Fragrances Lead On Victoria’s Secret’s New Amazon Storefront

Lingerie company Victoria’s Secret opened up its first storefront with Amazon
AMZN
on Friday as it seeks to reach more customers and drive higher sales volumes of its mostly accessibly-priced beauty lines.

The company—which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in July 2021 after a spin-off by former parent L Brands
LB
(now named Bath & Body Works)—also changed its strategy to appeal to a wider demographic last year.

In this latest move, an initial range of 120 products from Victoria’s Secret Beauty and the younger-targeted brand, Pink, will be listed with Amazon in time for shipping for Mother’s Day on Sunday May 8, just over a week away. Fragrances are to the fore, led by the Bombshell franchise, claimed to be the number one fragrance in America.

Specific products available at launch include:

• Core fine fragrance scents, for example Bombshell, Tease and Very Sexy
• Mist and lotion core scents such as Love Spell and Pure Seduction
• Natural Beauty consisting of mists, lotions, body scrubs and wash scents
• PINK mist and lotion scents
• PINK body scrub and wash scents.

Beauty is a growing pillar for Victoria’s Secret with annual sales approaching $1 billion and accounting for about 15% of total North American turnover. In the fiscal fourth quarter of 2021 (ending January 2022), company net sales rose by 4% to $2.17 billion “led by strong performances in our intimates and beauty categories” according to CEO Martin Waters in an investor call.

“Expanded distribution opportunities”

He noted robust sales for core fragrances and new scents while the arrival of Victoria’s Secret Love Cloud bra beat expectations and turned out to be the brand’s biggest launch in six years. “We have strength everywhere which we feel good about,” said Waters.

In March, Victoria’s Secret hinted at a third party tie-up saying that it was “piloting some expanded distribution opportunities” as it looked to capitalize on its customer loyalty and brand recognition. The company had also got ahead of supply chain delays with inventories up by 35% at year-end putting the brand in a comfortable position to enter new channels this year.

“Through customer feedback and research, we’ve heard consumers want to purchase VS Beauty in Amazon’s store and already search for the products on the site,” said Greg Unis, CEO of Beauty at VS&Co. “This is a natural channel extension for us.”

Given VS Beauty’s price positioning and brand recognition, volume sales on Amazon should not be a problem and could also opens the door to other categories. The company did not comment on that but did not rule it out saying “we will continue listening to customer feedback.”

Victoria’s Secret is forecasting its overall sales to be flat or in low single-digit growth this year so incremental revenue from Amazon would be welcomed. The company is also expecting supply chain cost pressures to persist in the first half of the year and the inflation of raw material costs.