Courtesy / L.L. Bean Inc.
Steve Smith, president and CEO of L.L. Bean, told Mainebiz that the company is "testing its way" into a new strategy of wholesale partnerships.
Updated: July 31, 2020
L.L. Bean CEO says new wholesale partnerships off to a strong start
Just in time for back-to-school shopping, L.L.Bean has begun selling backpacks, lunch boxes and related accessories at office retailer Staples in one of three new wholesale partnerships unveiled earlier this month.
"We're testing our way into it, right now and into the fall," Stephen Smith, president and CEO of the Freeport-based outdoor gear and apparel manufacturer and retailer, told Mainebiz in a phone interview.
The company on July 14 unveiled its first-ever wholesale partnerships with three retailers to sell its products in their stores and websites. It has started with Staples, a nationwide chain based in Framingham, Mass.
L.L.Bean also inked wholesale agreements with SCHEELS, a privately held, employee-owned sporting goods retailer based in Fargo, N.D., with 27 stores in 12 states and four more stores planned; and Seattle-based department store operator Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), with more than 350 stores in 40 states.
L.L.Bean said it will sell a curated offering of its outdoor assortment, including its popular Bean boots, active outerwear, fleece and flannel, at SCHEELS, and then later in the fall and into the holiday season at Nordstrom.
Omni-channel strategy
Smith told Mainebiz that the agreements were more than a year in the making, and that L.L. Bean "has been on an omni-channel strategy" for some time in terms of selling stores as well as online.
He also said that after experimenting with wholesaling in Japan and a distribution agreement with Toronto-based Jaytex Group launched last year, L.L.Bean had been "wanting to expand carefully, and in a small way."
By joining forces with Staples, SCHEELS and Nordstrom, he said, "It's a great way to get our products into the hands of and in front of new and different customers geographically."
He also said that "it's a lower-capital way to expand into other facilities. We can always build stores, but it's interesting to expand into other facilities."
L.L.Bean was founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean as a one-room operation selling only one product, the Maine Hunting Shoe. Today the company operates 54 stores in 19 states along with 25 stores in Japan.
In Freeport, the 220,000-square-foot flagship store is open 24/7 and visited by more than 3 million people a year.
Smith told Mainebiz the company is probably at around 4,300 employees currently.
While it would normally employ around 4,500, he said the company had to put about 2,300 employees on what it calls extended lack of work because of store closures during the pandemic.
That basically means that the company covers their benefits and they can claim unemployment while they are unable to work, he said.
Learning curve
Asked whether it might be risky for L.L. Bean to embark on new wholesale agreements during these uncertain times, Smith said, "I don't think so."
Noting that 65% of the company's business is online, 25% is through stores and 10% is international, he said, "We are a direct-to-consumer business and we always will be."
Smith added, "If we add a couple percentage of sales through wholesaling, it's simply a new channel to test out new markets and try our products in different environments. We're going to learn a lot, and if we like it we'll keep doing it ... Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
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