A recent article regarding Victoria’s Secret growing emergence in mainland China provides great insight into the concept of global marketing. For many years, consumers in China have viewed Victoria’s Secret’s products as functional items. They would buy underwear simply for its purpose, as opposed to viewing the item as a luxury. However, as this mindset is changing among the Chinese, Victoria’s Secret is adapting also. The exploration into the Chinese market is a prime example of a company’s ability to capitalize in overseas markets when the time is right.

However, deciding upon whether the time is right or not, is often a difficult task. Previously, many successful North American companies have failed to make the transition to Asian markets. Best Buy, for example, tried to apply the same strategies that worked for them in North America. This meant securing large locations for big stores. However, this proved to a big very expensive strategy given the high-cost of land in densely populated areas like Shanghai. Inevitably, Best Buy closed down all their stores in Asia in 2011. The failure of Best Buy goes to show that different markets require different marketing strategies.

In the Victoria’s Secret example, they are strategically starting out with special Beauty and Accessories stores. Given that $50 sweatpants and provocative lingerie will not likely be in high demand in China, this is a logical approach. It is important to adjust marketing in terms of the economic, political, and cultural differences between regions or countries.