Dive Brief:
- Furthering its collaboration with the e-commerce giant, Victoria’s Secret & Co. will expand its current product assortment on Amazon to include apparel and lingerie.
- Shoppers will find over 4,000 products across its Victoria’s Secret and Pink brands, including bras, underwear, sleep, swim and loungewear, in the retailer’s official Victoria’s Secret Amazon Fashion storefront, according to a press release.
- The retailer originally launched an Amazon storefront to sell beauty products in April 2022.
Dive Insight:
Victoria’s Secret CEO Martin Waters hinted at broadening the company’s relationship with Amazon in an earnings call with investors last week.
“We’re continuing to expand our channels of distribution, for example, Amazon, to meet customers where they are,” he said.
The retailer originally opened its Amazon storefront last year with 120 beauty products in an effort to stoke sales within the category.
The partnership with Amazon marks the first time Victoria’s Secret lingerie and apparel styles are available through a retail partner in North America. Amazon is offering free Prime delivery for the products, and select styles will be eligible for Amazon’s Prime Try Before You Buy program, which allows customers to try on items at home prior to purchase.
“We are thrilled to be expanding our relationship with Amazon,” Greg Unis, chief growth officer at Victoria’s Secret, said in a statement. “Following the success of previous product launches, we have continued to expand our assortment offering with Amazon Fashion and it remains a natural extension of our owned channels.”
Waters did, however, name-check Amazon, along with Walmart and Target, as companies Victoria’s Secret is under pressure from in the marketplace when it comes to the category of panties. In a Q1 earnings call, Waters said those retailers are selling panties “at a commodity price, and it’s harder for us to compete on the basis of newness and quality and innovation.” Victoria’s Secret has 26% of market share in the category, according to Waters.
Victoria’s Secret recently reported Q1 net sales of $1.4 billion, a decrease of 5.2% year over year, with comparable sales down 11%. Sales softened particularly in North American stores, where the company was “more promotional than planned,” according to Waters.
Victoria’s Secret is also preparing for a relaunch of Pink. New merchandise for the brand will drop at the end of Q2.
