Direct Marketer Lands' End

Lands' End is a Wisconsin-based direct marketer -- or, in the firm's preferred language, "direct merchant" -- of clothing and accessories, via catalogs and a World Wide Web site, vigorously advertised recently as "the website that fits you." Lands' End has one of the more distinctive corporate cultures in American business, a culture characterized by a folksy, Midwestern style, very much in the spirit of Garrison Keillor's NPR radio show, "Prairie Home Companion." It comes as no surprise, in fact, that Lands' End identifies itself with Keillor's show, going as far as to carry program listings on its website. The challenge facing Lands' End is whether this small-town culture can meet the big-city challenges of the contemporary global marketplace.

A corporate culture is inherent in any organization. As soon as two or more people come together in a continuing way, a culture takes shape out of their predispositions and ways of interacting with one another. Few firms, however, are as overt in making their corporate culture part of their image as Lands' End. From its catalog, which contains magazine-like articles as well as promotional and product information, to its web site, which also contains an online mini-magazine as well as listings for Keillor's radio show, Lands' End puts exceptional effort into projecting its corporate culture as part of its public image. At this point an obvious caveat must be stated. It is anything but unu

. . .
a clothing and accessories firm, not a yachting-supply firm, but (as with the company name) an maritime aura still infuses the business. This is doubtless a good fit to the Lands' End customer profile; sailing is a quintessential preppie activity. Even more importantly, sailing implies certain attitudes toward products and customers. A large proportion of all sailboats may seldom leave the slip, but sales of sailboat gear must be primarily to those who actually sail and work on their boats -- serious, knowledgeable hobbiests for the most part, who know that their lives may well depend on the quality of their boats' fittings. We might well expect that permanent quality, rather than transient style, would be the hallmark of a business that began as a supplier of sailboat gear and fittings, and that its customers will be people who know and expect such quality. This in fact is just the image of itself and its customers that Lands' End projects. Among the pages accessible through the "About Us" section of the website is one that lists Lands' End's eight "Principles of Doing Business." Three are listed below: Principle 1. We do everything we can to make our products better. We improve material, and add back features and co
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Home Companion, Lands' End's, Spain Finisterre, Magic Mountain, Business Week, Doing Business, Karl Vollmer, According Comer, Ten Commandments, Michael Smith, corporate culture, lands' end's, business week, public image, prairie home companion, actual culture, cultural messages, image lands', home companion, 1998 lands', prairie home, salaries sales 1999, chalk line we're, corporate culture public, sales marketing management,
Approximate Word count = 2867
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)