Victoria's Secret and the Post-Promotional Paradox
- itdev9
- Dec 5
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 6
Victoria’s Secret regained relevance among younger shoppers and managed to increase base prices on core items and reduce promotions. In short: fewer promotions didn’t scare buyers away; instead, it signalled stronger brand value and pricing power. In 2025, Unilever and Nestle made similar strides. Still, UK grocery saw more promotional activity in November 2025. Welcome to the Post-Promotional Paradox.
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1. Understanding the Post-Promotional Paradox
In retail, the post-promotional paradox refers to a negative cycle where a brand becomes overly reliant on frequent, deep discounts to drive short-term sales spikes. While these promotions generate immediate revenue, they often lead to long-term damage:
Eroded Margins: Constant discounting eats into profitability.
Conditioned Customer Behavior: Shoppers are trained to devalue the product and wait for the next sale, refusing to buy at full price.
Demand Shifting, Not Creation: Promotions often just shift sales that would have happened anyway into a discounted window, rather than generating truly new incremental demand.
For years, many mall-based retailers, including Victoria's Secret, fell into this trap, using aggressive sales to combat declining foot traffic and changing consumer tastes.
2. Victoria's Secret's Strategic Pivot: Escaping the Paradox
Recent reports from late 2025 show that Victoria's Secret's new leadership is actively working to break this cycle through a strategy dubbed "Path to Potential." The core of this approach is to rebuild brand desire so customers are willing to pay full price.
Deliberate Reduction of Promotions: In its Q3 2025 earnings report, the company's leadership explicitly credited a "reduced promotional approach and higher regular-priced selling" for a significant expansion in its gross sales margins. This is direct evidence of moving away from the discount-heavy model that fuels the paradox.
Focus on Brand Value over Price: Instead of competing primarily on price, the brand is investing in product innovation, improving the customer experience, and elevating brand distinctiveness. The goal is to give customers reasons to buy that go beyond a "50% off" sticker.
3. The Role of Rebranding in Building Long-Term Value
A key element of overcoming the promotional paradox is creating a brand identity that resonates deeply enough with consumers to command full price. Victoria's Secret's marketing shift is central to this effort.
From "Angels" to Authentic Influencers: The brand has moved away from its singular, unattainable "Angel" imagery. Its modern marketing relies heavily on a diverse range of Gen-Z influencers, content creators, athletes, and models of varying body types and backgrounds. This "collective" approach is designed to build trust, relevance, and cultural currency across a broader audience.
Revamped Cultural Moments: The return of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in a new, more inclusive format was a strategic move to place the brand back into the cultural conversation. By creating a high-emotion, "upper-funnel" marketing moment, the company aims to drive brand mindshare and desire that translates into long-term customer loyalty, not just transactional, discount-driven purchases.
Digital-First Engagement: The brand is aggressively using social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to tell stories of empowerment and inclusivity, engaging directly with younger consumers where they spend their time.
Conclusion
Victoria's Secret's current trajectory is a real-time case study in fighting the post-promotional paradox. By consciously pulling back on discounts and pouring resources into rebuilding its brand image around modern values of inclusivity and empowerment, the company is attempting to retrain its customers to value its products at full price. While the long-term success of this turnaround is still being written, recent financial data suggests this strategy of prioritizing brand health over short-term promotional spikes is beginning to yield positive results.
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