9:41
reef.com
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reef.com

26 technologies
VerifiedGrowingVisit676.2K/mo$156M54626 Tech
Deep Dive

Reef: The $155M Sandal Giant That Forgot to Evolve

How a heritage surf brand built a direct-to-consumer engine—and stalled in the modern era

Reef.com isn't just selling flip-flops; it's a 1990s surf brand clinging to relevance in a DTC landscape that has evolved past it. With $155M in revenue, the company sits in the uncanny valley of e-commerce: technically functional, culturally stagnant.

676K
monthly visits
$155.6M
annual revenue
56%
direct traffic
2.2/5
trustpilot score

"Reef has built a fortress of direct traffic, but it's a castle with crumbling walls—trusting a brand name over a modern digital experience."

The Traffic Paradox

Reef's 56% direct traffic is a double-edged sword. It signals strong brand equity (people type 'reef.com' directly), but with only 31% organic search, they're invisible to new audiences. The surf brand is preaching to the converted while competitors like Hoka and On capture the next generation through SEO and content. Their top keyword 'reef' commands 48K monthly searches, yet they're not capitalizing on broader lifestyle terms.

The Tech Stack Trap

Reef's tech stack reads like a 2020 e-commerce starter pack: Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap, Swiper, Vite. It's functional but generic. They're using Progressive Web Apps (PWA) and lazy loading—solid fundamentals—yet their 2.2/5 Trustpilot score suggests the experience isn't translating to customer satisfaction. The infrastructure is there, but the execution is missing the magic that turns visitors into evangelists.

What's fascinating is Reef's social presence: TikTok, Facebook, Instagram. They're present on every platform, but with only 25 Trustpilot reviews, they're not converting social engagement into social proof. The brand has 289,550 backlinks—a massive SEO asset—but they're not leveraging it to climb the global rank beyond #64,683. It's a classic case of having all the ingredients but not cooking the meal.

  • 546 employees for a $155M revenue business = $284K revenue per employee (efficient but not scaling)
  • Free shipping threshold at $65 is standard but uninspired—no innovation in the commerce model
  • Blog exists but isn't driving the 31% organic traffic it should
  • Careers page is an ADP portal—functional but not brand-aligned
No H1 tags on homepage (SEO 101 failure)
Strong direct traffic (56%) shows brand recall
Trustpilot rating is 2.2/5 (crisis-level social proof)
289K backlinks is a massive SEO asset
Top 5 countries are 'undefined' (analytics blind spot)
DTC infrastructure is built and functional
No clear content strategy for organic growth
Clear product focus on surf lifestyle

Reef is a sleeping giant with its eyes open

The brand has the revenue, traffic, and infrastructure. What it lacks is the boldness to evolve from a sandal company into a lifestyle platform. The data shows the foundation is solid—the next CEO needs to build a castle on top of it.

What tech stack does Reef use?

39 detected
Programming Languages1
CDN1
Email Marketing1
Customer Support1
E-commerce & Payments2
Web Standards2
Build Tools1
UI Libraries2
JavaScript Libraries1
Tracking & Analytics13
G
Google Analytics
G
Google APIs
A
Amazon CloudFront
C
Cloudflare Insights
G
Google Static
T
Tracking Service
G
Google Tag Manager
G
Google AdSense
G
Google Analytics
A
Analytics Service
T
Tracking Pixel
C
Cloudflare
S
Sentry

How much traffic does Reef get?

Traffic & Engagement

641.0K
Monthly Visits
-4.7%
3.6
Pages/Visit
4:51
Avg. Duration
49%
Bounce Rate
Monthly Traffic Trend-30%
913.6K
Oct 2025
Oct
672.5K
Nov 2025
Nov
641.0K
Dec 2025
Dec

Rankings

#70,941
Global Rank
#16,821
United States Rank
Retail
Category

Backlinks & Authority

289.6K
Backlinks
5.2K
Ref. Domains
52
Authority Score
Low
Penalty Risk
Backlinks Trend-4%
300.5K
Jul 2025
Jul
290.2K
Aug 2025
Aug
279.6K
Sep 2025
Sep
270.9K
Oct 2025
Oct
271.8K
Nov 2025
Nov
289.6K
Dec 2025
Dec

Search Traffic

Organic
450.0K
Paid
9.8K

Top Organic Keywords

#1reef sandals
90,500 vol18.2%
#1reef
60,500 vol12.2%
#1reef shoes
27,100 vol5.4%
#1reef flip flops
14,800 vol3.0%
#1footwear reef
12,100 vol2.4%

Where is Reef's audience located?

🇺🇸United States96.0%
🇬🇧United Kingdom1.3%
🇵🇰Pakistan0.4%
🇰🇪Ke0.2%
🇧🇷Brazil0.2%

Device Distribution

Desktop14.6%
Mobile85.4%

What keywords does Reef rank for?

5 keywords
1reef48.7K vol$0.61
2reef sandals5.5K vol$0.59
3reef shoes5.1K vol$0.65
4reef flip flops2.7K vol$0.70
5reef weekend low brooke600 vol

How is Reef's SEO?

Open Graph Image

OG Image preview
og:image

http://www.reef.com/cdn/shop/files/REEF_Logo_Black_H_Sm.png?v=1708453635

Meta Tags

title62 chars

REEF® Sandals, Shoes, Boots & Apparel | Free Shipping over $65

description151 chars

Shop surf-inspired men's and women's REEF sandals, shoes & clothing for beach and active lifestyle. Free Shipping over $65. Product quality guaranteed.

languageEN

Schema Types

OrganizationWebSiteOrganizationWebSite

Who works at Reef?

Loading leads...

What do customers think of Reef?

Reef

Reef

2.2
25 reviews

Categories

Shoe Store#undefinedShoe Factory#undefinedBeach Clothing Store#undefinedMen's Clothing Store#undefinedClothing Store#undefinedSwimwear Store#undefined

Activity & Engagement

Reply Rate
0%
Avg. Reply Time
0.0 days

Contact Information

Address:
Carlsbad, US

Reviews (20)

Filter by rating:
Corina Arredondo
1/4/2026
🇺🇸 United States2 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 12/5/2025
Best Sandals ever

First and foremost, I love these sandals. I currently own 3 pairs and plan on ordering another. I've also recommended to multiple friends because I'm not a gatekeeper. They are ridiculously comfortable, waterproof and tough enough for everything I've put them through. I've worn to the beach, long walks and even some challenging hikes because I like to test fate. I've worn casually and dressed up because I like to be a trend setter. These sandals do not disappoint and when the salsa limited editions restock, those will be dancing their way into my cart. Trust this stranger!

Emma G
8/31/2025
🇬🇧 United Kingdom4 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 8/31/2025
IREEF thankyou x

We went to i-reef today for the first time and what can I say 10/10...the staff are super friendly and very knowledgeable, the shop is clean tidy spacious ..they have information on every fish/coral in the shop and you can email yourself the info you need at a touch of a button , what a great feature that is ... we got offered a hot drink as soon as we walked in.ste is extremely knowledgeable and katie thank you for the info on my sea horses great help .. we was lucky enough to meet one of the owners who was nothing but lovely and is going out of his way to help us with our tank when we move house , thankyou this place will absolutely be our go to in the future , emma &daz

Taylor
8/26/2025
🇺🇸 United States7 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 8/16/2025
Good shoes. Poor business.

I love the shoes I got. I had to add a hole to the strap as they were quite tight around the ankle but no problem! What I didn’t like was that I placed an order using a coupon code. The way cancelled the order and said they were sold out. I reordered immediately as the size was still shown on. Of course, I couldn’t use the coupon at this point as it was invalidated after first order. No shock - the order went through. So they cancelled me when I had a coupon. Then allowed me to purchase at full price. Seems quite dishonest

KimberlyVerified
1/10/2026
🇺🇸 United States4 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 1/9/2026
I miss the quality Reef sandals had for decades

I've been wearing Reef sandals since the 90s and I always have at least one pair of the Sandy style at all times. The quality has seriously gone down hill. One pair would last me years (maybe that's the point of downgrading the quality?) There was a time I'd put on a new pair and the arch support and comfort would make me realize how worn out my old pair had gotten. Not anymore. New pairs are hard as a rock with almost no arch support. And the sizing has completely changed. I have always worn a size 8. I just held up my new size 8 to my old one and it's at least a half size shorter. Luckily I wear a 7.5 so these will at least fit. These will be my last pair of Reef. These are in no way worth $45. I'll be trying out Teva or another brand that makes similar sandals. I'm very disappointed I have to do this, I have loved these sandals since I discovered them as a teen in the 90s. I've seen other people complain about this same issue for awhile now, but was hoping they were exaggerating. They are not, and it shows how the company feels about it's loyal buyers that they haven't addressed these issues. Do better Reef. Maybe I'm returning my new pair, maybe I'll try again in a few years.

Bob T
11/27/2025
🇺🇸 United States1 reviewsOrganicUnverified
Experience date: 11/26/2025
Bad Customer Support

I used to buy from them but recently there was an error with an order I placed. I tried to reach out within 15 minutes of placing the order. Customer service number was just a recording and told you to leave a message. I tried the email route and did get a reply hours later telling me there was nothing they could do. No one ever called me back from the message I left. I tried reaching out to the shipping company but didn't have any luck there. So there's a pair of shoes I'll never get. Buy from a company that has actual Customer service.

Frequently Asked Questions about Reef

What is Reef's Revenue?
Reef generates approximately $156M in annual revenue. With 546 employees, that's $285,000 per employee.
What does Reef do?
Shop surf-inspired men's and women's REEF sandals, shoes & clothing for beach and active lifestyle. Free Shipping over $65. Product quality guaranteed.
How fast is Reef growing?
Reef has declined by 4.7% in the last 6 months according to traffic data. employee count has changed by 17% year over year.
How do people interact with Reef?
When visiting Reef, visitors view an average of 3.6 pages per visit, and spend around 4:51 on the site, and the bounce rate is 49.1%.
How do people find Reef?
181.2K people (28%) visit Reef directly. 450.0K (70%) find them through organic search. 9.8K (2%) come through paid advertising.
Who uses Reef?
Reef's top market is United States with 615.6K visitors (96.0%). United Kingdom is 2nd with 8.6K (1.3%). Pakistan is 3rd with 2.6K (0.4%).
What technologies does Reef use?
Reef uses 26 technologies across their website including Fonts, Security, Programming Languages. Key technologies include Font Awesome, Google Fonts, hCaptcha, HSTS, PHP.
Who are Reef's competitors?
Reef's main competitors include Carbon38, LE TOTE, Levi Strauss and Co, CHARLY USA, Smokers Choice. These companies operate in similar markets and compete for the same customer base.
What do customers think of Reef?
Reef has a Trustpilot score of 2.2 out of 5 (2 stars) based on 25 customer reviews.

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How to contact Reef?

What are Reef's key pages?

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Raw JSON Data

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About reef.com

Shop surf-inspired men's and women's REEF sandals, shoes & clothing for beach and active lifestyle. Free Shipping over $65. Product quality guaranteed.

Company Overview

reef.com
Website
lifestyle
Industry
#64,683
Global Rank
676.2K
Monthly Visitors
26
Technologies

Contact reef.com

Technology Stack

reef.com uses 26 technologies across their website including Font Awesome, Google Fonts, hCaptcha, HSTS, PHP, and more.

Fonts

Font Awesome, Google Fonts

Security

hCaptcha, HSTS, reCAPTCHA

Programming Languages

PHP

CMS

Contentful

CDN

cdnjs

Cloud & Hosting

Amazon S3, Amazon Web Services, AWS CloudFront, Cloudflare

Traffic & Audience

676.2K
Monthly Visits
44%
Bounce Rate
4.2
Pages/Visit
1:51
Avg. Duration

reef.com receives approximately 676.2K monthly visitors and ranks #64,683 globally. The website has a bounce rate of 44% with visitors viewing an average of 4.2 pages per visit. Users spend an average of 1:51 on the site.

The majority of reef.com's traffic comes from undefined, undefined, .

Frequently Asked Questions

What is reef.com?
Shop surf-inspired men's and women's REEF sandals, shoes & clothing for beach and active lifestyle. Free Shipping over $65. Product quality guaranteed.
What technologies does reef.com use?
reef.com uses 26 technologies including Font Awesome, Google Fonts, hCaptcha, HSTS, reCAPTCHA, and 20 more. View the full tech stack analysis above.
How do I contact reef.com?
You can contact reef.com through their contact page.
What are reef.com's social media accounts?
reef.com is active on tiktok, facebook, instagram. You can find links to all their social media profiles in the social section above.
Is reef.com hiring?
Check reef.com's careers page for current job openings and opportunities.
How popular is reef.com?
reef.com receives approximately 676.2K monthly visitors and ranks #64,683 globally. Traffic is growing by 13.6% month-over-month.

Related Searches

reef.com pricingreef.com reviewsreef.com alternativesreef.com loginreef.com careerswhat is reef.comreef.com tech stackreef.com contactreef.com vs competitorsreef.com featureshow to use reef.comreef.com integrations

This page provides publicly available information about reef.com. Data is collected from various public sources and may not always be up to date. For the most accurate information, please visit reef.com directly at https://reef.com.