You might've routinely received Victoria's Secret's well-known catalogs, laden with voluptuous women in lingerie and other scantily-clad clothing as well as other practical pieces like pajamas and dresses.
But chances are, you haven't received one in a while. And you won't be getting one anytime soon.
After stopping distribution of the catalog in two "significant markets" for a year and not seeing any significant changes in sales, Victoria's Secret has decided to do away with the familiar catalog, L Brands finance chief Stuart Burgdoerfer said. The company also reduced catalog activity by 40 percent in the fourth quarter and saw direct channel sales jump in the same period, Buzzfeed News reported.
Victoria's Secret confirmed it would cease the mailings, which cost $125 million to $150 million to produce, Thursday.
To spend that amount of money, Burgdoerfer said, a brand should see "a meaningful amount of sales" being driven in return, and the company wasn't seeing it.
He told Buzzfeed that the company is "very comfortable with the change."
"One of the things that we try to do is we say, 'If we were starting this business today in current context 2016, would you start with one of your major ideas being a catalog, a paper-based catalog, sent through the mail as one of your key -- if not your key -- marketing activity for a global brand?'” Burgdoerfer said.
"My guess is five years from now, we won't even remember (the Victoria's Secret catalog)," Lee Peterson, executive vice president of brand strategy and design for WD Partners in Columbus, Ohio, told BuzzFeed. "You'll have something in your box in your basement and say, 'Remember this, when we had paper?'"
