IN RESPONSE TO “sluggish sales and stiffer competition,” apparel cataloger and retailer L.L. Bean is refining its catalog marketing operations and is looking to expand its retail presence beyond the home base in Freeport, ME.
The primary changes will be to Bean’s catalogs, which have become progressively larger and more unwieldy over the years (the flagship catalog amounted to a massive 359 pages last Christmas).
Catalogs now in production will feature fewer items, be easier to read and will streamline consumer choices, such as trimming the number of colors and styles offered, according to a spokesperson.
Likewise, ancillary catalogs, including those geared toward kids and travelers, will be smaller and lighter, with an average page count around 80 to 100 pages. One recently launched mailing, the L.L. Bean Catalog for Outdoor Women, consisted of only 63 pages.
Text and photography have been redesigned to be less dense. Sporting goods such as skis and rollerblades, which tend to be “tactile” items, will be more heavily promoted at retail than in catalogs.
In at least one new catalog, the L.L. Bean name will be downplayed. In the pages of the company’s soon-to-be-launched Freeport Studio catalog, the Bean brand-which has reliable connotations to some consumers but feels stodgy to others-is almost invisible. The company plans a separate fulfillment and packaging system for this catalog.
One element that will not be affected by the changes is circulation. Bean doesn’t foresee any dramatic shifts in the quantity or targeting of its mailings.
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