Victoria Research
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Victoria Secret
Authors:
Todd Quackenbush
Sherman Yee
Jason Flennoy
Instructor: Mark Rasiah
GM 533: Applied Managerial Statistics
20 December 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
(n/a)
PURPOSE OF PROPOSAL
OVERVIEW OF ORGANIZATION
(Todd)
5
ANALYSIS OF ISSUES (Todd: why only this year and not 2005)
Data collection (Todd)
OVERALL MANAGEMENT PLAN
10
IDENTIFICATION OF SUGGESTED MAJOR CHANGES
IDENTIFICATION OF NEW TECHNOLOGY
SAMPLE DATA ENTRY SCREEN
20
CONVERSION
Forecast (Todd)
22
QUALITY ASSURANCE MEASURES
WORKS CITED
28
OVERVIEW
Victorias Secret, one of the worlds most recognizable fashion brands, established itself in the Bay Area in the early 1970s. Originally owned by an ambitious Stanford graduate looking for a comfortable and high-end retailer to buy his wife lingerie, Roy Raymond opened the first store at Stanford Shopping Center. Styled after a Victorian boudoir, Raymonds success prompted him to open three other locations, a catalog business, and a corporate headquarters within a few years. His inability to balance finances with his creative vision, Roy Raymond fell into trouble and was forced to sell his company for the small sum of $1 million dollars to The Limited, an Ohio-based conglomerate owned by Les Wexner.
Les Wexner rapidly expanded on the national attention Victorias Secret had been receiving by opening over 400 stores by 1990 and currently operates approximately 950 stores nationwide. While Victorias Secret is known for its lingerie sales, it has successfully launched a beauty division and also carries brands like Betsy Johnson, Dolce & Gabbana and Intimissimi, an affordable Italian brand. Victorias Secret Direct, the catalog division of the company, continues to see growth as sales reached $870 million in 2005, but the star is still its retail stores. Yearly sales for Victorias Secret stores topped $2.6 billion dollars in 2005 and our store on Powell Street recently surpassed the $10 million dollar mark in sales for 2006, making it the 13th store in the company based on volume.
ANALYSIS OF ISSUES
We are using October 2006 as the base for our forecasted sales due to the many changes that have occurred in the last year. Several product lines have been introduced to compensate for the loss of other sub-brands which have grown into their own. Victorias Secret Pink is a sub-brand that evolved into its own stand-alone store in August, taking its 12-15% of total sales to its new location next door. Replacing Pink is Intimissimi, an Italian brand that is expected to impact 6-8% of the stores sales, but caters to a more sophisticated client. Thrid party brands are also making a stronger appearance this year as the store became a critical fashion destination. New lines from Betsy Johnson, Anna Sui, Chantal Thomass and Pleasure State create a new sophistication for the store, but its higher price may alienate the average shopper.
The launch of the new Very Sexy Makeup line also impacted our ability to accurately compare October 2005 with the same month in 2006. A complete renovation of the make up line launched in September 2006 provided heightened figures from the beauty zone, again making yearly comparisons difficult. The good news is that new product lines as immense as those listed above are not on the agenda for 2007 and will provide a stronger correlation for future data.