Who Are You Anyway?

For this edition, I perused several catalog Web sites to see how good a job catalogers do in explaining who they are. Naturally, many consumers want to get a good idea of who they’re doing business with. If your company comes off in something of a faceless manner, some might be put off. On the other hand, consumers take heart in knowing where you’re located, what you’re all about, where you’re coming from and in some cases, who founded you.

It’s a fairly easy thing to do, especially on the Web. By in large, I found that most handle their “about this company” or “about us” quite well, and provide my two cents below on the job I feel they do.

L.L. Bean, the apparel and sporting goods cataloger with its folksy, 95-year heritage, makes the most of its company backgrounder by providing not just a story, but a video history, chapter by chapter (www.llbean.com/customerService/aboutLLBean/95thAnniversary.html?feat=hp). You feel like you’re in a museum in which you sit down and watch a brief series of film clips, and it’s impossible to come away not trusting this company.

Company Evolutions

Lands’ End handles its company info a little differently (www.landsend.com/cd/fp/help/0,,1_36877_36883_37026___,00.html?sid=6745177601044162070 ). And there’s good reason. Founded in the early ‘60s as a yacht store in Chicago, Lands’ End offers stories written by its late founder Gary Comer and other interesting literature to explain how the company evolved. Consistent with Lands’ End’s literary magalog format, there’s much to read here; no video. And that’s no problem. This is a solid job, and even though I could find no mention anywhere that the company is now owned by Sears (aside from a guide to Lands’ End shops at Sears stores). That’s probably a good thing, since, in my book, the Sears-Lands’ End marriage will always be a bit of an oddball one.

The only problem with Lands’ End’s history info is that you have to dig a little to find it. The “about Lands’ End” link takes you to a series of descriptions, all very business-oriented. One of the bunch is the company’s history, and it’s only there, where things get a little more warm and fuzzy. But by in large, Lands’ End handles this well, revealing all the information it can about itself to those curious enough to click around.

Some other catalogers whose Web sites I looked over take appropriate measures considering their backgrounds. Take Boston Proper, for instance. Certainly, it’s a solid business these days, as it has been for a number of years now. But back in the early 1990s, the company filed for Chapter 7 and went out of business for a time. Then a new management team bought the customer file and reinvented and jump-started the company.

The women’s apparel cataloger handles its company profile pretty appropriately (www.bostonproper.com/custserv/aboutusmain.jsp?cid=45). After all, having at one time been out of business isn’t exactly something you want to boast about even if it did take place during President Bush I. “Boston Proper is a multi-channel specialty retailer of distinctive women’s apparel, designed for today’s independent, confident

and active woman. The product assortment includes casual sportswear and dresses, activewear, travel separates, swimwear and outerwear along with coordinating accessories and footwear that meet the head-to-toe fashion needs of our customers.”

There’s obviously not a whole lot of personality or warm and fuzzies to this description, but for this company, I feel this works.

Harriet’s Surprise

I was pleasantly surprised at the company description of Harriet Carter (www.harrietcarter.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/content.page/nodeID/4451a356-8ba9-4438-8a0c-f736b4bd8503/). Over the years, I’ve found this novelties catalog to be an effective selling tool in print. But I’ve also found it to be somewhat faceless-looking, lacking the kind of personality that competitor Lillian Vernon has.

But Harriet Carter’s online “about us” description is quite extensive, discussing how it got started on Harriet Carter’s kitchen table, what her first product was and so forth. Here’s an excerpt: “A lot has changed since my family and I began our venture into the mail order business back in 1958. Our first successful item was a decorative wood switch-plate cover which we hand cut and stained down in our basement. My office was our kitchen table where my young son and daughter would help fill orders under my watchful eye. We learned right from the start that customer satisfaction was the key to keeping our little business growing successfully.”

Less surprising is the similarly efficient history essay that electronics cataloger Hammacher-Schlemmer provides on its site (www.hammacher.com/about_us/abindex.asp). Hammacher provides two stories: The first, a four-paragraph piece that briefly describes the company’s evolution from a small hardware store started by two German immigrants in New York’s Bowery District in 1848. But then you can click on the bottom for a “our history,” which takes you to more detailed, five-paragraph explanation of the company’s story (www.hammacher.com/about_us/history.asp), replete with old photos.

Check These Out Too...

In brief, here are some others I looked at that I think are worth checking out, for better or for worse:

* The Company Store (www.thecompanystore.com/story.asp) for its explanation of the evolution of down comforters since the early 1900s.

* Gooseberry Patch (http://www1.gooseberrypatch.com/gooseberry/database.nsf/v.pages/f.ourstory) for its very brief, but thorough explanation of how cofounders and next-door neighbors JoAnn and Vickie started the company. My only beef here is they don’t reveal their last names. Why not?

* Neiman Marcus (www.neimanmarcus.com/store/service/company_overview.jhtml), perhaps not surprisingly, takes a very brief and rather cold approach. Its “company overview” provides a one-sentence mission statement and a fairly extensive timeline, dating back as far as 1907 founding. Virtually no personality in this explanation.

* Finally, perhaps the most unusual one I found appears right smack dab front row center on the home page of Griot’s Garage, an automotive products catalog (www.griotsgarage.com/index.jsp). With his picture right there showing him using Griot’s products, founder Richard Griot delivers a president’s letter-style explanation of what can be found on the site. It’s not a company backgrounder. In fact, a more thorough “about Griot’s Garage” can be found elsewhere. But it does do a good job giving much personality to a greasy business like automotive repair.