After all, the retailer’s headquarters in Freeport, Maine, was open 24 hours and we had nothing better to do. Bean,” Dave said, and it seemed like a good idea at the time. Says Smith: “This is a test, we’re very clear.I’ll never forget that chilly fall night when my college friends and I piled into our pal Dave’s electric blue Dodge Dart for an overnight road trip. Bean product to show up at a million stores in your town anytime soon. Bean is in no rush to go too far down the wholesale road, or to set a sales percentage target for wholesale, though Smith says that share is unlikely to exceed 25% and could be far less. But those categories have lifted its competitors too. Bean as Americans worked from home and took to the outdoors, with products like quilts, outdoor furniture, and more recently, down puffers leading the way. To be sure, sales of many products exploded for L.L. Bean could use a boost: sales slipped 3% to $1.5 billion in 2019 and are on track to be down slightly again in 2020, this time because of the pandemic which shut stores for weeks, overshadowing an online sales jump that continues. Smith, CEO since 2016, says that the exploration of wholesale partnerships began a couple of years ago to help L.L. Bean trying new partnerships, the brand is launching a collection with men’s wear designer Todd Snyder, its first such collaboration. For Nordstrom, the partnership allows it to further build up its active wear assortment. “We wanted to be sure we were in an environment with the same type of customer service,” says Smith. And Nordstrom caters to the affluent customer L.L. What’s more, Nordstrom’s reputation for good customer service struck a chord with Smith, whose company is renowned for its generous returns policy. Bean, is prized as a wholesaler for how it showcases brands with nice presentations rather than the shabby displays common at other department stores. But the Seattle-based retailer, family run just like L.L. Nordstrom’s business has been severely hurt by the pandemic and a shift away from fancier clothes as fewer people go to the office or to special events. At the same time, he says, “We don’t want to get to a place where we are overly reliant on the health of somebody else’s business.” “We’re doing the same thing, but starting from different directions,” Smith says of Nike’s strategy. “We are so well known as a brand but we don’t always have such great brand relevance to customers,” Smith continues.īut while the approach differs, the goal is the same: striking the balance between maximizing a brand’s reach and ensuring it is presented as well at a wholesaler as in its own stores. And that is dangerous at a time when rival brands like Patagonia and The North Face-which are widely sold beyond their own stores including at Nordstrom-tend to have a higher profile with shoppers. Bean is only about fleece or flannel, while its assortment actually includes things like furniture, bikes, and fishing gear. Bean brand.” As beloved as the brand is, he concedes, many shoppers don’t have it top of mind, or think L.L. Bean was gingerly testing the wholesale waters after all these years, CEO Stephen Smith tells Fortune, “The simple answer is, to expose new customers to the L.L. Bean will soon be selling some of its products at Nordstrom, adding to roster of new retail partners that includes Staples and Midwest sporting goods chain Scheels All Sports.Īsked why the 108-year-old L.L. Bean, beloved for its iconic duck boots and fleece sweaters, has always kept tight control over how and where its products are sold, exclusively using its own stores, catalog, and website to build what is now a roughly $1.5 billion annual business.īut the brand’s limited store fleet of 54 locations, and the need to reach a wider clientele are now prompting it to move beyond so-called ‘direct-to-consumer’ selling by branching out into wholesale.
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