Victoria's Secret Makes Very Sexy Entrance Into Men's Fragrance Category

Victoria's Secret is entering the men's fragrance market with the introduction of Very Sexy for Him this month, Intimate Beauty President and CEO Robin Burns said during Intimate Brand's annual investor update meeting Oct. 10.

Slated to bow nationwide in Victoria's Secret's 472 beauty and 897 lingerie stores, the prestige scent is expected to generate annualized sales of $30 mil.-$40 mil., according to Burns.

Sales for the scent are targeted at $10 mil.-$15 mil. during the holiday season, which should allow it to break into the top 10 in the men's fragrance category in its first year, Burns added.

The men's fragrance category is a natural extension for Victoria's Secret as nearly 80% of men's scents are purchased by women, Burns said. In addition, the $2.2 bil. category is growing almost twice as fast as the women's fragrance category, she pointed out.

"Entering this category will enhance our prestige image, it will drive incremental sales...[and] capture both genders from mall traffic," Burns predicted, stating men's fragrances have the "same potential for sustained success" as the women's category.

Victoria's Secret will support Very Sexy with a marketing campaign expected to reach 12 mil. people, Burns said. Initiatives will include a direct-mail marketing campaign, testers in catalogs, print ads and in-store support including 12,000 linear-feet of window display ads.

Print ads broke in a Vogue Man supplement to the October issue of Vogue and also will appear in Cosmopolitan. The ad features supermodel Gisele Bundchen in an elevator facing a man with the copy, "The first men's fragrance collection from Victoria's Secret."

Created by Firmenich, Very Sexy is described as a "sophisticated, modern" fragrance inspired by "what a woman thinks is sexy about a man." The juice is housed in a square bottle with a silver cap.

In a blind test conducted by Victoria's Secret, the fragrance was favored over other top-selling men's fragrances such as Unilever's Calvin Klein Obsession, L'Oreal's Ralph Lauren Romance and Armani Acqua di Gio and Estee Lauder's Pleasures, Burns maintained. Very Sexy will debut as a full collection for men, including ancillaries such as deodorant and aftershave.

Victoria's Secret's move into men's fragrance complements Burns' experience in the category; the exec was known for her successful launches in the men's fragrance category prior to joining Intimate Brands. She spearheaded the launches of Calvin Klein Obsession and Eternity and the Estee Lauder Pleasures and Dazzling duos.

Fragrance will continue to be a vital growth driver in the Victoria's Secret Beauty division, Burns said, noting she is committed to obtaining more than 10% market share in the $6.2 bil. category. The company currently holds an 8% share, she said.

To become a "fragrance destination," Victoria's Secret Beauty is embarking on an aggressive product launch strategy. Future introductions will aim to generate interest through a variety of positioning, form, price and olfactory senses, she said.

"We are pursuing an unprecedented product development effort," Burns said. "We are working to develop multiple fragrances simultaneously and creating entirely new categories to fill the gaps of our portfolio very quickly."

In addition to new offerings, Burns is committed to keeping the successful Dream Angels fragrance franchise a priority. The fragrance family, which includes Heavenly, Halo and Divine, may "possibly" be extended with a fourth counterpart.

Dream Angels generated $150 mil. in 2000, making it the top-selling women's fragrance in the U.S., Burns said, noting she expects it will hold the top spot in 2001 as well. The Victoria's Secret Garden fragrance family also continues to be a strong growth driver with projected sales of $250 mil. in 2001, according to Burns.

The firm's newest women's fragrance, Pink, was extended with a body lotion in the first week of October that led to a spike in sales, Burns said. With the planned additional rollout of shower gels and product gift sets, Intimate Brands expects the fragrance collection will yield $45 mil. in sales in 2001. The fragrance was launched in April (¹ (Also see "Victoria's Secret Tells Consumers To Think Pink In Extensive Ad Campaign" - HBW Insight, 29 Jan, 2001.)).

Addressing the company's other beauty categories, Burns said, "It's critical that we continue to leverage the success of color cosmetics as well. In recession times...my experience in beauty is that color cosmetics always fares well." Category sales have more than doubled, Burns said, adding color sales for 2001 are expected to reach $40 mil.

"By focusing our resources on one category within color cosmetics, which is lip, we have been able to increase our business by 65% in the lip category," Burns explained. Victoria's Secret Beauty has chosen to focus on the lip category because 85% of women use lip products, the exec said.

"We believe we have a big opportunity to grow our color business even further," Burns added, noting the potential for growth is strong because the full color cosmetics line is only available in 220 of the 975 Victoria's Secret stores that carry beauty.

Intimate Brands is planning to expand its Victoria's Secret Beauty stores - including side-by-side and free-standing stores - from 486 at the end of 2001 to 600 by the end of 2004. All of the new stores will feature the new design, which was implemented last year to help the company realize incremental sales of $1.5 bil. (² (Also see "Victoria's Secret Ongoing Store Redesigns To Generate $1.5 Bil." - HBW Insight, 18 Dec, 2000.)).

"We have made great achievements in building Victoria's Secret Beauty, and we've done this by relying primarily on our existing beauty customers...so imagine the potential if we tap into all of the Victoria's Secret lingerie customers who are currently not buying beauty," Burns said.

"While we continue to focus on retaining our current customers, we are now beginning to target the lingerie and direct-mail customers," she added.

Company research has shown that the beauty division has penetrated only 29% of the Victoria's Secret customer database, which marks an area of "tremendous" opportunity and potential, according to Burns (³ (Also see "Victoria's Secret Beauty Eyes Growth Through Multi-Channel Promotions" - HBW Insight, 9 Apr, 2001.)).

The company is launching its first effort to target these consumers through a direct-mail campaign that will reach 1.5 mil. people, the exec said. The first of the new direct mail campaigns will promote Pink, Very Sexy and Victoria's Secret Beauty's holiday collection.