IntroductionLa Senza Corporation owns and operates lingerie retail stores in Canada and internationally. It offers bras, panties, loungewear, hosiery, and body care products; and beauty products and accessories, including lotions, creams and body washes, lip glosses, bra accessories, naughty accessories, booties, cosmetic bags, gift sets and boxes, and phone cases. The company also serves customers online. La Senza Corporation was formerly known as Suzy Shier Limited and changed its name to La Senza Corporation in June 2001. The company was founded in 1990 and is based in Toronto, Canada. La Senza Corporation operates as a subsidiary of Limited Brands Canada.As Canada's premier linge ...view middle of the document...
Since the first store opening in 1990, La Senza has maintained a focused vision of excellence. The La Senza brand name has become synonymous with high quality, affordability and elegance, and La Senza takes pride in dedicating itself to its customers and merchandise. Its merchandise is of the same quality as Victoria Secret's one, but much more affordable.The vision of La Senza is clear and powerfully communicates its intentions and motivates the team and organization to realize an attractive and inspiring common vision of the future. It defines the organizational purpose in terms of the organization's values rather than bottom line measures. It seeks to create value for its customers by delighting them. It envisions being the most respected, successful, having a wide range of products, and the best people.However, while being clear and concise and providing a sense of direction for managers, employees and investors, the company's vision and mission statement do not send the clear message to the customers about the products that they should expect unlike Ann Summers' mission which aims to "to help every woman feel more sexy and have more fun" or Initimissimi's plead to provide "romantic because it inspires the imagination and emotions, sensual because it enhances allure, natural because it embodies grace and reflects modern style and needs.."By exploiting internal resources and capabilities and meeting the demanding standards of global competition, firms create value for customers. Value is measured by a product's performance characteristics and by its attributes for which customers are willing to pay.The sale of women's intimate and other apparel, personal care and beauty products and accessories through retail stores is a highly competitive business with numerous competitors, including individual and chain specialty stores, department stores and discount retailers. Brand image, marketing, design, price, service, assortment and quality are the principal competitive factors in retail store sales. La Senza's online businesses compete with numerousOnline merchandisers. Image presentation, fulfilment and the factors affecting retail store sales discussed above are the principal competitive factors in online sales.StrengthsThe following strengths contribute to its compatibility:A strong brand name is a major strength of La Senza. This gives La Senza the ability to charge higher prices for their products because consumers place additional value in the brand La Senza exhibits brand recognition which provides the company with a competitive advantage. The brand is aspirational at accessible price points and has a loyal customer base. In Canada, La Senza is a leader in young women's intimate apparel. La Senza is often compared to its sister brand, Victoria Secret. While they are equal in quality and have very similar products, La Senza's products are much cheaper than Victoria Secret products which can be considered as its advantage. When given a choi...
