Sometimes, the sexiest lingerie is the cheapest lingerie.
That’s the tough lesson Victoria’s Secret learned during the holidays as a discount deal caused an unexpected stampede into its stores that slashed the company’s average selling prices so much that revenue dipped.
In November, Victoria’s Secret handed out $20 reward cards to customers who spent $40 or more at its stores during the first two weeks of December — a marketing tactic designed to lure traffic during a traditional lull for Christmas shopping.
But the lingerie behemoth soon found out that customers were looking for bargains and not its pricey, constructed bras that sell for north of $60 each. Specifically, shoppers pounced on already discounted merchandise like pajama sets or bras that were being promoted at $35, says Gabriella Santianello, a retail consultant with A Line Partners.
The upshot: Victoria’s Secret’s sales ended up dipping 1 percent in December.
“Their promotion worked too well,” Nomura-Instinet analyst Simeon Siegel told The Post. “If price gets you in the door, people want your product but at the right price.”
Execs at L Brands, the Columbus, Ohio-based parent of Victoria’s Secret, admitted as much to a standing-room-only crowd of investors at a retailing conference in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday.
“We don’t have our new promotional playbook nailed down,” L Brands Chief Financial Officer Stuart Burgdoerfer said. “We tested the promotion, and it still surprised us.”
Sales of Victoria’s Secret gift cards over the holiday season were also down “somewhat” from a year earlier, Burgdoerfer said.
Meanwhile, rival American Eagle reported that its holiday sales were up 8 percent, fueled in part by the company’s lower-price intimate apparel brand Aerie, which management said is on track to break $1 billion in sales this year.