National Retailers Jumping on Facebook Bandwagon
National retailers are increasingly becoming very good friends with Facebook.
More than one-fourth of 100 national retailers reviewed by marketing agency Media Logic saw their Facebook fan bases grow by at least 30 percent between July 2010 and September 2010. Media Logic’s study showed that four retail brands—Michaels, Dress Barn, Kenneth Cole and New York & Company—experienced more than 100 percent growth on Facebook during that period.
“In 2010, owned media came of age, and is now set to rival paid media for primacy,” Ronald Ladouceur, executive vice president and executive creative director at Media Logic, said in a news release. “It is not hyperbole to say that Facebook may be to this century what TV was to the last.”
In 2009, only Victoria’s Secret and its PINK division could boast a Facebook fan base of more than 1 million, according to Media Logic. (The Victoria’s Secret page has more than 9.5 million fans.) By the end of September 2010, another 14 brands surpassed the 1 million mark, with several more joining since, Media Logic said.
In 2010, Kohl’s has added about 2 million Facebook fans, according to Media Logic. Kohl’s now has more than 3 million Facebook fans. Also this year, Forever 21 (now at nearly 3.3 million fans) and Abercrombie & Fitch (now at nearly 3 million fans) have added about 1.5 million fans each, and Hot Topic (now at more than 2 million) has added about 1 million, according to Media Logic.
“It used to be that retailers could only reach their customers with such efficiency through traditional media channels. That paradigm is being turned on its ear as we speak,” Ladouceur said.
In the department/discount category, Kohl’s is set to be the first to surpass 3 million Facebook fans, while Target, Walmart, JCPenney and Walgreens either are well past or are set to hit 1 million fans in the next year, according to Media Logic.
According to the study, “Total visitors to social sites now rival physical retail traffic and, in some cases, are approaching the reach of national paid media.”
Follow Technorati