The making of an American Icon L L

The making of an American Icon L. L. Bean By Leon Gorman Copyright 2006 Published by Harvard Press Book Report by, Angelee Brown Principles of Marketing

Waterproof Boots!! L. L. Bean was a fisherman

Starting a Mail order list n He obtained hunting license information and sent out catalogs of the products that he had to sale.

Incorporating new products n n Tents and camping gear Not many products to sell

Competition n Ambercrombie and Fitch sold the best and newest of everything in hunting and fishing.

Who will succeed? n n n Loyalty to the business New ideas Develop ways to improve their products

A committee of one n A notion of building the perfect company

Searching for customers where have they gone. n n Climate studies Opportunity to perform To present their product Surveys to allow customer feedback

What they learned n n Fashion booms and busts Casual seemed to be the way to go with camping equipment. Not everyone was out on a rugged trail hunting. Many people were buying casual garments to wear just for camping, like a flannel.

Back on Track n n n L. L. Bean company put more of this type of casual wear into their catalgos. Teddy bears Clothes for kids Clothes for women They started to market a brand

With the new studies they learned by researching they learned n n n People loved their product Quality over price Some people were committed to the brand

epilogue n n Most of our outdoor catalog companies have resulted in opening retail stores, like Eddie Bauer. L. L. Bean in order to stay competitive finally opened its’ first retail store outside of Maine in 2000. Since then Sears bought Lands End and merged it with Kmart. Eddie Bauer filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

What I learned 1. 2. Perseverance does payoff Believing in your product creates strength