the importance of networking for retail retail conference 2009

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The Importance of Networking to Retail

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23rd September 2009

The Retail Conference

© All rights reserved. Andy Lopata 2009



Create a ‘Buzz’



Extend your reach

"We've surpassed $2 million in revenue in terms of Dell Outlet sales, but we're also seeing that it's driving interest in new product as well. We're seeing people come from @DellOutlet on Twitter into the Dell.com/outlet site, and then ultimately decide to purchase a new system from elsewhere on Dell.com. If we factor those new system purchases that come from @DellOutlet, we're actually eclipsed $3 million in overall sales."

Direct2Dell blog June 2009

706,635 views

Where the Hell is Matt?

Where the Hell is Matt?

23,678,694 views



Engage with your customers

The move is designed to increase customer interactivity and sales. A spokeswoman said: “We have many different ways of getting customer feedback but this is more instant and gives us another avenue of showing we are reacting to queries.”

She said it forms part of Asda’s “drive for transparency”, and “is a move towards Asda’s customers shaping the business”.

Retail Week 7th August 2009

The content forms the basis of a community of loyal users that return to the site.

Screwfix receives 5.4% of its upstream traffic from Email services, over twice the industry average, implying that users are emailing tips and links to friends and colleagues.

The community aspect also helps with site stickiness: last week, 13.8% of people went from Screwfix to competitor site, compared to 22.5% for the industry as a whole.

Robin GoadResearch Director, Hitwise UK.April 3 2008



A Tesco spokesman said:

"Jedi are very welcome to shop in our stores although we would ask them to remove their hoods.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Luke Skywalker all went hoodless without going to the Dark Side.

"If Jedi walk around our stores with their hoods on, they’ll miss lots of special offers."



Does it work? After examining the companies and their social media activity levels, the brands were ranked on an "engagement scale.“

Those brands that were the most engaged saw their revenue grow over the past year by 18% while the least engaged brands saw losses of negative 6%.

The world’s most valuable brands. Who’s most engaged?ENGAGEMENTdb Ranking the Top 100 Global Brands



Create a buzz

Extend your reach

Engage with your customers



How can you implement this for your business?

15:35 - 16:20: Workshop: Maximising Customer Loyalty through Social Networking and e-PR

the importance of networking for retail retail conference 2009

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