Linda LoRe, president and CEO of Fredrick’s of Hollywood, shared some of the intimate details of the women’s lingerie merchant’s marketing and multichannel strategy this morning with attendees of the 26th annual ACCM convention in New Orleans.
“If you aren’t looking at and talking to your consumer then your company is talking to itself,” LoRe said.
Fredrick’s of Hollywood suffered bankruptcy in 2000, and LoRe credited much of it with brand confusion taking place in the company’s three core sales channels: retail stores, catalogs and e-commerce. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2003 and now does $150 million in sales annually, according to LoRe.
She credited the organization’s comeback with two strategies, first breaking down the silos in purchasing and marketing messages that existed between the channels. LoRe explained that, operationally, the company still has separate sales goals for each channel.
The second piece of a brand relaunch was understanding the company’s core and most profitable customer. LoRe defined her as a “sexy spender,” althrough research the company discovered that while a female majority – 38% of US women are not spending or thinking much about their lingerie – there is a 15% niche that spends 50% more than all of other female groups on their lingerie.
“The demographic is 18-35 years old, but she’s more of a psychograph,” explained LoRe. “She works full-time, is usually single, newly married or newly divorced, and she wears lingerie for herself.”
Targeting efforts toward this customer led to the launch of the company’s seduction brand that is exclusive to Fredrick’s and highlights special occasion lingerie. LoRe also touched on the brand’s difficulty with managing a changing inventory and producing a relevant print catalog. She said that catalog design will showcase one specific trend and the company uses social media and online channels to update new products that may fit that same trend.
