We went shopping at Victoria's Secret and Aerie, and 4 key differences revealed why one is winning while the other is flailing
The Victoria's Secret store we visited is located in Downtown Manhattan, New York, in the World Trade Center Westfield mall. The mall, which opened in 2016, is classified as a Class A mall, which is determined by its tenants' sales per square foot.
The reviews are extremely positive online. "Probably one of the best Victoria's Secret stores I have ever been [to]," one shopper wrote on Yelp.
"The customer service here is spectacular," another said.
For this reason, we were expecting a shinier version of a typical Victoria's Secret store.
First impression: Victoria's Secret
Our first impression was good — the store was well organized and the inventory was neatly laid out.
It wouldn't take much for this to descend into chaos, though. Piles of inventory are a recipe for disaster in busier times.
The Aerie store that we visited is located in one of New York's busiest shopping neighborhoods, Soho. It is a standalone location that opened in 2018.
First impression: Aerie
Our first impression was also good. The store was light and bright, and inventory was neatly displayed in a similar way to Victoria's Secret. Panties were stacked up on tables.
Store design and layout: Victoria's Secret
The space was definitely modern, and it did feel a lot brighter than some of the brand's other stores. However, it still had Victoria's Secret's signature dark lighting and black painted walls.
Analysts have criticized this design scheme.
"Its overt sexuality ... and its dark and moody stores are completely out of step with the mood of most modern consumers," Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, wrote in a note to clients in November.
Store design and layout: Aerie
While Aerie's store is slightly newer, it felt considerably more modern than Victoria's Secret because of the brighter lighting.
In-store ads: Aerie
Aerie has made women's empowerment and body positivity the focal part of its marketing campaign. Analysts say this tone is behind its explosive success.
Earlier this month, American Eagle reported a 23% increase in same-store sales for Aerie during the fourth quarter, marking the brand's 17th consecutive quarter of double-digit positive growth.
Empowerment messages were scattered all around the store.
#AerieReal, a campaign the brand launched in 2014 to stop retouching its images, had a prominent place in the store.
In-store ads: Victoria's Secret
Meanwhile, at Victoria's Secret, there was a host of racy images in-store.
They were in almost every nook and cranny, in fact.
Brand marketing has become one of the most controversial areas of Victoria Secret's business, and it has frequently been criticized for its over-sexualized in-store ads and racy runway shows, especially in the wake of #MeToo.
L Brands CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer said that the brand is addressing this.
"We are taking a fresh, hard look at everything," he said in the company's most recent earnings call. "Everything is on the table."
Product: Victoria's Secret
The focus is certainly on "sexy" here.
This is well-evidenced in the two brand's displays of push-up bras.
The displays were very different. Neon colors and racy silhouettes are the norm at Victoria's Secret.
At Aerie, neither the product nor the marketing was remotely racy.
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