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Maumelle T-Shirt Maker Featured in Google Report

2 min read

Maumelle T-shirt maker Rock City Outfitters was recently featured in Google’s 2015 Economic Impact Report after its use of the internet giant’s analytics tool helped Rock City learn more about its customer base.

One revelation gleaned from using the tool was that 25 percent of the private company’s online business was coming from customers in Texas.

Rock City co-owner Ryan Ritchie said the report highlights how the small company that had been run out of a home grew into its own. It grew so quickly that Rock City had to move into larger spaces four times within a few years, he said.

Ritchie and Matt Jones bought the company in 2008 from another Arkansan who had been operating it as a home-based business but moved out of state and didn’t want to continue running it.

Ritchie and Jones sold T-shirts out of a home for a while, but now Rock City employs three full-time workers (including Ritchie) and six part-timers.

Ritchie said the company uses the analytics tool to “really look at our website and see where our fans are coming from, how engaged are they, what products are they looking at, how’d they get there, how long are they looking.”

He said the company has used information gathered through the analytics tool to develop a targeted social media marketing strategy.

“We were surprised to see that we have, even though we’re all about Arkansas and 80 percent of our T-shirts are about Arkansas and you wouldn’t get them if you weren’t from Arkansas, from a specific town, a lot of out-of-towners from other states looking,” Ritchie said. “I figure a lot of those are transplants…That was eye-opening to us. There are a lot of opportunities out there.”

The owner added that Rock City tries to put out a new shirt every month and its catalog is getting so large that some have had to be cycled out of production. It also has a flourishing custom orders department and provides officially licensed collegiate apparel from Arkansas universities and other schools, he said.

Ritchie said the company is selling about 60 shirts from its website, but has about a hundred awaiting launch.

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