Ashley D. Su 
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Expanding the program could give Yeti a boost of brand awareness beyond its core subscribers. Since its IPO in 2018, awareness of the company has increased from 10% to 17% in the United States, which partly indicates that it is still a relatively young brand, according to analyst Sharon Zackfia. in research on the actions of William Blair.
The Austin, Texas-based brand prioritized “protecting the long-term brand it’s building,” Zackfia said.
This long-term approach can also be seen in how the company has reduced wholesale distribution at stores such as Lowe’s, where it recently began ending its relationship, according to a February earnings call. “We have reduced our independent wholesale footprint to approximately 3,000 target accounts, which we believe helps focus our efforts on very high caliber retail to deliver consistent, high-quality experiences to our customers. customers,” Reintjes said on the call.
Zackfia described this as a move to protect the company’s long-term image, despite the loss of short-term revenue. “If you’re going to have a premium product, you want to control where that product appears,” she said. For example, “if it shows up at a non-prestigious retailer at 30% off, (it) could have detrimental ramifications” and affect the prestige image of the brand.
The brand’s competitors include brands such as Igloo, RTIC Coolers, OtterBox and Hydro Flask. RTIC coolers have positioned themselves as the cheaper alternative to the Yeti, with an almost identical origin story (two brothers in Texas) and going so far as to manufacture products that look like replica Yeti products. The brand makes a cooler that’s about $100 less than Yeti’s cost.
Yeti’s products now range from coolers to hats and bags to bottle openers. The brand released new products this spring that included smaller versions of its tote and new colors like hot pink.
Yeti has also branched out on TikTok. The brand has 280,000 followers and 2.2 million likes on the platform.
“We’re not a natural fit (for TikTok) but we’ve found our place there,” Dery said. This includes posting videos showing how to store a cooler and cases in which its products have survived fires with ice still inside, as well as funny responses to videos of people showing how many Yeti products they have. , said Dery.
