L.L. Beam’s purpose is to inspire and enable people to enjoy the restorative power of being outside. … [+] Its iconic L.L. Bean duck boots are still made locally in the state of Maine.
gettyLong before anyone heard the terms direct-to-consumer or omnichannel, L.L. Bean had more than a century’s experience doing it. Yet it followed a methodical step-by-step approach to omnichannel until about 2019, when it took a giant leap. It implemented a brand-building rather than a primarily retail-oriented strategy.
From 2017 through 2020, revenues remained in the $1.6 billion range, then jumped to $1.8 billion in 2021 and held onto that level in 2022 even as the pandemic-driven boom in outdoor activities started to subside. And today, company revenues are running slightly ahead of last year despite the economic headwinds plaguing other retailers.
“Before the pandemic, we embarked on what we called the ‘brand project’ to sharpen the pencil and redefine the balance between being a retailer versus a brand,” shared Charlie Bruder, vice president and general manager of international and wholesale.
“We needed to really understand who we are as a brand and how we can problem-solve for the customers to keep them outdoors. From that, we were able to think about channels and how we should be distributed,” he continued.
Describing the company as conservative by nature and thoughtful about any steps it takes, Bruder also said its omnichannel strategy is first and foremost guided by the company purpose: to inspire and enable people to enjoy the restorative power of being outside.
That makes the company’s potential reach as big as all outdoors.
DTC Pioneer Founded in 1912 in Freeport, ME, Leon Leonwood Bean started by selling what was then called the Maine Hunting Boot using a list of out-of-state Maine hunting license holders. He mailed sent out a circular and a nationwide mail-order business was born.
By 1917, demand was so great that he opened a store on the second floor above the Freeport Post Office, the better to serve its thriving mail-order business. And because hunters don’t keep regular hours, the store began operating 24/7 every day of the year in 1951.
Since then, its seven-acre campus, including headquarters, Bike, Boat & Ski Store, Hunting & Fishing Store, Home Store and Discovery Park, has become the city’s center, welcoming over three million visitors a year.
An early adopter of online retailing in 1995, L.L. Bean still mails its catalogs to more than 200 million people in some 170 countries worldwide. In 1992, it made its first brick-and-mortar excursion internationally by opening a flagship store in Japan, and in 2000, it ventured beyond Maine to Tyson’s Corner, VA with a 75,000 sq. ft. store.
Today, L.L. Bean operates 56 stores in the states, plus 25 in Japan and 12 in Canada in partnership with Jaytex Group, including its first store in Quebec that opened in August. This coincided with the launch of a French-language e-commerce site.
It also sends its Bootmobile out on the road every year to offer popup experiences in the places it visits. In 2022, the mobile boot put on 5,000+ miles and visited 12 states.
L.L. Bean store
Courtesy of L.L. BeanThe company plans to continue its current schedule of opening two to three stores annually. These stores also host experiential Outdoor Discovery Programs where people can participate in guided adventures, such as kayaking, paddle boarding, fly fishing, biking, snowshoeing and kids’ camps.
“We believe there’s nothing like the in-store experience to really bring the brand to life and allow customers to just experience us as a brand,” Bruder said, and that insight has spurred the company’s launch into wholesale partnerships.
Exposing New Customers To The L.L. Bean Experience The wholesale expansion began in 2020 with a set of hand-selected national retailers, which the company believed had relevance to the retailers’ customers and brand.
For example, its company’s range of backpacks were a perfect fit for office-supplier Staples and its iconic Bean Boot, plus timeless classic outerwear and casual fashion for Nordstrom. The Midwestern Scheels sporting-goods retailer was also chosen to extend beyond its primarily New England and Mid-Atlantic regional boundaries.
“We set the wholesale plan in 2019, only to launch in 2020, so our timing wasn’t great,” Bruder said, referencing the pandemic store closures, but it’s proven successful, good timing or not. “We did the rollout in a thoughtful and pragmatic way.”
It now includes Moosejaw, Dillard’s and Texas-based Academy Sports + Outdoor, with nearly 300 stores in 18 states and a selection of independent retailers to extend the brand’s reach farther.
Each step on its omnichannel journey is purposed to build brand awareness, consideration and sales in wider concentric circles geographically and to complement its owned digital, catalog and brick-and-mortar business.
“We are being very careful in terms of partnering with retailers that are going to care for the brand and care for the customers as we do in our ecosystem,” he explained.
Into The Southland One of those hand-selected independents is Mast General Store, based in Valle Crucis, NC. Mast now has 11 stores across North and South Carolina and as far north as Roanoke and west to Knoxville, TN. The store traces its roots back to the 1850s, with it taking the Mast name in 1913 for owner W.W. Mast.
Current owners John and Faye Cooper bought the store in 1979 and daughter Lisa Cooper grew up in it. She is now company president.
“We’ve been called the ‘L.L. Bean of the South,’ with our Old General Store feel, including a post office in the store,” Lisa said. “We are dedicated to the mountain lifestyle and offer quality goods at fair prices with friendly service and community spirit.”
“L.L. Bean was the perfect fit for us because we’d always get calls about whether we carried the Bean Boot. Now we can say ‘Yes, come on in,’” she continued.
Mast has proven a perfect partner for L.L. Bean, sharing common values and dedication to the outdoors.
“We are looking for best-in-class outdoor lifestyle specialty partners,” Bruder said. “The initial results have been fantastic, and we are focused on growing with independents but always being thoughtful and deliberate.”
Cooper added, “Business is all about relationships and building relationships with everybody from your product partners, sales reps, customers, employees and the community. When we got the call, it was a natural. We knew L.L. Bean would fill a gap that we needed. We are dedicated to presenting it well and making sure that we do it justice in our stores.”