Victoria's Secret: E-Tail
12:00 p.m. 3.Dec.98.PST
It's hard to believe they didn't think of this sooner.
Victoria's Secret, the lingerie retailer famous for its steamy catalogs, is preparing to launch an online site sure to draw the attention of investors -- and bachelors.
"It'll be a home run," said Steven Kernkraut, an analyst with Bear Stearns. "It's very hard to mess with their formula of compelling brand, plus the traffic they'll get from curiosity seekers, voyeurs, and men and women who don't want to go to the store to buy lingerie."
Details are as scant as the panties, but analysts said that Intimate Brands (IBI) -- the company that runs Victoria's Secret -- designed the site with a male audience in mind. Among the likely features: chats with supermodels like Stephanie Seymour and Tyra Banks.
"We believe it will be very unique," said Debbie Miller, vice president of communications for Intimate Brands. She declined to offer any details about the site.
The company had hoped to unveil the site over the Thanksgiving weekend but delayed the launch for fear it couldn't handle the potential traffic surge.
"They want to make sure it's stress-tested. Within days, they'll have equal brand awareness for the site to what Amazon has," said Kernkraut, who expects news of the site launch to be carried by most major media.
Traffic surge, maybe. It remains to be seen whether chats with Tyra will translate into sales.
Wall Street will likely give the sexy stock a ride, nevertheless. "If a little Net news can drive up a stock like Books-A-Million, imagine what this will do," said Kernkraut. "There's going to be a lot of fanfare on Wall Street."
Intimate Brand's stock closed down $1.63 at US$28.31 on the New York Stock Exchange. |
