What business started by targeting a different consumer than it eventually sold to?

What business started by targeting a different consumer than it eventually sold to?

Roy Raymond founded Victoria's Secret following an experience in his marriage.

He had gone lingerie shopping for his wife, getting her a present for an upcoming milestone. It wasn’t his first time doing such shopping. In every instance, he said he always felt extremely weird, and would get judgemental stares from behind the counter.

And so, being a businessman also, he came up with the idea to make a lingerie store for the male partners to shop for their wives without judgement. The term “Victoria’s Secret” originated from the idea that even pure women from the Victorian era also wore lingerie. (Source: The untold truth of Victoria's Secret. Fung, Althea)

Its initial design looked very much like a brothel, and its initial customer base did indeed attract men.

But they quickly began to pivot, as more women kept flocking to the store.

The founder, a Stanford MBA, continued to evolve the business, weathering near-bankruptcy, and eventually built the empire that it became today.

But the big takeaway here was that, Victoria’s Secret was originally a store for men. Which I found interesting.

Picture Source Wikipedia

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