Victoria's Secret new hand sanitizer is so popular that executives say its the only thing the lingerie brand can't keep in stock

• Victoria's Secret's CEO said Thursday that the company has managed to keep its supply chain running efficiently during the pandemic.
• The only items it has struggled to keep in stock are its new hand sanitizing products.
• Because of this, customers are now limited to buying a maximum of five of these products at any one time.
• Executives see this as a growth area for the business as hand sanitization becomes more engrained in our daily routine.

Victoria's Secret made the smart decision to start selling hand sanitizer during the coronavirus pandemic and executives say it's the one thing that the company has struggled to keep in stock during the past few months.

Stuart Burgdoerfer, Victoria's Secret's CEO, told investors in a call on Thursday that overall the company's supply chain has continued to perform well throughout this difficult time save some difficulties in had in keeping up with for its hand sanitizing products.

Because of this, customers are now limited to buying a maximum of five of these products at any one time. On its website, one of the two hand sanitizing sprays it sells is currently listed as "out of stock" with a message saying that more will be available soon.

Its sister company, Bath & Body Works, has also seen increased demand for its soaps and sanitizers in the past few months, which helped to boost its sales during the quarter.

L Brands execs are considering this a growth category for both of these businesses in the future as increased hand sanitizing becomes an essential part of its customers' daily routines in the months and years ahead.

The demand for hand sanitizer wasn't enough to see an increase in Victoria's Secret's sales during the most recent quarter, however. First-quarter sales were down 46% at the lingerie giant as it was forced to shutter all of its brick and mortar locations in March and even its online platform for a short period of time.

Burgdoerfer said that as of Thursday, 66 of Victoria's Secret's stores have reopened across eight states. It expects the majority to reopen by the end of July.

In its first-quarter earnings release, it also laid out plans to drastically cut costs over the next year as it looks to execute a turnaround plan that was in motion before the pandemic hit. As part of this, it said it would close as many as 250 stores in North America in 2020. Burgdoerfer expects more stores to close beyond this as the company shifts focus to ecommerce.

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