Comparative Analysis of Victoria’s Secret and
Frederick’s of Hollywood
Prepared by Christina Fowler, Giselle Garcia and Alyson Rosales
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Comparative Analysis of Victoria’s Secret & Frederick’s of Hollywood
Two lingerie company’s competing for the top spot in the market, but who takes it? In
late 1940s one man had a vision to see all women embracing their bodies like Hollywood stars;
his name was Frederick Millinger he was the
inventor of the push up bra, and founded
Frederick’s of Hollywood. Victoria’s Secret
was founded in 1977 by Roy Ronald, he wanted
women to view their under garments as fashion
pieces, the same way they viewed the rest of
their wardrobe.
Although Victoria’s Secret and
Frederick’s of Hollywood are competitors in
the same industry, the two companies have
Figure 1
developed very different marketing mixes. Each of their marketing mixes can be explained by
the four P’s: product, price, place, and promotion. Victoria’s Secret carries a wide variety of
products that are categorized into twelve sub-brands. Within these brands, the company offers
four different fabrics, such as cotton and lace, and eleven different styles, like push-up and
seamless bras (see Figure 1). Although all of Victoria’s Secret’s sub-brands have proven to be
successful, the one that sets them apart from Fredericks of Hollywood is their brand directed
towards a younger demographic, Pink. Besides carrying bras and panties for teenagers and
women, Victoria Secret also offers shoes, sleepwear, swimwear, clothing, and a wide variety of
beauty products such as lotions and fragrances (VictoriasSecret.com, 2014).
Frederick’s of Hollywood, offers bras and panties similar to their competitor, however
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their products are targeted to an older crowd and are categorized into four sub-groups. The first
is their line of foundational pieces which includes bras, shape wear, corsets, and panties, all of
which are also offered in plus sizes. When visiting the Frederick’s of Hollywood website it is
easy to see that the foundation pieces are mostly made with vibrant colored lace, and are much
sexier than the more lightly colored and casual pieces on the Victoria’s Secret website. The
second group is lingerie, such as sleepwear and daywear, followed by ready-to-wear pieces such
as their swimwear, dresses, and sportswear. Their last group of products includes fragrances and
accessories such as their stiletto high heeled shoes and novelty items, both of which, Victoria’s
does not offer (FOH Group, 2011).
As far as pricing goes, both Victoria’s Secret and Frederick’s of Hollywood price their
products similarly, but Frederick’s carries some lower quality items that are priced slightly
cheaper. Their panties range from four dollars for basic underwear and up to 54 dollars for their
rhinestone thongs. Bras are priced anywhere from 8 dollars for cotton and up to 50 dollars for
their laced and corseted pieces. Lastly, their simple lingerie goes from 17 dollars for camis and
garters and up to 78 dollars for their nicer robes and pajama sets (Fredericks.com, 2014).
Victoria’s Secret’s panties range from eight dollars and 50 cents for cotton underwear, and up to
88 dollars for the designer lace collection. Their bras are priced anywhere from $26.50 for their
bralettes and up to 228 dollars for their embellished designer bras. And finally, Victoria’s
lingerie starts at 62 dollars and goes up to 328 dollars for the designer silk baby doll pieces
(VictoriasSecret.com, 2014).
Even though Fredrick’s of Hollywood is more competitively priced than Victoria’s
Secret, VS definitely comes out on top when it comes to the amount of store locations. Victoria’s
Secret has a total of 1,040 stores in the US as well as 267 stores internationally (Clark, 2011).
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Frederick’s on the other hand, only has 126 stores in the US, located primarily in California,
Florida, Texas, New York, and Nevada (FOH Group, 2011).
The last of the four P’s is promotion, and is the part of Victoria’s Secret’s marketing mix
that truly sets them apart from any other store. One of the ways they market their products is
through their annual fashion show. Every year, the extravaganza is broadcasted on CBS, and
reaches an audience of over 1 billion people.
Another marketing strategy that grabs attention is
Victoria’s Secret’s catalogs, which are attainable
just by visiting the store website and providing a
mailing address. Victoria’s Secret has a number of
other marketing strategies such as special events,
like Recycle Your Sweatpants, TV and print
advertisements, Semi-Annual Sales, in-store
window displays, Pink college brand ambassadors,
and in-store promotions. (Chang, 2004)
Fredericks takes a much more modest approach to marketing. They limit their promotion
to in-store and online sales, such as announcing “20 Percent Off Entire Site!”, and they solely
advertize to existing customers through e-mails, like the example shown in Figure X (McCourt,
2011).
Although both companies are in the business of lingerie, their target markets differ
tremendously. Victoria's Secret's target market is the middle class woman, or man shopping for a
middle class woman, aged 21-49. These women usually have an urban lifestyle and have a
shopping center accessible to them, also as previously stated VS targets men which are actually
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39% of their annual customers. A Victoria’s Secret’s customer wants to feel sexy and look sexy.
Whether the customer is trying to buy lingerie to wear for special occasions, or buying more
casual pieces from PINK. VS's PINK line attracts people outside of the original Victoria's Secret
market. PINK targets younger aged women, such as the high school students to college student
in the age range between 16-29. PINK offers bright colors, bold designs, and snarky phrases, and
appears to be more casual loungewear. The reason this brand was established was to capture a
younger generation, and entice them to come into the store
and shop. In doing so Victoria’s Secret can obtain the
customer while she is still young, and transition her from
PINK in to the Victoria’s Secret brand as she gets older.
The PINK line positions itself as an acceptable, and
conservative, brand for young women to purchase lingerie
that is not too sexy for their ages. (Victoriassecret.com,
2014)
On the other hand we have Fredericks of
Hollywood; they don’t target a specific
age group, they target the customer “personas” which consist of the persons demographics and
psychographics . Even though FoH targets the personalities these women usually fall under 2130 year olds. The first persona that FoH targets are called the Bra Enthusiast, she is a sensible
woman with a hidden sexy side. This woman is willing to spend any amount of money on bras
whether they be simple and gentle to dazzled bras, she also buys a lot of lingerie and shapewear;
because she is a shy woman she likes to feel fabulous in her inwear. The second persona is The
Vixen, she is in complete control of her life and her career, she isn’t shy in calling the shots in
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and out of the bedroom. The Vixen takes pride in looking sexy
and therefore shops for the Seduction lingerie and dresses; she
loves corsets and silk robes. (nemoa.org, 2013)
Fredericks of Hollywood also introduces us to The
Fashionista, she is extremely smart and career oriented. Her
style is best described as chic and vogue, she has been shopping
for years at Frederick’s of Hollywood. The Fashionista shops
for the hottest shoes, dresses, innerwear and outerwear for her
unique style. Lastly we have The 360 Sexy Spender, she is the
loyal shopper, anything she needs she will purchase at FoH. Her wardrobe consist of all of
Frederick’s of Hollywood apparel, she adores anything that
is shiny, sparkly and embellished.(nemoa.org, 2013)
Victoria’s Secret and Fredericks of Hollywood might offer
similar products but as we see they have very different target
markets, and they continue to market to them differently.
Financially Victoria’s Secret is more successful than
Frederick’s of Hollywood. VS is owned by L Brands Inc.,
who also owns Bath and Body Works, and currently makes
up 65% of the company’s total sales (Gustafson, 2013). Although Victoria’s Secret suffered a
three-percent sales decrease for the year of 2013, they saw a nine-percent increase in the month
of November alone. According to an article published in the Los Angeles Times after years of
financial struggle, and filing for bankruptcy in 2011, Frederick’s of Hollywood has decided to
take their company off the trading floor, and become private once again. They also suffered a
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$7.3-million loss and revenue decreased 12.1% (Tsu, 2013).
Both Victoria’s Secret and Frederick’s of Hollywood
use differentiation strategies. Frederick’s of Hollywood sells
“sex” and “sex appeal”, while the Victoria’s Secret customer
believes her purchase is much more versatile and just as
fashionable as every other piece of clothing in her closet
(Lutz, 2013). Victoria’s Secret founder Roy Raymond wanted his customer’s to change their
under garments with the seasons, so he changes the colors and patterns he used for the lingerie
depending on what time of the year it is (Clark, 2011).
Victoria’s Secret’s value proposition follows the values followed within the entire
company. These include; customer service, passion, inclusion, and doing the right thing (Clark,
2011). What this means is that the company always tries to put the customer first, and they hire
individuals that are just as passionate for the brand as Raymond is. The reason for doing this is
because if employees are passionate about their work, this will result in higher customer service,
as well as a better quality product. Frederick’s of Hollywood’s offers values to their customers
by segmenting their market into four persona’s, and by offering sexy lingerie in plus sizes,
something that Victoria’s Secret does not do
(McCourt, 2011).
The competitive advantage in the
lingerie industry lies with Victoria’s Secret
however Frederick’s of Hollywood does do
something that their competitor has not yet
done, made licensing agreements (Capitalizes,
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2010). FoH holds different agreements with companies for Halloween costumes, accessories, and
jewelry, meaning more revenue for their brand. However Victoria’s Secret does hold the upper
hand when it comes to a competitive advantage. They offer a broad, and more versatile, selection
of lingerie, and have captured a younger consumer than Frederick’s of Hollywood with their
PINK line (Lutz, 2013). The
company also provides a more
comfortable environment to shop
for lingerie without forcing their
customers to feel too sexual.
Finally, as previously mentioned
Victoria’s Secret has over 1,000
stores worldwide, with 20% of
their business being international, while Frederick’s of Hollywood only has 126 stores in the
United States.
In this lingerie battle Victoria’s Secret is noticeably the winner. They are more prominent
in the marketplace and have used promotions and advertisements in their favor, while
Frederick’s of Hollywood is struggling to stay afloat. If FoH wants to gain more market share,
and become more of a competitor to Victoria’s Secret, they should increase their advertisements
and promotions, open more locations, and design a line that is more casual and can be viewed as
everyday lingerie.
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Works Cited
Chang, Chelsea. The Silky Strategy of Victoria’s Secret. (May, 2004). Retrieved from:
http://www.mcafee.cc/Classes/BEM106/Papers/2004/Victoria.pdf
Clark, Lauren. Victoria’s Secret. (October 18, 2011). Powerpoint Presentation. Retrieved
from: http://moriahkathleen.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/merchandise-analysis.pdf
Frederick’s of Hollywood. (February, 2014). Retrieved from: http://www.fredericks.com/
Frederick’s of Hollywood Capitalizes on Product Licensing Initiative with Three New
Agreements. (July, 14, 2010). Retrieved from
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fredericks-of-hollywood-capitalizes-on
-product-licensing-initiative-with-three-new-agreements-98403624.html
Frederick’s of Hollywood Group Inc. Powerpoint Presentation. Retrieved from:
http://fohgroup.com/pdf/FOH%20January%20Investor%20Presentation%202011%20FINAL.pdf
Frederick’s of Hollywood: How Customer Centricity Leads to Organizational
Transformation. (2011). Retrieved from:
http://www.nemoa.org/docs/NEMOA_Fall_2011_presentation_FINALTracyRhyanMcCo
urt.pdf
Gustafson, Krystina. “Last-Minute Lingerie May Revive Victoria’s Secret Sales”.
(December 9, 2013). CNBC. Retrieved from: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101254231
Lutz, Ashley. “Frederick’s of Hollywood Can’t Sell Sex Like Victoria’s Secret”.
(December 19, 2013). Business Insider. Retrieved from:
http://www.businessinsider.com/fredericks-of-hollywood-going-private-2013-12
McCourt, Tracy. Frederick’s of Hollywood: How Customer Centricity Leads to
Organizational Transformation. (2011). Powerpoint Presentation. Retrieved February
,2014 from: http://www.nemoa.org/docs/NEMOA_Fall_2011_presentation_FINALTracyRhyanMcCourt.pdf
Tsu, Tiffany. “Frederick’s of Hollywood Goes Private for 27 cents a Share”. (December
19, 2013). Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from:
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/19/business/la-fi-mo-fredericks-hollywood-pri
vate-20131219
Victoria’s Secret. (February, 2014). Retrieved from: http://www.victoriassecret.com/
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