Brandwatch Report/

Retail Report:

Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

An analysis of retail brands through

the lens of social media/ 2015

Brandwatch Report
Retail Report/ 2015
Why read this?
Retail businesses, exceptionally vulnerable to shifts
in public preferences, face the important challenge of
nurturing strong online communities. Acknowledging the

Report/ Retail
Retail/Report/
2015 2015

the following report examines the performance, capabilities

and social media applications of leading retailers.

The possibilities for effectively engaging consumers are limited only

by imagination, and each advance in new technology brings excitement
and anticipation of a brighter future for the retail industry.
Mark Larson
KPMG US and Global Sector Leader, Retail

Contents
A Primer on Retail
Retail Industry Social Performance
Facebook Channel Insights
Twitter Channel Insights
Twitter Customer
Service Experiment

Social Presence
Argos: A Digital Rollout
Social Media Use-Cases
Thank You

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Retail Report

A Primer on the Retail Industry

Todays consumers are greatly empowered. Technology has propagated a vast
amount of information as well as the means to easily access it. Through online
websites, reviews, blogs and social platforms, savvy consumers can derive an
informed perception of any product, business or idea well before they commit to it.

Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

For brands, maintaining a holistic awareness of the online

landscape and being properly equipped to react against
or capitalize on shifting opinions is paramount. This is
perhaps truest for the retail industry, where social favor
toward a brands identity can have dramatic effects on
a business success.

The following report examines the social media performance

shortcomings and use-cases. The aim is for retail brands
to gain insight on their own performance as well as on
some of the ways social listening can promote their
businesses operations.

Indeed, 71% of leading retail executives cite social media

1
. For brands
social capital can directly contribute to increases in revenue.
As such, having the tools to track, understand and foster
a strong online community is highly valuable.

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1 2013 Retail Industry Outlook Survey, KPMG

Retail Report

Facebook Channel Insights/ Overview

Examining the activity of leading retail businesses
Facebook channels2 reveals an industry that performs
remarkably well at generating conversations and
interest among its relatively active social community.
ONE WEEK OF LEADING RETAILERS FACEBOOK CHANNELS

60
663
Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

Brands

Posts in
7 days

904,793
Content Likes

98,488
Comments

In one week, the 60 retail brands garnered 904,793 content likes and 98,488 comments following only 663 brand posts.

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Indeed, the volume of conversation

generated from only 663 brand posts
reveals that many consumers are
passionate about these retail brands
and are genuinely affected by the
brands online voice.
Giving customers control over
the conversation and readily
encouraging, engaging with
and rewarding the sharing of
consumer-generated content
will help build a loyal brand
following. This will also provide
retailers and brands with a better
understanding of their core shopper
base from which more tailored
experiences can be developed.
Clare Nutter
Associate Analyst at Planet Retail
2 US brands selected based on the
National Retail Federations 2014
Top 100 Retailers list

Retail Report

Facebook Channel Insights/ Retailer Communication

AN AVERAGE DAY FOR LEADING RETAILERS FACEBOOK CHANNEL
ALL BRANDS
US BRANDS

UK BRANDS

1.58
25.82

1.15
Posts

Comments

Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

Posts

Posts

27.98

2.03
23.51

Comments

Comments

2,154
Content
Likes

155
Content
Shares

On a typical day, these retailers publish an average of 1.58 posts and 25.82 comments.
In turn, they receive an average of 2,154 likes and 155 shares per day.

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Interestingly, while UK brands post

more content to their Facebook wall,
US brands comment more often.
Still, in general these leading retailers
experience a strong response to their
Facebook content.
One successful engagement technique
that many retail brands are not
capitalizing on is the check-in feature
on Facebook. Of the 60 brands
examined, only 26 allow users to
check-in to their stores on Facebook.
Those 26 brands each receive an
average of 6,493 check-ins per day.

Retail Report

Facebook Channel Insights/ Consumer Communication

AN AVERAGE DAY FOR LEADING RETAILERS FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS

ALL CONSUMERS
US CONSUMERS

30.71
Posts

231.82
Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

Comments

UK CONSUMERS

24.26
234.50
Posts

Comments

17.36
Posts

237.35
Comments

These results suggest that brands

are not adequately listening and
responding to their audience.
Consumers post over 15 times more
than brands do and have over 9 times
as many comments. That means that
around 89% of consumers comments
are left unanswered.
If your customers are in a particular
space then it makes perfect sense to
be there too, and build relationships
with them in a way that no other
channel can. Because if you dont
build those relationships with them
- someone else will.
Charlotte Bleasdale
Social Media Manager at JD Williams

On average, the 60 leading retailers analyzed receive 24.26 posts and 234.50 comments from their followers each day.

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Retail Report

Facebook Channel Insights/ The Retailers Voice

While the majority of retailer posts are photos,
on average, image links actually perform better.
3%
7%
18%

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2015 2015

AN AVERAGE DAY
FOR RETAIL BRAND
FACEBOOK CONTENT

71%

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Photos

Image Links

1,765 Likes
119 Comments
104 Shares

2,667 Likes
125 Comments
484 Shares

Video

Status

1,065 Likes
319 Comments
431 Shares

309 Likes
51 Comments
8 Shares

Similarly, videos garner more shares

than photos and considerably more
comments than any other type of
post. Brands can interpret this to
mean that while videos generate
more conversation on their Facebook
page content, linked images are the
most successful at spreading
sharable information.
Status updates are unsurprisingly
the least effective way of generating
conversation. Brands, identifying
resonate with their audience, can
promote their online presence by
tailoring their content based on
its performance.

Retail Report

Twitter Channel Insights/ Overview

The activity of these retailers Twitter channels are again
indicative of the strong social influence that large retail
brands have online.
AN AVERAGE DAY FOR RETAIL BRANDS TWITTER CHANNELS

114.30

821.42

Audience Replies

@Brandmentions

63.32

Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

Audience Retweets

40.26

Brand Replies

5.73
Timeline
Tweets

On a typical day these retail brands receive 821.42 direct mentions. Brands publish a daily average of 40.26
replies and 5.73 timeline tweets. Of their published content, their audience typically replies 114.30 times and
retweets 63.32 times per day.

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These brands are successfully

drawing a high volume of
conversation, with some leading
brands attracting upwards of 11,000
@Brandmentions per day. Even a
well staffed community management
team may struggle categorizing,
triaging and appropriately responding
to that level of conversation.
However, a response rate of 4.9%
indicates that many of these brands
are not adequately equipped to
handle the incoming chatter.

Retail Report

Twitter Channel Insights/ The Retailers Voice

Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

The success of a retailers post is not only dependent on

the content but also on the time and day its published.

Audience
@Brand

Avg. Post
per Brand

RT per
Brand Post

Replies per
Brand Post

Monday

56470

5.57

11.09

21.86

Tuesday

62029

6.66

11.44

18.75

Wednesday

61322

6.19

17.49

21.91

Thursday

58191

6.67

10.34

19.71

Friday

52706

5.90

9.92

19.22

Saturday

54422

4.31

8.53

22.75

Sunday

40549

4.88

8.04

15.99

BEST DAY WORST DAY

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Unsurprisingly, the majority of brand

-consumer social interactions occur
throughout the working week. Inbound
@mentions are highest on Tuesdays,
tapering off throughout the week and
bottoming out on Sunday. Similarly,
the average number of posts3 are
greatest on Thursday and lowest
on Saturday and Sunday.
However, the current research
suggests that Wednesday is actually
the highest performing day in terms
of both retweets and replies per brand
post. A socially intelligent brand will
be conscious of how different times
affect the performance of posts
among their target audience.

3 Twitter posts do not include replies.

Retail Report

Twitter Experiment/ Synopsis

Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

To evaluate the effectiveness of retail brands Twitter

customer service teams, Brandwatch measured how
retail brands react to different types of tweets online.

10

Neutral
Mention

Direct
Query

Negative
Complaint

(ie. Yeah Im gonna

need to visit
@BRAND today)

(ie. @BRAND what

should I look
for this Winter?)

(ie. BRAND has the

worst customer
service always)

Tweets were designed to test brands responses to two types of @mentions

of these leading retail brands social

customer service teams to identify,
prioritize and adequately respond to
incoming tweets.
Be where your core customers are
most and remember to not just post
on social media, but also to respond.
Customers are quick to post on social
media when they need customer care,
so be sure to react to it and follow
up right away. Dont neglect social
media or your customers will in
turn neglect you.
Nicole Leinback-Reyhle
Founder & Publisher at Retail Minded

Additionally, brands responses to online complaints4 that did not directly

@mention a brand were evaluated

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4 For ethical reasons, we did not tweet negative comments

toward any retail brands in this experiment.

Retail Report

Twitter Experiment/ Experiment

Brands neglect a considerable portion of the online
chatter directed at them.
LIKELIHOOD OF RESPONSE BY BRANDS TO COMMENTS ON TWITTER

80%
70%
60%
50%

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2015 2015

40%

11

Overall, retail brands only responded

to 46.6% of the tweets with direct
@mentions. Unsurprisingly, brands
are far more likely to respond to
Direct Queries (64.6%) than Neutral
Mentions (28.8%). However, brands
only engaged with untagged
complaints 1.9% of the time,
a large majority of the brands
neglecting these conversations
altogether. Also, UK brands had a
higher response rate in all categories
except untagged complaints.

30%

that even leading retail businesses

are missing opportunities to engage
and build support amongst their
online communities.

20%
10%
0%
ENGAGE WITH TWEETERS
THAT SPECIFICALLY

RESPOND TO
DIRECT QUESTIONS

ENGAGE WITH
NEUTRAL TAGGED
NOT QUESTIONS

OVERALL UK US

ENGAGE WITH
UNTAGGED
COMPLAINTS

Retail Report

Twitter Experiment/ Results

The leading retail brands examined respond to direct
questions in an average of 157 minutes.
BRANDS TIME TO RESPOND TO @DIRECT QUESTIONS ON TWITTER

25%

20%

15%

For a social platform that demands

immediacy, its clear that brands still
have room to improve both the speed
and quality of their responses to direct
questions on Twitter.

Report/ Retail
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2015 2015

10%

12

Only 11.2% of brands responded

within an hour, with Best Buy,
Nordstrom, Ocado, Macys and
Sears all replying within four minutes.
Of those that did respond, 31% did
so under a personal name while the
remaining 69% responded as a brand.
Furthermore, 52.4% of the brands
handled the issue via Twitter while
the remaining 47.6% replied with a
link to more information, a direct
message request or a phone number.

5%

0%

UNDER 15M UNDER 30MIN UNDER 45MIN UNDER 1HR UNDER 2HRS
UNDER 4HRS WITHIN 24HRS DID NOT RESPOND
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Retail Report

IKEA Case Study/ Goal & Challenge

Goal:
With 365 stores across 45 countries, IKEA is one of the most recognizable retail
brands in the world. Catering to millions of unique consumers, IKEA understands
the value of offering a consistent yet appropriately tailored experiences to each
customer. For their Digital Development team, establishing a capable system

Challenge:

Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

As is common among large, global enterprises, while many areas of the business
understood the value of social, the strategies and level of investment across
markets and departments was inconsistent. Fostering support and momentum

13

developed under traditional techniques.

Furthermore, IKEAs data was often siloed by divisions, meaning that valuable
insights and techniques uncovered by one team may have never reached another.
IKEA needed systems that would encourage a broader cultural shift toward internal
sharing and social intelligence.

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15

senior stakeholders
engaged across
5 continents

Retail Report

IKEA Case Study/ Solution

Solution:
IKEA developed the Listening Hub using Brandwatch
Analytics and Vizia. By employing a highly customizable
listening platform and social media command center, IKEA
is able to intelligently detect, understand and distribute
actionable insights throughout the organization.
Tracking conversations around IKEAs customer service,

Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

Customer Service Scoreboard and UmVox, were driving

a large proportion of negative chatter and sentiment.

14

website, IKEA discovered that Americans were far more

likely to complain on Facebook while their UK counterparts
took to forums like Yelp and O2.
The Listening Hub ensures that the 15 stakeholders,
working across 5 continents, are all able to understand
what consumers are saying about their brand in an easily
digestible way. For IKEA, that means a more informed
digital strategy.
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The Listening Hub provides stakeholders real insights

into life at home for customers who are talking about
IKEA online.
Hans Gartner
Digital Development at Inter IKEA Systems B.V, Delft, The Netherlands

Retail Report

Argos Case Study/ Goal & Challenge

Goal:
With a network of over 758 stores, 43,000 products and around 123 million
customers per year, Argos is one of the UKs leading online retailers.
stores across the UK.
As a retailer with over 40 years of business, Argos acknowledged that their
consumers had certain expectations when entering their stores. For them,
understanding how consumers were reacting to the new storefronts was
an imperative.

Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

Challenge:

15

Recognizing the ubiquity of social media, Argos knew that reactions to their
new stores would be played out on social media. The leading challenge
would be in gaining a complete picture of that response.
To get robust social data needed a way to pinpoint all relevant conversation.
Furthermore, Argos required some strategic method for making sense of all
the online feedback.

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Tracked the
reaction to

53
new digital
stores

Retail Report

Argos Case Study/ Solution

Solution:
Argos chose Brandwatch Analytics as the ideal social listening platform.
With customizable and in-depth queries functioning on a wide array of boolean
operators, they were able to capture every public conversation they needed.
Using Brandwatchs categories and rules, Argos was able to segment the data
to understand in real-time how consumers felt about each store individually.
Breaking the data down by demographics and location, Argos could identify the

Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

With greater insights on the consumer reaction to the new stores, Argos both
ensured that the change went smoothly and learned more about their consumers
in the process.

16

Using social insights, we can

understand which stores are
performing well for customers and
identify areas for improvement.
James Finch
Customer and Digital Insights Manager at Argos
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Retail Report

Social Media Use-Cases

Implementing the Right Technology
Campaign Measurement

Lead Generation

Track the volume, sentiment, topics and keywords

surrounding any campaign

Discover potential customers through broad

network searches

Community Management

Market Research

Understand and nurture an online community

market questions

Report/ Retail Report/ 2015

Competitor Benchmarking

17

Follow and compare the online performance

of competitor brands online

PR Tracking

Customer Service

Product Development

Track, categorize, triage and appropriately respond

to massive volumes of inbound complaints and issues

Use a massive audience to uncover and test potential

product ideas

Influencer Marketing

Reputation & Crisis Management

Identify and build relationships with influencers

Measure the performance of a brands PR efforts

online conversations spike

For a full list of social media monitoring use-cases,
visit brandwatch.com/uses
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Brandwatch Report
Retail Report/ 2015
Thank you

Contact Us

We hope this report provides your business with some helpful insights on the
capabilities and considerations surrounding the retail industry. Please get in touch
if you have any questions on how retail brands are using social media analytics or

contact@brandwatch.com
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About Brandwatch

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Germany +49 (0) 711 912 44 159

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Brandwatch is one of the worlds leading social media listening and analytics
technology platforms. Gathering millions of online conversations every day
and providing users with the tools to analyze them, Brandwatch empowers
brands and agencies to make smarter, data-driven business decisions.

18

The company grew over 100% year-on-year in 2013, has won awards for
its technology and renowned corporate culture, and regularly wins accolades
for its impressive growth. The Brandwatch platform is used by over 1000 brands
and agencies, including Whole Foods, Verizon, Whirlpool, Pepsico, British Airways,
Papa Johns, and Dell.

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The information given in this document has been checked for

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