L.L. Bean Raises the Bar With Its New Matchback Program

* Customer trade area reporting tracks customer spending and profitability across all channels — phone/mail, Web or store;

* Takes transactions across all channels and treats all channel customers as individual customers and single households; and

* Measures changes among customer trade areas.

Although L.L. Bean will continue its deliberate approach to retail expansion, Fuller said the company will “significantly increase” retail’s presence on its Web site over the next few months. For instance, the company will begin aggressively collecting e-mail addresses from customers in its stores. What’s more, Bean will soon test allowing customers located in store regions to order online and then pick up their orders in local stores.