Almost two years ago, L.L. Bean began to move investments from infrastructure and staffing to prospecting and advertising. The results are just now coming in

By Reported Donna Loyle

Fuller: Our customers, generally speaking, are people who enjoy the outdoors. Their average age is late 40s to early 50s. They’re active, fairly comfortable financially, but shrewd with their money. We like to say: They can afford to stay at the Ritz, but they prefer the Marriott.

Most people may not know this, but our target demographic actually hasn’t changed that much over the years. In fact, it’s been remarkably stable. Oh, in the early 1980s during the preppy boom, we were fashionable — whether we liked it or not.