Ch 2- Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Shorts are by no means a new concept so how do you put a new spin on an old concept and still manage to remain relevant? Chubbies being a relatively new brand has followed the approach of knowing its audience and never straying from the beliefs that founded their company; making a line of clothing that represents the weekend no matter when or where you wear it.

S.W.O.T

Strengths of Chubbies would be their impeccable knowledge
of their fans or 'chubbsters'. Chubbies began by attracting a specific crowd and building a sort of fan base via social media. They accumulate followers and most of their advertisements are done through their own customers. This is done by chubbsters submitting photos of themselves wearing Chubbies products and Chubbies uses that as their advertisement.  Chubbies also networks with their target audience by contacting fraternities and sororities primarily and hiring them as brand ambassadors. Chubbies sends their ambassadors free products and they will wear them around at social events and parties and promote the Chubbies name. Chubbies greatest strength is without a doubt their ability to attract a loyal base of customers that promote their product and spread the word for free.

Weaknesses of being such a new name in the world of men's fashion  can also be related to their greatest strength; their fan base. While it is Chubbies target audience that does their promoting for virtually no cost to Chubbies the demographic of chubbsters has a lot to do with how affordable Chubbies are. The majority of the chubbster nation is made up of early to late 20 year old men. Chubbies price from $49-$50 which although may not seem astronomically high compared to designer shorts in department stores it is a pretty penny for a broke college student. Buying two pairs  of shorts for $100 is near the price of competitor brands such as Hollister and Banana Republic who's target audience tends to be those that are older and have steady income.

Opportunities for the brand are quite possibly endless. Since the start of their small company they have pushed their name across the U.S accumulating over a million fans and followers in just a few short years and Chubbies recently had a bid for a free 30 second commercial in the past super bowl. Chubbies does ship internationally and their social media platform does allow them to reach out to fans over seas. As Chubbies grows it will have a greater opportunity to promote through more traditional means of advertising such as magazines, television and online ads. Once Chubbies finds  its way into the mainstream media it will have the potential to grow into a name brand that is as common as Hollister, Abercrombie or Dockers.

Threats Chubbies faces are among the common threat any new and emerging brand. Chubbies only makes shorts, unless you are a resident of Hawaii, Southern California or Florida odds are in the fall and winter you will not be wearing shorts anywhere. Chubbies are a seasonal trend and although they do remain relevant by releasing holiday edition and sweats they are still shorts. Another threat is their promoting strategy of only releasing limited numbers of shorts. This has lead to people ordering their shorts and reselling them at a higher price on Amazon and Ebay. Chubbies knows this resale and has taken action by searching for resellers and attempting to block or hold their orders to prevent their resale.