E- BUSINESS STRATEGIES

Submitted To:
Mr. A. SRINIVASA RAO

Submitted By:
SANSKRITI VARMA
ROLL NO- 30

Contents

Background
Products E-Business Marketing Strategy Five Forces Model Analysis Inventory Management 3 Strategies to shop online Bottlenecks of VS Recommendations Bibliography

Background Established by Roy Raymond in the San Francisco area during the 1970s 1982 sold to Limited Brands for $4 million
2012 sales were $6.12 billion with an operating income of $1 billion The company sells lingerie, women swear and beauty products through its catalogs (sending out 375 million a year), website, and thousand U.S. stores. Victoria's Secret is wholly owned by public traded L branded

By the early 1990s the largest American lingerie retailer

Background
Operating more than 1,000 stores across the U.S. PINK - Founded in 2004 over $1billion in sales in 2010 Business primarily conducted in the Columbus, Ohio area

Products
Victorias Secret has a number of lines that are sold within their store : Bio-fit Pink

Products
Angel bra
Very sexy Body by victoria

Beauty product
Cosmetics -Beauty Rush - very sexy Fragrances -Secret Garden -Dream Angels -Very sexy Hair products -So sexy -Fekkai

E Business marketing Strategy

Victorias Secret is currently operating under an Omni integrated digital strategy Social Media They are active in social media; their Facebook page is the 2nd most popular retail store on Facebook with 18.5 million fans. -Its the 18th most popular brand on Facebook. Not only does Victorias Secret make use of the website Facebook, they are also popular on Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Email Marketing Victorias Secret also relies heavily on email marketing. Whenever a new style of bra, underwear, sweats, is produced, they email blast their customers, by sending them multiple emails a day. They also email blast when a large sale is going on in-store or online.

Mobile Marketing As far as mobile marketing goes, Victorias Secret has an application for Android, IPhone, IPad, and IPod. On this app, their online selection can be browsed and shopped. Not only is there an application for Victorias Secret, there is also one for their separate PINK line. They also use texts alerts that are sent directly to a customers cell phone.

 Victorias Secret Fashion Show

Victorias Secret holds a fashion show every year, broadcasted on CBS. Currently, 17 fashion shows have been held and they are immensely popular, with men and women tuning in to view. The fashion show typically has a $12 million budget.

Promotional Offers Every year, the day after the fashion show has been broadcasted, Victorias Secret holds a promotional event in store where shoppers can receive a Victorias Secret Fashion Show t-shirt with a $75 purchase. This event always energizes their business the day after the show has been aired.

 Television Commercials
Victorias Secret is active in television advertisements as well. Their Super Bowl commercials are always very popular and sell the idea of Victorias Secret, rather than the product. The first Victorias Secret Super Bowl commercial lured more than 1,000,000 people to their website, which in turn, crashed and was shut down temporarily. Semi Annual sales Victorias Secret is notorious for their semi-annual sale, which they hold twice a year. At this sale, bras and underwear are sorted into pink bins by size. The products are thoroughly reduced, and always draws a large crowd.

 VS ALL Access
Victorias Secret All Access is a page located on their website. On this page, additional information such as makeup tips, supermodel biographies, an insiders look at the Victorias Secret fashion show, and news events are shown. VS All Access gives the consumer a more personal experience with the brand

Coupons
Victorias Secret will often mail out a free panty card to their shoppers every month. This is a no purchase necessary coupon. They also email out $10 off a bra cards. These coupons really get the customers in the door. (Smith) Even though this is a no purchase necessary coupon, rarely do consumers leave without purchasing something else

 Online Deals
On their website, victoriassecret.com, numerous offers will appear. These offers often include $25 off your purchase, free shipping, etc. Currently the website is offering free shipping with a $100 purchase offer code. They are also currently hosting a 20% off clearance items on their website. www.victoriassecrets.com

 Catalogue
victorias secret catalogues are more specific than any news magazines. Delivered to doorsteps , free of charge , regardless of gender.

FIVE FORCES MODEL ANALYSIS

 Buyer Power
-Most of the customers are loyal to Victoria Secret to the high quality of their products. Victoria Secret keeps putting out new styles of clothing and new lines of their products each season. -This attracts buyers to keep on coming back, knowing that Victoria Secret is always new and up to date. -The store has more than 390 million customers a year come to visit and their web site has now grown.

 Supplier Power
-Victorias Secret uses mainly silk, cotton, and acryl. -Victorias Secret supplier power is low because the company, itself, chooses the suppliers it prefers to work with, and control prices. -Company chooses to work exclusively with those companies which produce extremely high quality products, a majority of which are certified by Oeko Tex.

Victorias secrets supply chain

The critical processes that make up the Victoria's Secret's supply chain are: 1) Product Design and Product Launch 2) Merchandise Planning, Allocation and Forecasting 3) Production & Sourcing 4) Logistics 5) Store Operations. A design idea, from the point it is conceptualized to the point the product is delivered to the Victoria's Secret Stores, termed by the company as "Concept-To-Market", traverses through each of these processes comprising the supply chain.

 Supply chain
-Victoria Secrets supply chain starts off with raw materials chosen by their designer's which then gets shipped from China for a cheaper price. This helps the company with price especially because the quality is high quality material. -After the raw material gets processed and becomes a product, the product is made in batches in different colors, sizes, designs, and cuts depending on the product design. -Once these products are finalized they are shipped out to all Victoria Secret stores. -Victoria Secret does not ship all products to all countries because of specific restrictions.

-if Victoria Secret cannot ship a certain item before you check out, you will receive a notice right away stating that you must remove that specific item and why. -Shipping and handling charges are determined by the merchandise dollar amount of order before any deductions. - The price and the quality of Victoria Secrets products are all reasonable prices and very high in quality. - The delivery time is usually 4-7 business days and could be quicker for additional prices depending on the delivering company. - Victorias Secrets supply chain management is well managed. They could start supplying their stores with clothes which are offered through Internet and catalogues.

 Threat of Substitute Products or Services

The threat of substitute products or services is low but Victorias Secret is aware of the fact that there are many alternatives to its products and, mostly, to the services they offer. There are many lingerie companies on the market. But none of them offer quality, variety, 24/7 availability, and acceptable prices at the same time. In addition, Victorias Secret products are widely promoted and popularized by the Hollywood stars.

 Rivalry Among Existing Competitors

-Victorias Secret beats its competitors by offering very high quality when many other companies try to beat or match this existing competition on prices. -Victorias Secret does not offer plus-sizes when many other lingerie companies do. -According to the recent research studies, an average American women size is 14. This is a weakness of Victorias Secret company as it is not able to compete (even by its highest quality) with other lingerie companies on availability of large and extra-large sizes.

Inventory Management
Victoria's Secret Stores makes inventory every 6 months and it hires a data warehouse to do its inventory. Today, Victoria's Secret is using Micro Strategy's DSS Agent a relational On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) server optimized for very large database (VLDB) analysis. This system help the company to manage inventory, analyze market demand and gather information about the sales and inventory levels for each item in each store

. In addition, using DSS Agent, reduce the time and personnel required to perform ad hoc analysis. DSS Agent has enabled Victoria's Secret to reduce outof-stock instances on selected items from 20% to 5%, by tracking daily movement figures and minimizing inventory shortfalls. DSS Agent is providing Victoria's Secret with a better understanding of critical information such as size selling patterns and how they vary by geography.

For example, using DSS Agent, merchandisers were able to determine that Miami-area consumers buy ivory bras 10 times more often than black bras and that in New York, demand for size 32 bras is 20 times higher than the company average. By improving the instock situation, Victoria's Secret avoids lost sales and more efficiently allocates its inventory to its stores

3 Strategies for Shopping Online at Victoria's Secret

1. Try it on In-Store- Then buy online

1. Wait for Steals and Offers

1. Pay attention to Sizing

Bottlenecks of VS
Victoria's Secrets an absolute giant in the lingerie game. Pretty much everyone knows this brand and has come across one of their hot-pink storefronts at some point or another. But their ecommerce site has some issues that really hold back the shopping experience.

Two filtering options: style and size

Only Zoom in option available no back and side view option.

 Improving Upon Design of PINK Website

-The PINK tab is formatted with the same layout as the original Victorias Secret part of the website. By changing the layout and perhaps making it trendier, Victorias Secret could even further appeal to the younger and more hip consumer that PINK attracts. -PINK products also can be seen in neon colors: lime greens, hot pinks, fluorescent oranges, fluorescent yellows, etc. It would be helpful if the website mirrored this design.

 Check In Store Option -A tool that Victorias Secret could implement in order
to grow their business would be a Check In Store option on their website, along with a Pick Up in Store tab. This currently is not offered on their website, but would definitely be useful for consumers looking to try on the product before purchasing. -Implementing this tool to their website would tremendously help in the sales of products such as swimsuits, makeup, bras and other items that the consumer would prefer to see in person before purchasing.

Traditional Communication
Annual Victorias Secret Fashion Show aired on CBS http://vsallaccess.victoriassecret.com/2011/11/28/2011victorias-secret-fashionshow-tv-commercial/ Markets through nationwide retail stores Distributes Victorias Secret Catalogue Buys commercial spots on major networks Organizes and publicizes special events

Online Communication
Facebook-Over 15 million https://www.facebook.co m/victoriassecret Twitter-Over 300,000 Followers http://twitter.com/#!/vict oriasSecret YouTube-2,584,739 Views http://www.youtube.com /victoriassecret iPhone, iPad, and Android App

Recommendations
On Twitter and Facebook they should directly respond to their fans/followers on a more regular basis. Redesign VS home page to make the Facebook link more prominent and visible, rather than in the bottom right hand corner. Create a blog dedicated to directly communicating with customers to answer questions, solve issues in store and online, etc. Let customers know about coupon scams that spread through social media and how they can spot fake discounts. Participate in the conversation with influential bloggers who talk about Victorias Secret.

Bibliography
http://www.victoriassecret.com/?cm_mmc=Google_-Global%20-%20VS%20Brand%20Exact-_-Exact-_victoria%20secret&gclid=CLOS4t7M7LoCFeIb4godGw cAKw http://www.marketingchannel.blogspot.com/ http://www.limitedbrands.com/our_brands/victorias _secret/about.aspx http://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/blog/4victorias-secret-marketing-tricks/ http://contently.com/blog/victorias-secret/ http://kaitlinparsley.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/vict orias-secret-marketing-strategy/