Generally speaking, US retailers seem to have adapted to Twitter more effectively than their UK counterparts, with some great examples of successful engagement with customers on the site.
Dell and Zappos are two firms that have often been given as examples, but there are plenty of others. For example, Threadless has managed to acquire an impressive 90,000 followers on Twitter by running competitions to design T-shirts.
I listed UK retailers on Twitter last week, and it was hard to get a list together, and many of the big names are missing. Creating a US list has been easier, but if I have missed any, let me know...
Amazon: http://twitter.com/amazon
Amazon Deals: http://twitter.com/amazondeals
American Apparel: http://twitter.com/americanapparel
BirthdayInABox: http://twitter.com/BirthdayInABox
Best Buy: http://twitter.com/BestBuyCMO
Build a Bear: http://twitter.com/buildabear
Buy.com: http://twitter.com/Buy_com
Dell Outlet: http://twitter.com/DellOutlet
Dunkin' Donuts: http://twitter.com/dunkindonuts
eLuxury: http://twitter.com/eLUXURY
Etsy: http://twitter.com/Etsy
Fitfuel: http://twitter.com/fitfuel
Ford (Head of Social Media): http://twitter.com/scottmonty
Geeks.com: http://twitter.com/computergeeks
JCPenney: http://twitter.com/askjcp/
MagicHat: http://twitter.com/magichat
Motorola: http://twitter.com/motodeals
NeweggMall: http://twitter.com/NeweggMall
Overstock: http://twitter.com/Overstock
PacSun: http://twitter.com/PacSun
PawLuxury: http://twitter.com/PawLuxury
PetsMart: http://twitter.com/PetSmartTLC
Starbucks: http://twitter.com/starbucks/
TJ Maxx: http://twitter.com/tjmaxx
Threadless: http://twitter.com/threadless
Urban Outfitters: http://twitter.com/UrbanOutfitters
Whole Foods Market: http://twitter.com/WholeFoods
WineEnthusiast: http://twitter.com/WineEnthusiast
Woot: http://twitter.com/woot
Zappos: http://twitter.com/Zappos
Graham Charlton is Editor at Econsultancy. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin or Google+.
Recommended reports
Twitter for Business
This report is aimed at companies and individuals who are thinking of joining Twitter and want to find out more about the social platform, as well as people who are currently using Twitter for business, and want a deeper understanding of best practice.
Alternatively, see our UK Social Media Statistics or Social Media Management Systems Buyer’s Guide.
1:03PM on 13th March 2009
A very helpful list here! I'm going to add it to my Social Media Case Studies Superlist. The Superlist also includes a link to Get Elastic's List of 110 Ways Retailers Are Using Social Media Marketing (Twitter and other other social media applications) if your readers are interested: http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/social-media-examples-superlist-17-lists-and-tons-of-examples/
3:44AM on 16th March 2009
That's a great list. Nonetheless, I recently blogged about how many brick & mortar retailers are missing from this list!! Where are companies like Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic, Old Navy, etc. It seems like very B&M retailers have jumped on board.
Editor at Econsultancy
11:41AM on 16th March 2009
Hi Rick, I found roughly the same trend when compiling a list of UK retailers on Twitter.
Advisor at The Lost Agency
2:56AM on 19th March 2009
Wow! Threadless are doing very well in terms of numbers, but actually how many of these are spam bots, get rich quick scams, dating profiles or duplicate profiles?
I would have thought Zappos: http://twitter.com/Zappos would have been #1 on this list...
Does list show which companies are more willing to risk engagement with their consumers or which are more interested to learn more about their consumers? I think with the recent skittles campaign, it seem to show this is more of a game to most companies and not a serious long term strategy yet.
Zappos does very well, but its a long term strategy from the CEO to engage consumers and build from there. Setting up a twitter campaign and getting thousands of spam or automated bots following you i think is just as useless at those traffic generation sites...
9:46AM on 23rd May 2009
That's a nice list. I'd be coming up with a similar list and would possibly give a link back to this list. Thanks Graham. :-)
10:32AM on 23rd May 2009
That's a nice list. I'd be coming up with a similar list and would possibly give a link back to this list. Thanks Graham. :-)
4:41PM on 29th June 2009
I am the social media PR representative at CarMax, Inc., the nations largest retailer of used cars. We have been on Twitter for 2 years. I tweet about CarMax content, company news and auto-industry issues. Follow us at @CarMaxChris.
Thanks!
6:35PM on 14th July 2009
http://www.twitter.com/forever21_tweet
http://twitter.com/anthropologie
http://twitter.com/featheryournest
http://twitter.com/bluefly_com
http://twitter.com/GapOfficial
http://twitter.com/rue21
http://twitter.com/theblissful