.

Store management orders are placed two times a week, and new clothes are delivered to stores two times a week.

To achieve this, ZARA controls more production processes than most retailers: about half of their garments are produced in Spain or neighboring countries.

For ZARA, the supply chain is its competitive advantage.

According to Goldman Sachs report, the risks of trying to predict the trend in advance one year are attacking fashion retail giants such as Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, Ann Taylor, American Eagle, etc.

If these retailers' forecasts fail, they will need to sell at a reduced price, which will damage profits.

ZARA's non-traditional retail business model clearly circumvented the risk.

Some analysts pointed out that Victoria's Secret, which occupies the 35% underwear market in the United States, has almost no competitors. But it has begun to restructure in danger and seek new market growth points, including the closure of swimsuit business, the cancellation of printed catalogue shopping, and the development of fast fashion sports women's clothing business.

Goldman Sachs report that independent fashion retailers need to emulate fast fashion mode to succeed.

Victoria's Secret parent L Brands announced sales figures for the second quarter of 2016, and the net turnover increased by 5% in the first three months to July 30th, up from 2 billion 760 million US dollars in the same period last year to 2 billion 890 million US dollars.