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US-based lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret Stores Brand Management, LLC (Victoria’s Secret) was started by a man who had been embarrassed to shop for lingerie for his wife and aimed to make the lingerie purchasing experience more comfortable for men. In 2020, after struggling to adapt to changing consumer habits and tastes and suffering from decreasing quality in its products and increasing competition from online retailers, the company faced a final blow from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue streams were drying up, stores were closing, and the company was struggling with a tarnished image resulting from its links to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Its parent company’s top management team and board of directors now faced a critical decision: Should they attempt to repair Victoria’s Secret’s brand image and fight to strengthen sales, sell the Victoria’s Secret brand, or spin off the brand?

US-based lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret Stores Brand Management, LLC (Victoria's Secret) was started by a man who had been embarrassed to shop for lingerie for his wife and aimed to make the lingerie purchasing experience more comfortable for men. In 2020, after struggling to adapt to changing consumer habits and tastes and suffering from decreasing quality in its products and increasing competition from online retailers, the company faced a final blow from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue streams were drying up, stores were closing, and the company was struggling with a tarnished image resulting from its links to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Its parent company's top management team and board of directors now faced a critical decision: Should they attempt to repair Victoria's Secret's brand image and fight to strengthen sales, sell the Victoria's Secret brand, or spin off the brand?

Maplebear Inc. – operating as Instacart – was a leader in the online grocery delivery service market. It was founded in 2012 by a former Amazon.com Inc. employee-turned entrepreneur Apoorva Mehta, who had realized that in order to succeed, he needed to create a simple, fast, and convenient approach to a growing problem at hand: online grocery delivery. Although the company was realizing year-over-year growth in a market that was experiencing rapid growth, it was unprepared for the pandemic of 2020, which generated astronomically high demand and led to dramatic changes in consumers’ shopping behaviour. Understanding that this market growth would likely continue, and in a world still reeling from the effects of COVID-19, Instacart needed to react quickly to maintain its leading position among the competition and solidify its competitive advantage in the grocery delivery market.

Maplebear Inc. - operating as Instacart - was a leader in the online grocery delivery service market. It was founded in 2012 by a former Amazon.com Inc. employee-turned entrepreneur Apoorva Mehta, who had realized that in order to succeed, he needed to create a simple, fast, and convenient approach to a growing problem at hand: online grocery delivery. Although the company was realizing year-over-year growth in a market that was experiencing rapid growth, it was unprepared for the pandemic of 2020, which generated astronomically high demand and led to dramatic changes in consumers' shopping behaviour. Understanding that this market growth would likely continue, and in a world still reeling from the effects of COVID-19, Instacart needed to react quickly to maintain its leading position among the competition and solidify its competitive advantage in the grocery delivery market.