Lands' End, headquartered in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, is the largest specialty catalog company in the United States. The company's products include casual and tailored clothing for men, women, and children, shoes and accessories, soft luggage, and items for bed and bath. Fast, efficient operations allow Lands' End to offer convenient at-home shopping of quality merchandise at competitive prices.
Lands' End catalogs are known for descriptive product narratives that tell customers everything they could want to know about a garment and its construction. The company's toll-free phone lines for sales and customer service are open twenty-four hours a day, 364 days a year. More than 1,000 phone lines handle about 50,000 calls each day--almost 100,000 calls daily in the weeks prior to Christmas. Eighty-five percent of all orders are placed by phone.
In-stock orders leave Lands' End's Dodgeville distribution center (a structure the size of sixteen football fields) the day after they are received. Standard delivery is two business days anywhere within the continental United States. Lands' End works directly with some of the best fabric mills and manufacturers in the world. Garments are produced to Lands' End's own quality specifications, not to less stringent industry-wide specifications. In addition to its booming U.S. business, the company now does business in 75 countries, with facilities or special licensing agreements in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany. The Land's End philosophy is outlined in its "Principles of Doing Business."
Principle 1: We do everything we can to make our products better. We improve material, and add back features and construction details that others have taken out over the years. We never reduce the quality of a product to make it cheaper.
Principle 2: We price our products fairly and honestly. We do not, have not, and will not participate in the common retailing practice of inflating mark-ups to set up a future phony "sale."
Principle 3: We accept any return, for any reason, at any time. Our products are guaranteed. No fine print. No arguments. We mean exactly what we say: GUARANTEED, PERIOD.
Principle 4: We ship items in stock the day after we receive the order. At the height of the last Christmas season, the longest time an order was in the house was 36 hours, excepting monograms, which took another 12 hours.
Principle 5: We believe that what is best for our customer is best for all of us. Everyone here understands that concept. Our sales and service people are trained to know our products and to be friendly and helpful. They are urged to take all the time necessary to take care of you. We even pay for your call, for whatever reason you call.
Principle 6: We are able to sell at lower prices because we have eliminated middlemen; because we don't buy branded merchandise with high protected mark-ups; and because we have placed our contracts with manufacturers who have proved that they are cost conscious and efficient.
Principle 7: We are able to sell at lower prices because we operate efficiently. Our people are hard-working, intelligent, and share in the success of the company.
Principle 8: We are able to sell at lower prices because we support no fancy emporiums with their high overhead. Our main location is in the middle of a 40-acre cornfield in rural Wisconsin.
1-Think about the operations function at Lands' End. What is involved in the transformation process? How does the company "add value" for its customers?
2-Examine Lands' End's eight principles for doing business. What image is the company trying to portray? What specific activities support the image?
3-Gather information on Lands' End's competitors, L. L. Bean and Eddie Bauer. Are there any obvious differences in their competitive strategies? Describe the global activities of each company.