Having looked at the use of Twitter by charities in the UK, and being impressed by number of organisations that have used it to promote their causes, I've decided to take a look at how many retailers are using the service.
There are some great examples of companies using Twitter in the US; Zappos has used it to communicate with customers and for marketing purposes, while Dell says it has made $1m in sales from using Twitter.
So how many UK retailers have signed up for a Twitter account?
I couldn't find some of the more well-known high street retailers; M&S, Next, and others have no presence, and their Twitter profiles seem to have been hijacked. I'm listing as many as I can find here, but if your company is on Twitter, or you are aware of any I have missed, let me know below...
Adnams: http://twitter.com/Adnams
Arena Flowers: http://twitter.com/arenaflowers
ASDA: http://twitter.com/asda
ASOS: http://twitter.com/ASOS
Audible.co.uk http://twitter.com/audibleuk
Book Depository: http://twitter.com/bookdepository
CarphoneWarehouse: http://twitter.com/carphoneware
Catwalk to Closet: http://twitter.com/catwalktocloset
CPW customer service - Guy Stephens (see recent interview with Guy): http://twitter.com/guy1067
CD Wow: http://twitter.com/CDWOWUK
Conran Shop: http://twitter.com/Conran_shop
Debenhams: http://twitter.com/DebenhamsRetail
Dixons: http://twitter.com/dixonsonline
eBayUK: http://twitter.com/eBayUK
Ebuyer: http://twitter.com/Ebuyerdotcom
eSpares: http://twitter.com/espares
Ethical Superstore: http://twitter.com/ethicalstore
Expedia: http://twitter.com/expediatravel
Figleaves: http://twitter.com/figleaveshome
Firebox: http://twitter.com/firebox
French Connection: http://twitter.com/FrenchConn39
Hello Baby: http://twitter.com/hellobabydirect
Joules Clothing:http://twitter.com/Joules_Clothing
Lastminute.com: http://twitter.com/lastminute_com
Little Sunflowers: http://twitter.com/littlesunflower
Littlewoods: http://twitter.com/LittlewoodsDeal
LoveFilm: http://twitter.com/LOVEFiLM_UK
Moo.com: http://twitter.com/overheardatmoo/
mydeco: http://twitter.com/mydeco
Naked Wines: http://twitter.com/nakedwines
NET-A-PORTER: http://twitter.com/Luxury_Fashion
O2: http://twitter.com/o2ukofficial
Ocado: http://twitter.com/ocadouk
Office: http://twitter.com/OfficeShoes
Penguin Books: http://twitter.com/PenguinBooks
PicStop: http://twitter.com/picstop
Play.com: http://twitter.com/playcom
Real Flower Company: http://twitter.com/realflowergirl
Riverford Organic: http://twitter.com/riverford
Rowperfect: http://twitter.com/Rowperfect
Sillyjokes: http://twitter.com/sillyjokes
Smythson: http://twitter.com/Smythson
Soletrader: http://twitter.com/soletrader
TalkTalk: http://twitter.com/TalkTalkTips
thehut.com: http://twitter.com/thehut_com
Thomas Cook: http://twitter.com/ThomasCookUK
Tie Warehouse: http://twitter.com/tiewarehouse
Wallace Sacks: http://twitter.com/wallacesacks
Waterstones: http://twitter.com/waterstonesltd
Webtogs: http://twitter.com/Webtogs
Wiggle Bikeshop: http://twitter.com/wigglebikeshop
Woolworths (new): http://twitter.com/team_woolies
Reader comments (48)
12:24PM on 6th March 2009
Canterbury of New Zealand are both a sportswear brand and retailer (online & at the Westfield Centre.) They are new entrants to Twitter.
www.twitter.com/canterburynz
(Disclosure: They are also a client of the agency.)
12:35PM on 6th March 2009
My niche rowing shop (direct mail order) isn't on your list
@rowperfect
But maybe you were more keen on the 'mainstream high street'?
R
Social Business Consultant at IBM
12:42PM on 6th March 2009
Please add @guy1067 to Carphone Warehouse.
@carphoneware tends to be the more corporate voice, whilst @guy1067 is more the customer service voice trying resolve issues our customers have had with us.
You've also got: TalkTalk: @talktalktips
12:47PM on 6th March 2009
I am not at all surprised by the brevity of this list. Back in the late 90s I was advising the Boards of many High Street brands on how to integrate the internet into their business. Many actually refused to believe that the internet had to become a serious part of their business strategy and treated it much like they treat creating their latest poster ad campaign.
Retail Week magazine, last week, published a special report on 'multichannel retail' and unsurprisingly the dinosaurs on the Boards of these large UK High Street retailers were saying the same rubbish they were talking back in the 90s, nothing's changed: the only change will come when the Boards are replaced by a younger generation of more internet savvy business leaders.
It is the small independent retailers that will rise in the UK as they seem more willing to embrace new technology and new ways of communicating with their customers, integrating the web across their whole business.
CEO at Sensorpro.net
1:02PM on 6th March 2009
Graham
Nice work. Our client Riverford Organic are also on twitter @riverford
Chris
www.sensorpro.net | @sensorpro
1:03PM on 6th March 2009
Some other independent retailers on Twitter:
Wiggle bike shop - http://twitter.com/wigglebikeshop
Wiggly Wigglers - http://twitter.com/wiggled
1:37PM on 6th March 2009
Espares: www.twitter.com/espares
1:43PM on 6th March 2009
Big Green Switch is on Twitter providing people with Green tips of the day and also environmental news story updates.
www.twitter.com/biggreenswitch
Editor at Econsultancy
2:33PM on 6th March 2009
Thanks for all the suggestions, I've updated the list.
2:41PM on 6th March 2009
Hi,
Adnams has joined Twitter, and we've also got our Head Brewer, Fergus Fitzgerald, just starting to tweet
Adnams: @adnams
Fergus: @solebear
Thanks, Sarah
3:14PM on 6th March 2009
We're on Twitter and have been for almost a year. Check out the comings and goings of moo.com www.twitter.com/overheardatmoo/
Plus there are a number of the employees on as well.
3:19PM on 6th March 2009
Surprising to see Argos for example not present on this list nor Twitter. Is that just being cautious with new technology or foolish?
3:44PM on 6th March 2009
I've collected additional data around this list you can download as a .csv from my blog.
Brief facts include:
LOVEFiLM tweets the most per day: 6.1
The Book Depository has been on Twitter the longest: 642 days
Fig Leaves is trying hard to get followers: 0.4 followers to people being followed
If anyone has more time it would be interesting to see the frequency of Tweets br retailer to see if this is picking up as Twitter itself is becoming more popular.
Editor at Econsultancy
3:54PM on 6th March 2009
Hi Lisa and Sarah, I've added those to the list.
Mark - I was was just aiming to get a list together so see how many are using it. Just from glancing at the accounts as I added them to the list I can see that some are more active than others.
When I have some more on the list I may follow this up and look at how effectively these retailers are using Twitter.
3:55PM on 6th March 2009
Coracle Online (www.CoracleOnline.com) uses twitter to communicate with eLearning students around the world. As well as answering queries from students, we send updates on our new podcasts from www.ShippingPodcasts.com and other general information relating to the commercial shipping industry.
4:10PM on 6th March 2009
Apologies Graham, I didn't mean to say it wasn't useful and have corrected my post... should have read that it was very useful and more useful with a few numbers! Thank you for pulling this together.
Editor at Econsultancy
4:14PM on 6th March 2009
No problem Mark, let me know if you pull any more stats together on this.
Owner at Digital Juggler
4:26PM on 6th March 2009
Hi Graham
Great list.
I've replied via twitter as well but you can add the following:
@Conran_shop
@mydeco
@innocent
@OfficeShoes
@Aleksandr_orlov (compare the market)
thanks
james
Marketing Manager at Bourne Leisure Group
4:38PM on 6th March 2009
I feel very upset that we havnt been added to the list - http;//twitter.com/sillyjokes
Owner at Digital Juggler
4:42PM on 6th March 2009
Come on Jason you've only got one update from 27th Feb - your company lends itself to some engaging updates, get tweeting!
I'm following you now so I expect entertainment!!
thanks
james
Marketing Manager at Bourne Leisure Group
4:45PM on 6th March 2009
I will do my best James and thanks for following us as well! I hope we can make your experience fun
Marketing Manager at Bourne Leisure Group
4:56PM on 6th March 2009
Slight hijack of this thread but does relate to Twitter. How cheesey is it if a company tries and sells it products or uses discounts via it's twitter feed?
Would it put you off following or does it give you perceived value?
4:57PM on 6th March 2009
Online dancewear retailer MyUnitard.co.uk is also on Twitter : @myunitard. We're not using it that much at the moment (waiting for a new website to become live), but we're gearing up.
5:45PM on 7th March 2009
Competitor to us - but Waterstone's ( @waterstonesltd) has started tweeting, not a lot of updates to date.
You've listed Penguin althought a good user of Twitter i wouldn't say they were really a retailer - there are a lot of good publishers using it from Ebury, Canongate, O'Reilly, Snow Books, Faber & Faber, Orbit, Bloomsbury etc etc
Online PR/Social Media Consultant at Econsultancy
10:25AM on 8th March 2009
Jason,
In response to your question about whether promoting special offers/discounts etc via Twitter, I think that you have to have to treat Twitter like any other social network - define your objectives and how you are going to resource it.....and then test it out.
As you can see from this and the non-profit Twitter list, those who have the most followers/interest tend to be those who use their Twitter account for multiple purposes - a bit of customer service, a bit of humanising the brand by being helpful to their community, sharing opinions and points of view and the occasional relevant and useful sales message. The great thing about Twitter is that you can ask your community whether you are getting things right. They will tell you straight away what they think. Then you can fix it.
If you use it purely as a 'push' channel, you will slowly lose the interest of your existing followers and give those who find you little to want to follow. I think that your best approach is to mix it up, provide occasional sales messages and more importantly find out what Twitter and social media means to your organisation.
Above all, measure what you can. We track hard metrics such as Unique visits via Twitter referrals, sales etc as well as sentiment towards Econsultancy and use it a customer service channel (e.g. if someone tweets that they are having probems accessing a report for example, we follow up with the Econsultancy account or personally). See Chris Lake's excellent post on this '10 ways to measure Social Media'.
I'll be following you soon and will happily tell you whether you are getting the balance right ..... ;-)
10:18PM on 8th March 2009
Interesting post Graham.
I'm surprised the list is shorter but certain it will grow. Which application did you use to track these stores down?
I've found twollo to be a good keyword tracker when looking for specifics such as this on twitter. Would be interested to read the post on charities also so will (in the words of a great American politician) be back.
Neil
9:18AM on 10th March 2009
Another one for the list: http://twitter.com/Ebuyerdotcom
If they can match their fantastic delivery performance and customer relationship management with intelligent use of twitter they are on to a winner in my eyes.
Editor at Econsultancy
11:56AM on 10th March 2009
Thanks - I'll update again.
CEO at Sensorpro.net
1:04PM on 10th March 2009
Graham
Woolworths, now owned by Shop Direct Group (owner of Littlewoods) is also on Twitter @team_woolies
via @mattuk
Chris
www.sensorpro.co.uk | @sensorpro | @sensorpro_us
Editor at Econsultancy
3:39PM on 10th March 2009
Hi Chris,
I added this one last night, I noticed it while looking at the relaunched Zavii site: http://econsultancy.com/blog/3434-zavvi-co-uk-back-from-the-dead
Looks like a good effort so far...
3:59PM on 10th March 2009
great list! I have added them on my lists.
www.twitter.com/angela_d (Site source 101)
www.twitter.com/redsternberg
www.twitter.com/mycrabtree
thanks for sharing!
CEO at Peformance Motorcare Products Ltd
5:01PM on 10th March 2009
Performance Motorcare Products - online car, motorcycle and marine detailing products.
http://twitter.com/PerformanceMC
Would be interesting to see how the majors use twitter compared to the independents.
Rob
3:37AM on 11th March 2009
Hi Chris,
You missed French Connection on your list....
http://twitter.com/FrenchConn39
Editor at Econsultancy
8:34AM on 11th March 2009
Thanks again
Rob - generally speaking, the independents and smaller retailers seem to be making more effort to update regularly, though there are exceptions, such as @guy1067 from Carphone Warehouse.
9:54AM on 11th March 2009
Missing from the list also is "Photographic Accessory Specialist" PicStop.co.uk
http://twitter.com/picstop
11:20AM on 13th March 2009
Another one for the list Graham, a new to Twitter retailer (I suspect they may well have got on-board with the Twitter bandwagon following this excellent post which has proved very popular!)
http://twitter.com/ocadouk
Editor at Econsultancy
11:55AM on 13th March 2009
Thanks Paul
Managing Director at BeCheeky.com
3:53PM on 13th March 2009
Just added lingerie and swimwear store, BeCheeky.com too...
3:38PM on 15th March 2009
Another small retailer on Twitter: littlesunflowers.com childrenswear & gifts (ie us!)
twitter.com/littlesunflower
10:30PM on 15th March 2009
Hi Graham,
http://twitter.com/dixonsonline - Dixons is on board!
Editor at Econsultancy
11:45AM on 16th March 2009
Thanks Graeme / Bev / Justine, I've added you to the list.
10:34AM on 17th March 2009
I'd like to submit my own eCommerce site which has a twitter profile at
http://www.twitter.com/hellobabydirect
Editor at Econsultancy
10:59AM on 17th March 2009
Thanks Trevor, I've added it.
2:06AM on 18th March 2009
Being from Australia I follow UK trends with great attention, since Melbourne follows closely behind.
I do wonder for retailers the ratio of time spent on Twitter to benefit gained. How much networking does a retailer need to do to make a sale or gain promotion of some sort?
If anyone has any thoughts or stats would love to hear back.
Owner at Digital Juggler
3:45PM on 10th August 2009
ShopProperly these blogs and discussions are not sales channels - if you want to promote a service then at least add value to the discussion before providing an open acknowledgement that you wish to promote your business. Your comment has nothing to do with this Twitter discussion and everything to do with shameless self promotion. Please show greater respect for the culture of this site in future, otherwise it will only serve to create negativity towards your brand.
Thanks
james
12:11AM on 30th December 2009
We are doing some interesting things with Twitter ;) @ilovebrands Completely agree with Michelle Goodall, by the way. ILB
10:30AM on 24th February 2011
Howard Recruitment advertise Retail jobs at @UK_Retail_Jobs for the whole of the UK.
5:20PM on 1st December 2011
Can anyone provide me with a list of online retailers, in descending order from who were established the latest?
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