The Customizer Is Always Right

摘要

Somewhere in the depths of the Lands' End Internet operation, a computer has got my number. It started with a simple email offering a free pair of pants if I would send in my waist and inseam measurements and the shape of my thigh. I did. The pants came. (Actually, a bug caused me to receive two free pairs, but I'm not complaining.) I forwarded feedback on the fit, and the computer tweaked the measurements. The net result: a great pair of pants for not a lot of effort. "You're a typical American male," my wife, Ann Marie, said. "They're guessing that you don't like to shop, value convenience above all, and will pay just to avoid having to go to the store. I've bought 10 times as much stuff at the Lands' End Web site as you have, and they've never offered me a free pair of pants." She's right. Ordering online versus going to the mall is no longer much of a choice. The fact that after an hour at the store I emerge with something that's an inch too long has made me even less enthusiastic about the mall. And so Lands' End cleans up, charging me extra for the quality of the fit.