MARKETING PLAN
MKT212-4W2
DECEMBER 3, 2014
MARY BATTLE
Introduction
After the celebration of the New Year consumers look forward to the next big
holiday, Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day brings excitement to countless individuals and
it brings profit to businesses. On this day, many purchase chocolate and flowers for the
love ones, usually men for the women in their lives, as an expression of love. Out of the
many corporations that excel in profits on this day, Victoria’s Secret is well known for its
major sales. I have created the SWEET line for this coming Valentine’s Day, scented,
chocolate and candy-colored undergarments and sleepwear for men and women, and I
will explain the marketing plan for this line.
Target Market
To start, we will look at who does the purchasing on Valentine’s Day. Statistics
show that men spend on average about $133 and women $56 for gifts and goods
(Weinstein, 2014). Also, individuals from 25-34 spend on average $114 as opposed to
$58 by those older than 34 (Weinstein, 2014). Based on these numbers we will focus
our line to target married couples between the ages of 25-34. Men seem to be very
extravagant during this time, so our line will appeal to their desires, but women shouldn’t
be left out because they too will have the ability to purchase after their enticements.
Victoria’s Secret customers spend over $100 for this holiday and this line will be perfect
for consumers (Aquino, 2011). This line is intended to spice up the couples evening.
After taking time to go out to dinner, couples will enjoy putting on their lovely scented
garments to end the night with beautiful romance.
External Environmental Influences
The external environmental influences are in favor for this line. Retail sales are
projecting to be increasing for this year and next year, as well as businesses. There is
an increase of 4.5% in retail as well as food (Payne, 2014). Although the economic
growth was slow for the last quarter, it is expected to raise in 2015. Victoria’s Secret’s
direct competitors are Aerie, the lingerie portion of America Eagle, and AdoreMe, which
is a starter lingerie company. Its indirect competitors are Hanes and Maidenform. These
stores are not much of a threat to Victoria’s Secret being that it controls about 35% of
lingerie market (Lutz, 2014). The technology environment is beneficial to Victoria’s
Secret merchandise. Machines are able to produce clothing at a faster rate and able to
add specialty to the products, such as the line being scented. Victoria’s Secret is set
apart from its competitors because the experience that its customers receive upon
entering into their stores.
Product
As stated this Valentine’s Day there will be a launch of the SWEET line, which
will consist of chocolate and sweet-scented undergarments and sleepwear. The
different colors and scents for the garments are going to be dark chocolate, double
chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, caramel, and mocha. Although Victoria’s
Secret is geared toward women, for this holiday there will be a shared focus for men.
The line will have extravagant pajamas for men in all of the colors and scents; this will
bring in a greater amount of customers. For the women, there will be bras and panties
for each of the scents as well as pajamas. The line will have all sizes for both men and
women including plus sizes, so that there isn’t any customer that feels as though
they’ve been disregarded. Soft materials will be used to produce this line. Silk and
chiffon are going to be the main materials, which will give a more romantic feel to the
garments. The customers will be lured by the sexy yet comfortable style of this product
line. Making the cloths comfortable will help for customers who wouldn’t normally
purchase attire from Victoria’s Secret’s to think that they are being considered and will
hopefully boost them to understand that the sleepwear or undergarments will enhance
them. This is projected to increase the amount of sales for not only this specific line, but
stores overall.
Price
With this kind of specialty line, price is going to be a key factor in making sales.
Customers are prepared to spend money due to purpose of the holiday. Purchasing
gifts is the incentive to show appreciation and admiration to those that are closet to you.
Even children purchase gifts to give to their friends and their teachers. Knowing that
customers are expecting to spend reasonable amounts of money for this holiday, the
prices for this line must be suitable. The expectation is that more of the women’s
merchandise is going to sale, therefore the line will price the women’s cloths slightly
higher than the men’s. Given the Victoria’s Secret name, customers are aware that they
will be spending more money than they would if they were to shop at a department store
lingerie. The products will be sold one dollar cheaper than the usual prices for Victoria’s
Secret merchandise. This incentive will encourage customers to believe that they are
getting a bargain and will encourage them to make purchases. Valentine’s Day is one of
few holidays that comes around during the tax season. Customers who file for taxes will
already have extra money that they are willing to spend, therefore this line needs to use
this to its full advantage.
Place
Victoria’s Secret has store all over the world and have recently joined the
mainland of China. This line is planned to have its products in all of the Victoria’s Secret
stores and Pink stores. However, there will be a less amount of products sold through
international stores. This line will be predominately sold in the states and Canada.
Although some nations have small gift exchanges, Americans base the entire holiday
around the gifts that are purchased during this holiday, so this line will maximize on this
holiday.
Promotion
Emails to existing customers will be the start of promotion. Customers that
Victoria’s Secret already have a good reputation with will be more willing to research
future products. Ads will be posted in every store showing all of the colors and different
sizes. Employees will start handing out small coupon tracks stating that there will be a
free scented item given to each customer who buys two pieces or more from the
product line. These handouts will also have information about purchasing items online
using computers and smartphones, which will appeal to the shoppers who are opposed
to entering into a physical store. Further emails will be sent closer to the actual holiday
and employees will receive incentives for getting customers to purchase both
undergarments and sleepwear. All forms of technology and promotion including radio
advertisements are going to be used so that all of America and will know about this line
of product.
Conclusion
The SWEET line is going to be launched for this upcoming Valentine’s Day at
Victoria’s Secret. This line consists of chocolate/sweet scented undergarments and
sleepwear for women and men. It will be targeted toward married couples in the 25-34
age range, however it will appeal to all over 20 couples. Retail sales and businesses are
continuing to grow economically, which ensures that this line will have a chance of
gaining great profits. The merchandise will be sold mostly in the states and Canada,
but there will be samples of the line in other international stores. The price is intended to
be slightly reduced from the usual prices, so that customers feel as though they are
receiving a discount; while store and internet ads will promote the product to its market.
With the products in this line prepared for this Valentine’s Day, it will be one to
remember.
Aquino, J. (2011, Feb 14) 10 entrepreneurs turned today into a $16 billion industry.
Business Insider. Retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-people-behindvalentines-day-2011-2
Lutz, A. (2014, Sept. 8) How Victoria’s Secret will continue to crush the competition.
Business Insider. Retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com/Victoria’ss-secretbusiness-strategy-2014-9
Payne, D. (2014) Kiplinger’s economic outlook. Kiplinger. Retrieved from:
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/business/T019-S000-kiplinger-s-economic-outlooks
Reynoso, B. (2013, Feb 14) Valentine’s Day by the numbers. CNN Living. Retrieved
from:http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/13/living/valentines-day-statistics-btn/
Weinstein, M. (2014, Feb 14) 14 things you don’t know about Valentine’s Day. CPC
Strategy Blog. Retrieved from: http://www.cpcstrategy.com/blog/2014/02/valentines-day/