Analysts Say Victoria’s Secret Is Not Aware of Shoppers’ Wants

Victoria’s Secret is moving ahead with its plan to introduce more of its padded bras during the 2017 second six months.

Parent company L Brands Inc. said Victoria’s Secret was maintaining its plan to push its constructed bras in the second half of this year, but Wall Street is worried that the chain of lingerie stores is not calculating correctly the interest shoppers have in them.

Unlined undergarments or bralettes popular with today’s millennials are much less expensive that the push-up and padded bras are, and have become ubiquitous selling at retailers such as Urban Outfitters, American Eagle and other retailers.

In early 2017, Victoria’s Secret released its plan to promote more constructed bras during the second six months of the year.

Thursday, during its earnings call, CEO Jan Singer emphasized how important it was to know the consumer as well as strengthening its core business, amongst other points moving forward.

She added that the company holds a cornerstone in the push-bra business and then went into bralette business.

Now, she continued, the company is finding a great deal of sexy between the two, balancing that assortment while bringing new sexy solutions along with fantasy and fashion in its constructed bras moving forward.

Analysts on Wall Street have suggested that Victoria’s Secret is better off stopping its constructed bras.

One of the analysts said that she worries L Brands could be pushing against the true demand of the consumer in an attempt to move back toward categories that are higher priced, leaving them uncertain that market share losses could reverse in the short term.

In addition, analysts are worried that there was a misjudgment made by L Brands of the damage to sales of same-stores from the swim and apparel categories exit.

Other analysts on Wall Street are concerned about the judgement of L Brands with respect to the brand.

They said that the strategies of Victoria’s Secrets have not worked up to this point, while the revised plan is continuing to assume a nice improvement in the fundamentals within the concept.

L Brands posted sales for the quarter of $2.76 billion, which was down for last year of $2.89 billion but in line with analyst estimates. Sales for its Victoria’s Secret line ended at $1.65 billion, which were down from last year’s $1.8 billion.

Sales at same-stores for Victoria’s Secret including in stores as well as direct sales, fell 14%.