Lingerie firm La Senza has refocused its offer for its core young audience and is set to push the button on a seven figure marketing campaign to woo back customers.
La Senza, which was acquired out of administration by the UK division of Middle East trading house Alshaya last year, is to push the button on a £2m marketing campaign later this year.
David Pidgeon, who joined Alshaya UK as managing director last November from young fashion retailer Select, said La Senza had revamped its product to appeal more to its 18 to 25 year old shoppers.
He said the retailer has also ditched unconventional sizes to focus on its target audience.
Pidgeon said: “In the same way that Topshop serves women of a size 6 to 16, we’re doing likewise. We’re not trying to upset people. That’s just our target audience and our buyers are focused on them.”
Pidgeon said La Senza is now planning a £2m marketing campaign, including social media, to tell its core audience about the revamped product offer.
“We’ve deconstructed the brand and put it back together, now it’s time to trade it. We’re going to tell our customer what we are. It will go along the lines of ‘we’re not Marks & Spencer, we’re this’,” he said.
Alshaya UK acquired 60 La Senza stores in a pre-pack administration deal in January 2012. Its parent company Alshaya Group already operated La Senza franchise stores in Russia for Victoria’s Secret owner Limited Brands, the owner of the La Senza brand name.
Pidgeon expects the next 18 months to two years to be a period of consolidation for La Senza and after that he is eyeing expansion. “There is still potential for 150 or so stores in the UK,” he said.
Under Alshaya UK, the retailer has refitted and refurbished all of its shops and launched a new format flagship at Marble Arch.
Pidgeon said although La Senza needs to drive transaction numbers, transaction values were showing double-digit growth.
CBRE acts for La Senza.
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