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| - Used to love them, but they've really been going down hill in a competitive marketplace.
The prices are high relative to the cheaper competition, but that's not the problem. The problem is value. I would happily pay the higher price if they still gave the value. Here is the value I expect for my hard-earned greenbacks:
1. Consistency. When I find something I like, I want to be able to come back next year and order the same thing in the same size, click, click, done. Unfortunately, they change their offerings faster than a NASCAR pit crew changes a tire.
2. Quality. They are mostly OK, but I've now had several items that are clearly not the size on the label (eg., order two identical pairs of pants; one fits, the other doesn't). I haven't had that happen from other big retailers. My wife had elastic fail in a matter of weeks on items that had previous lasted years. She complained and was told Duluth would replace the items, but they never did.
3. Returns. EVERYONE does free returns these days to get around the problem that you can't see and touch the item before buying. Duluth is now charging $7.99 and calling it "NO BULL GUARANTEE". Well, I call BULL.
4. Speed. The competition, based further away from me, gets things to my doorstep in about 3 days. Duluth takes well over a week in most cases. Again, when paying a premium price, PLUS a healthy chunk for shipping on a standard order, the goods need to be in my hot little hands pronto. It's just part of the standard these days.
I haven't found a better alternative to their underwear, so I'll probably keep buying it, for a while. But, the way the stock price has been going down, I should probably stock up a bit.
Please, Duluth management, take a serious look at what your business is, and decide if you are going to be a cheap-as-hell outlet, in keeping with your current level of service, or a premium retailer, with the policies and service to match.
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