Outdoor Insight

s /UTDOOR )NSIGHT s *ULY outdoorinsightmag.com E ven as it plans to open five more stores this year, and even if online purchases surpassed catalog orders back in 2009, L.L.Bean certainly remains a catalog company in the minds of most of its customers, many of whom grew up waiting anxiously for its latest catalog to arrive. But the 100-year-old outdoor specialty retailer has come a long way to being accepted as the three-headed powerhouse – brick-and-mortar and Internet along with all of those catalogs – it actually has been for quite some time. So now, in the face of flat sales for the past two years – some of it attributed to a politically motivated boycott earlier this year – L.L.Bean is looking for ways to fully implement an omni-channel strategy that combines all three. The times they are a changin', and L.L.Bean is looking to change along with them. But first, about that boycott. Back in January the company found itself caught in the middle of a political skirmish over its namesake heiress and her support of President-elect Donald Trump. It seems that Linda Bean, the granddaughter and heir of company founder Leon Leonwood Bean and a longtime Re- publican activist, bankrolled a political action committee that supported Trump. That meant that an anti-Trump boycott was inevitable. #GrabYourWallet, a social movement that circulates a spreadsheet of companies that support Trump or actively do business with Trump and his family, added L.L.Bean to its "companies to consider boycotting" list. How does a company respond? Well, L.L.Bean's chairman, Shawn Gorman, a great-grandson of L.L. Bean, immediately went on Facebook in an attempt to quell the boycott. "We are deeply troubled by the portrayal of L.L.Bean as a supporter of any political agenda," Gorman said. The company also took pains to point out that the five-generation company has many members with many diverse opinions. "As with most families of this size, the views of L.L.'s family members cover nearly the entire political spectrum. And as every member of this very large family would agree, no single person represents the values of the company that L.L. built," spokesperson Carolyn Beem said. "Unfor- tunately, some have attempted to attribute the personal political activities of one member of a five-generation ownership family to our entire company. That is both illogical and unfair." Like all things political, the imbroglio eventually died down, but observers are still trying to determine whether the boycott had any immediate impact on sales. The num- bers certainly don't look good, but there are many reasons for that — in fact, they have been flat for two years now, well before any political controversy. The company in March reported sales were $1.6 billion for a second straight year in 2016. (It had been on a run of five consecutive years of growth before 2015.) L.L.Bean plans to cut costs by freezing pensions and offering voluntary early retirements and it is reportedly re-examining its generous shipping and return policies. The company expects to trim the workforce by about 500 workers through early retirement incentives next year, according to some reports. It will do all of this as it struggles to maintain its iconic position in outdoor specialty retail. "One of the incredible things about L.L.Bean is that it's been able to maintain its authentic character, its soul and DNA amongst growth and changes in the retail landscape," points out company spokesman Mac McKeever. "That commit- ment is as strong today as it was in L.L.'s." As it evolves into an omni-channel retailer with significant investments in its electronic platforms and retail expansion, McKeever promises that its focus will remain decidedly old-school. "Our biggest challenge and our big- gest opportunity will be to adapt to changing shopping habits, as new technology gives customers more ways to shop," he adds. "Among an increasingly fragmented market and a rapidly evolving consumer, ensuring that we are top-of-mind via outlets that give them the ability to shop for what they want, when they want, and within a channel that is most conducive for them." O 20 17 L.L.BEAN BOOT CAMP BULLET POINTS L.L.Bean operates 30 retail stores outside of Maine as well as 10 outlets. Five more will open in 2017. The retail division employs nearly 1600 people year-round and nearly 3000 during the busiest shopping periods. Over 13.6 mil- lion people visited L.L. Bean stores in 2016. The company opened its first international retail store in Tokyo in 1992 and now operates 25 stores in Japan. llbean.com was launched in 1995. In 2009, web orders ßsurpassed catalog orders for the first time. There were over 1.6 million visits on Cyber Monday, 2016. TRAIL MIX Headquarters Freeport, ME Stores US: 30, Japan: 25 Website llbean.com 2016 Sales $1.6 Billion Strong headwinds kept sales flat, but a strategy is taking shape. Caption here and be never more than one line long More than 630,000 pairs of the iconic L.L.Bean Boot were sold in 2016. L.L.Bean mails its catalogs to more than 90 countries.

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