Trevor Ginn

Trevor Ginn is an entrepreneur, eCommerce consultant and blogger. In 2007 he founded the multi channel online baby retailer Hello Baby which now sells across eBay, Amazon, Play, Pixmania and its own website. Trevor is also an eCommerce consultant at Vendlab. Previously to working for himself, Trevor worked for the eBay consignment seller Auctioning4u

You can follow Trevor on his blog www.trevorginn.com or on Twitter @trevorginn

Is Twitter any use for retailers?

The growing popularity of Twitter has led thousands of businesses to launch profiles, and there is no surer way for a company to be seen as ‘not getting it’ as to not be tweeting.

In March the UK’s Daily Telegraph reported that 700,000 businesses in the UK had active accounts. and across the blogosphere and in company boardrooms the platform is being breathlessly talked up as the future of online customer communication.

But, hyperbole aside, how well does Twitter work as a channel for reaching customers and generating sales?

Six ways for online retailers to use social media

A quick survey of Hitwise’s list of top UK online retailers shows that adoption of social media is patchy to say the least. The recent hype around Twitter and Facebook has clearly caught their attention with 69% and 50% respectively having a profile.

However, a measly 31% use blogging and social bookmarking and, surprisingly, only 25% use product reviews. Even when social media is being used, it is not always obvious. Debenhams, for example, has a blog, Twitterand Facebook page, not that you would know that from their homepage.