Chubbies is an American
apparel manufacturer and on line retailer specializing in men’s shorts.
Chubbies Shorts was formed in 2011 by a group of four Stanford University
graduates who are focused on changing fashion standards in the men’s shorts
segment (Mandapat, 2014) . Since the brands
introduction the company’s shorts have become a fashion icon. These “short
shorts” have developed a popular following on numerous college campuses because
of their flair, fun, and carefree appeal (Kovalesky, 2014) . The company’s
products are differentiated in style as each pair of shorts comes only with a 5
inch seam creating a tightfitting look. The style has an ironic appeal since
recent men’s fashion trends have not been focused on revealing men’s legs or
thighs. Chubbies fashion template is marketed as the anti-cargo short which
provides freedom and comfort in menswear (Colao, 2014)
Since
Chubbies is an exclusive on line e-commerce retailer with no brick and mortar
locations it is critical the brand performs effectively across the digital
environment. One of the key factors in
e-commerce retailing is obviously to be found by consumers in the right place
at the right moment when they are ready to make a purchase. There are several
methods businesses can use to achieve this objective, but one of the key
factors is simply ranking higher than your competitors on Google and other top
search engines. In short getting found, is
often equated to getting clicks, and improved clicks often equate to increased
sales (Kilbourn, 2013) .
Website
Analytics
Chubbies focuses almost
exclusively in social media based marketing for its brand and products. As a
result much of the retailers’ website analytics are focused on website user
acquisition through the social referral channel. With its primary focus on
Facebook , YouTube, Instagram and Twitter these referral sources are analyzed
based on specific campaigns, posts or targeted user generated activity (Domanska,
2014) .
On Facebook Chubbies has over 1.1 million likes and makes use of the platform
to engage directly with its consumers and target audience. Chubbies Facebook
page also features a direct link to its website at the top of its profile where
consumers can directly access the brands on line clothing store.
As an exclusive
e-commerce retailer the website shopping experience is a critical factor to the
sales success of the organization. Understanding and analyzing the customer
experience provides an opportunity to measure activity and evolve and develop
the site based on the actions of its users. Audience analytics also include an opportunity
to understand the activity surrounding new and returning visitors. Metrics such
as session period activity, bounce rate, pages per session and average session
duration provide insight on the depth of engagement. Other key metrics include
user behaviors surrounding the navigation of the site and how site users are
viewing the different product lines the organization sells (Kaushik,
2010) .
On the product page
there are several areas to navigate including different product views. Metrics
are important here as well. Understanding which product shots are most popular
can provide Chubbies with insight on how to position its different clothing
lines from a visual perspective. In this example (Fig. 3) understanding image
popularity can drive product presentation strategy not only for its website but
through its external marketing activities as well.
Since the individual
product pages contain links to Chubbies other product lines understanding the
click through metrics as they relate to different product types can also
provide the brand with insight on how to position its different product lines
both internally on its website and through its external marketing (Chubbies
Shorts, 2016) .
One example is understanding shirt and shorts purchase combinations and
featuring those products jointly when it makes sense.
Fig.
3
On
Page Optimization
As the brand looks to
increase awareness and visibility one of the key areas Chubbies can control is
its on page website optimization. These strategies are essential in positioning
the website, and include a number of areas such as keyword optimization, site
structure and even its URL (website name) all play a key role in optimizing the
website for search engine results.
Keywords
Chubbies Shorts has made
judicious use of keywords on its website. By utilizing 332 unique keywords and
creating an overall package of just under 750
keywords and the brand has crafted a good search engine strategy (Website
Analyzer, 2016) .
The site does however have a low text to code ratio. This is primarily driven
by the large number of visuals including images and product shots in the site
content.
Site
Structure
The format of the site
is laid out effectively as the primary site navigation is located at the top of
the page, there is also no flash content located on the site pages. Both of
these are search engine friendly attributes and assist in ease of indexing the
site (Fleischner, 2016) . The site is also well optimized for mobile and
tablet as responsive design is incorporated into the site framework (Website
Analyzer, 2016) .
Meta Tags and Titles are both present on
the site which enables the major search engines to understand the name of the
websites pages along with the primary theme of the pages (Fig 4).
Fig. 4
Data
Collection and Deeper Engagement
The content of a page
is what makes it worthy of a search result position. It is what the user came
to see and is thus extremely important to the search engines. As such, it is
important to create good content. So what is good content? From an SEO perspective,
all good content has two attributes. Good content must supply a demand and must
be linkable. Content pages are the heart of websites and are almost always the
reason visitors come to a site (Fleischner, 2016) . Ideal content pages
should be very specific to a given topic. Chubbies Shorts has done well in content
creation through its images and unique content. Chubbies has also created a
great deal of offsite content primarily directed through its social media
marketing strategy. While this improves off page optimization and the
opportunity for increased inbound referrals, it also does not contribute
directly to the SEO for Chubbiesshorts.com. Since the site currently the site
ranks 46 out of 100 in domain authority the overall score indicates room for
improvement.
Moving forward the
brand would be served well by creating and posting additional relevant content
on its website. One suggestion to offer here and particularly in the spirit of
keeping its brand persona, perhaps Chubbies could develop a clever way to get
its followers and customers to create customer reviews or tell their stories
directly on its site in an effort to create that additional content. Creating a
sound strategy to create fresh original content on its website could assist in
raising its overall search position and complement its already strong social
media marketing presence.
Works Cited
Chubbies Shorts. (2016). The Mount Crushmores.
Retrieved from Chubbies Shorts:
https://www.chubbiesshorts.com/products/mens-mount-rushmore-patriotic-american-shorts?coll=d-originals&position=4
Colao, J. (2014, May 6). Meet The Stanford Bros
Conquering Men's Shorts: Inside The Frat-Empire Of Chubbies. Retrieved
June 2016, from Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2014/05/06/meet-the-stanford-bros-conquering-mens-shorts-inside-the-frat-empire-of-chubbies/
Domanska, A. (2014, July 4). Chubbies: Dominating
$200 Billion Millennial ‘Mericas Market. Retrieved June 21, 2016, from
Industry Leader Magazine:
http://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/chubbies-dominating-200-billion-millennial-the-mericas-market/
Fleischner, M. H. (2016). SEO made simple.
Middletown: Simple Solution Media.
Kaushik, A. (2010). Web analytics 2.0. Indianapolis:
Wiley.
Kilbourn, C. (2013, August). The Ultimate Guide to
SEO for E-commerce Websites. Retrieved from Kissmetrics:
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/seo-for-ecommerce-websites/
Kovalesky, B. (2014, April 30). Chubbies Shorts is
on a mission to own the men’s shorts market and define the ‘weekend lifestyle’.
Retrieved June 2016, from Startup Beat:
http://startupbeat.com/2014/04/30/chubbies-shorts-qa-id3770/
Mandapat, H. (2014, June 27). Retail customer
spotlight: 3 men’s fashion brands that get customer service right.
Retrieved June 21, 2016, from Desk:
http://www.desk.com/blog/retail-customer-spotlight-3-mens-fashion-brands-that-get-customer-service-right/
Website Analyzer. (2016). www.chubbiesshorts.com.
Retrieved from Website Analyzer:
https://www.site-analyzer.com/en/analysis/841007/https://www.chubbiesshorts.com/