Will Lands End become the Dell of clothes with Internet mass customization?
From the New York Times (registration required):
Now, after nearly a year of online tailoring, Lands' End has released results that exceed the expectations of even the most optimistic executives. Bill Bass, who led the Lands' End Custom effort and is senior vice president of e-commerce and international sales, said 40 percent of all chino and jeans sales on the company's Web site were now custom orders.
"When we went into this, we estimated it would be 10 percent," Mr. Bass said. "But our prices are pretty competitive with off-the-rack stuff, and we made it easy for people."
Lands' End, which is owned by Sears, Roebuck, achieved such sales with no advertising, Mr. Bass said, other than some mentions in the Lands' End catalog, which is mailed throughout the year to tens of millions of households. "It's been a lot of word of mouth," he said.
With the custom-made pants service, shoppers go to the company's Web site, www.landsend.com, and type in measurements like weight and height, and characterize the proportions of thighs and hips, among other variables. A computer program analyzes that information, calculates the ideal dimensions of the pants, and sends that information to a manufacturing plant in Mexico.