Victoria’s Secret, known for its ‘angels’ walking the ramps around the world, launched its website in India on November 22, 2021. The company has partnered with Mumbai-based Major Brands, its India distributors, and marketers. Founded in 2001, Major Brands is also responsible for bringing to India brands such as Aldo, La Sensa, Bath and Body Works, Charles & Keith, Beverly Hills Polo Club, Inglot, and Call It Spring. At present, the brand is offering perfumes and skincare products and it will be adding to its innerwear options from this year.

Tushar Ved, CEO, Major Brands, stated, “Victoria’s Secret is a huge brand in the lingerie, skincare, and perfume categories. We at Major Brands have been working towards getting similar premium brands to the Indian markets for years now. We are planning to bring one to two premium international brands every year to India. After successfully bringing in the likes of Aldo, Bath and Body Works, and the rest, Victoria’s Secret made sense.”

OMNICHANNEL: THE WAY AHEAD

For Major Brands, online has been complementing offline as it has been observed that D2C is not hurting the retail and the company sees it as an additional business to the retail. This new channel has added a lot of new customers who otherwise would have refrained from coming to the stores as the stores are too far for them.

“Pre-Covid, we planned to do 30 percent of our business online, however, accelerated the momentum and we were able to reach these numbers in the first year of the pandemic. The four years plan got preponed, budgets got preponed and we were able to adapt faster and we saw a big opportunity there. So, both mediums are equally important for us as customers want us to be present online as well as offline,” he asserted. Major Brands has noticed that the D2C customer is not very different from the retail customer.

However, as D2C customer is not visiting the store and not touching the product, they expect the product to reach them faster, packaging needs to be good and customer service up to the mark. “With online business, we have been able to reach customers where we don’t have the stores. We generally have stores in good shopping malls, however, it is not possible to have quality shopping malls in all the cities, so online helps us reach those consumers,” Ved said. Major Brands has already launched D2C channels for

Bath and Body Works and Victoria’s Secret. Apart from this, the company is also building an e-commerce site. “Going ahead, the brands that Major Brands will be introducing in India will have both online and offline presence as we expect 30 percent of the business to come from online and plan to take it to 50 percent,” he stated. The online channel has helped the company to understand where its customers are located in Tier-II cities and beyond, so it is not restricting itself just to the malls in Tier I cities, but also exploring options high streets in Tier II and beyond.

WHAT’S IN STORE FOR VICTORIA’S SECRET?

Major Brands is soon planning to open stores for Victoria’s Secret where it will be offering perfumes along with lingerie and body care. The store will also offer a collection from PINK. “We are looking for a 5,000 square feet carpet area for the stores. We are working with the landlords to secure the spaces, and we will be announcing it when we are closer to the opening,” he shared. The brand is currently targeting cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru. It is expected that the brand will be opening its first store in Mumbai.

FUTURE PLANS

Major Brands is planning to introduce more brands in India in different categories like footwear, apparel, beauty, and food. “We are planning to bring some more brands to India, but we have an NDA signed with the brands. So, when we are very close to the launch, we let people know. We will concentrate more on brands that our female customers want,” he concluded.

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