By Carl Foster, PepperDigital
In the UK, Monday was not just the start of any other week, it was ‘Mega Monday’, the busiest day of the year for online shopping. Apparently, the onset of December coupled with the prospect of sharp elbowed crowds on the high street means we fire up the laptop, get out the credit card and load up the shopping cart (or trolley, as we say over here). Mega Monday has grown year-on-year as more people feel comfortable shopping online. This year, £400 million was predicted to be spent, 25 per cent up on last year.
What’s new this year though is Twitter. Some big high street retailers, including Marks and Spencer, Debenhams and Waterstone’s are using Twitter to extend their personal customer service online. What is encouraging is that these outlets are not using Twitter as just another broadcast channel for new products and special offers; they really are using it to engage with their customers. Check out the Waterstone’s Twitter page (twitter.com/waterstones 6944 followers). It has the special offers in there but it is full of back and forth with customers, both chatty and personal, but also on issues such as delivery problems and other customer service issues. Debenhams (twitter.com/DebenhamsRetail 2007 followers) is an even better example of Twitter being used to engage with customers. Apparently Debenhams issued blackberries to some staff at its Oxford Street branch, which even led to people tweeting requests from the changing room for clothes in different sizes.
A survey by Immediate Future on how 140 UK and global organisations are using Twitter found that majority of organisations are using the platform to broadcast content from other sources - usually their own websites. The example set by the high street retailers shows that maybe this is starting to change and companies recognise the value of engaging with consumers through Twitter. Let’s hope the trend continues in 2010.
