Key Takeaways
• Soma leads in YOY growth of online bra sales (66%), beating ThirdLove (8%) and Victoria’s Secret (-40%)
• In May, Victoria's Secret sold 1.7x as many bras in online order volume as Soma and ThirdLove combined.
• Average spend per bra highest for ThirdLove at $62
• Average spend per bra lowest at Victoria’s Secret at $27
Competition within the lingerie space has grown over the last few years, and with it has come a shift within the culture of lingerie retailers. No longer are brands specializing in intimates solely focusing on the bombshell fantasy — now many brands have shifted into a space of comfort and body diversity. Despite this shift, Victoria’s Secret remains one of the lingerie brands that continues to firmly hold onto the fantasy. Is this strategy paying off? To see how the lingerie landscape is shaping up, Edison Trends analyzed bra sales from three lingerie retailers — Victoria’s Secret, ThirdLove, and Soma.
Figure 1a: Chart shows estimated quarterly online sales order volume of bras at lingerie brands, between January 1, 2016 and March 31, 2019, according to Edison Trends. Data have been scaled so that the highest quarterly spend is set to 100.
Though the number of bras sold online at Victoria’s Secret has declined 42% since Q1 2016, they still hold a clear edge over Soma and ThirdLove. In Q1 2019, Victoria's Secret sold 1.7x as many bras as Soma and ThirdLove combined. ThirdLove came in second, selling 150% more bras than Soma.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the quarters in which Victoria’s Secret peaked in bra sales were the same quarters where they had their incredibly popular semi-annual sales — during the months of June and December. Looking at sales over the past three years shows that while Victoria’s Secret peaked number of bras sold in Q4 2016, subsequent quarters saw Soma and ThirdLove bra sales continue at a slow upward creep until reaching their strongest takes respectively in Q4 2018 and Q1 2019.
Figure 1b: Chart shows estimated year-over-year change in online bra sales at lingerie brands, comparing January 1 - March 31, 2019 to January 1 - March 31, 2018, according to Edison Trends.
Comparing Q1 2019 to Q1 2018, Soma has seen the biggest increase in number of bras sold online, with 66% higher sales in Q1 2019 than in Q1 2018. ThirdLove managed a small bump of 8% in the same time frame, while the number of bras purchased through Victoria's Secret's website fell by 40%.
Figure 2: Chart shows the estimated average spend per bra online at lingerie vendors, from January 1, 2018 to May 31, 2019, according to Edison Trends.
Over the last 12 months, ThirdLove customers spent the most on average per bra online, at $62. Soma customers came in second, at $33, while the average bra purchased online at Victoria's Secret cost $27. The average amounts spent at Victoria’s Secret and Soma may indicate that people often wait for sales at these two retailers before purchasing their bras online.
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*The data shown is based on a sample of anonymized and aggregated e-receipts from millions of consumers in the United States.