1. Would you purchase custom tailored apparel on the Web? Why or Why Not?

Based on what I’ve read in the case study on Lands’ End, I would consider purchasing custom tailored apparel on the internet. Since Lands’ End guarantees satisfaction of the purchase the customer is not taking on the risk of purchasing tailored clothing that may not fit. If the customer is unhappy with it, they can return it for a full refund, and they are only out the cost of shipping. However, if the clothing fits the customer is able to purchase tailored clothing for a lot less than the price of going to a tailor. In addition, tailored clothing isn’t available in every city, therefore Lands’ End has made tailored clothing available to everyone for a reasonable price.

2. What is the role of the Internet in supporting the Lands' End custom tailoring program?

Lands’ End utilizes the internet as a tool for it’s customers to order the tailored clothing. Customers fill out the order form online. This order form contains a questionnaire pertaining to specific measurements, and a choice of colors and fabrics. The order form is provided by Archetype Solutions, Inc. (ASI), a partner of Lands’ End. ASI uses the measurements to create a pattern for the article of clothing ordered. In addition, the order form contains a barcode, allowing the customer to track their order online.

3. Does Lands' End custom tailoring program provide Lands' End with a competitive advantage? Is any advantage created significant?

Land’s End has created a competitive advantage over other mail order and on-line stores with their custom tailoring program. The dramatic increase in sales over the first few years of the program support this statement. As Lands’ End continues to expand the program and offer more options to it’s customers, the competitive advantage will grow. The fact that the rate of returns of the custom tailored clothing is less than that of the traditional mail order clothing shows that the advantage is significant.

4. Assume that, based on undisclosed internal information, that Lands' End custom tailoring program is believed by management to have created a competitive advantage, is this advantage sustainable with respect to the threat of imitation? Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently, if anything, if you were Bill Bass in early 2001?

I believe that as other on-line and mail order stores begin to offer custom tailoring, Lands’ End will no longer be able to sustain their competitive advantage. If other quality companies such as J. Crew and L.L. Bean can create a custom tailored program similar to Lands’ End, they will begin to chip away at Lands’ End’s customer base. When comparing the Lands’ End program to similar programs in other industries, there are some significant differences, which enable other companies such as Dell to sustain their competitive advantage. For instance, Dell’s competitors were unable to break up their supply chains to discontinue using retail outlets, therefore, Dell was able to sustain their advantage over the competition. However, the competitors of Lands’ End will be able to create a separate custom tailoring program without discontinuing their traditional mail and on-line order business similar to what Lands’ End has done, therefore, the competitive advantage will not be sustainable for Lands’ End.

Knowing how successful the custom tailoring program is for Lands’ End, if I were Bill Bass back in early 2001, I would have been more aggressive with the program. He started out only marketing custom tailoring pants for men, however, the women’s program has proven to be as successful. Therefore, the only thing that I would have changed is that I would have offered women’s clothing from the beginning.

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Davidson, Dyrud, Neal, Paterson,