To Russia From America, With Lace; Photo Djamila Celina Melcherts

To Russia From America, With Lace; Photo Djamila Celina Melcherts

Female Russians should be delighted. Retailing giant Limited Brands Inc. is said to be opening more Victoria’s Secret lingerie shops in Moscow later this year, according to Russian business dailies.

Victoria's Secret Beauty & Accessories opened its first travel retail store in Russia on May 1, 2013, at the Domodedova International Airport in Moscow. The airport was ranked the best airport of Eastern Europe by Skytrax in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and the store is situated in the domestic flights terminal where an anticipated 6 million passengers will pass through.

Russia as a country may be rich in commodities, but increasingly it is the spending power of 143 million Russians — more than half of them women, moving fast to catch up with the rest of Europe as their living standards rise — that is exciting investors.
And the global luxury and cosmetics product makers are there to get their piece of the cake, cutting their dependence on mature markets in Europe and the U.S, where they are facing a lower consumer spendings, depressed economic environments amid the general macroeconomic slowdown.

Russia’s lingerie sales in 2013 were up again, with a double digit 14 % to over € 4 billion, as opposed to the average lower single-digit growth in U.S. and Europe, according to the Russian retail and fashion-market expert Bonno van der Putten from Monarch Capital Partners, quoted by Russian dailies.
Consumer confidence in Russia continues to increase and rising on the back of still soaring oil prices, while the economy is forecast to grow by around 4% again this year.
However, the strong growing consumer demand is backed by some non-economic factors as well. Namely, the national character of Russian women.

According to research, beauty industry exhibition organizers, only 14% of female Russians cut their expenses on make-up products at the peak of the global financial crisis. And 22% spent more on lipstick and mascara than before.

Limited Brands plan to open more Victoria’s Secret shops in and around Moscow, in addition to the first ones before the end of the year
Limited Brands is very optimistic about Victoria’s Secret’s potential outside of North America whereas markets like Russia and China will be the biggest on the planet at some point

Limited Brands owns and operates through Victoria's Secret, Pink, Bath & Body Works, La Senza and Henri Bendel. The company operates 2,629 specialty stores in the United States and its brands are sold in more than 700 company-operated and franchised additional locations world-wide. Learn more: http://lnkd.in/cipZUe and http://lnkd.in/3dxanU

Now check out the model Victoria's Secret is grooming to take over the brand

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