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Retail UpdateSusan Dickenson

Retailers get serious, moreselective, about sooial mediaWHILE POSTING THE nominations call forHome Accents Today's 2013 Retail Stars, Iwas reminded of a contest that was under wayat the National Retail Federation at this timelast year. The NRF had put out a call for the"Best Retail Story in America," to be commu-nicated via a two-minute video.

This past January, during the NRF's annu-al conference in New York, the contest winnerand two of the top five finishers participatedin a panel discussion before a standing-roomonly crowd. NRF Foundation Director EllenDavis, who moderated the discussion, saidthe entries exhibited a number of very uniqueideas that were helping retailers around thecountry connect with their customers.

A week after the event, Davis bloggedabout the panel discussion on the NRF's web-site, summarizing some of the key points. Acouple of those points revealed a new maturityand v̂ dsdom when it comes to the use of socialmedia — and what does and doesn't work forretailers:

(First place winner) Tanna Dang is a smallHonolulu boutique oumer with a BIG Face-book page. While her 13,000 fans haven'tcome through advertising, Dang is the first tosay that the best way to leverage Facebook isto spend money on it. Believing that Facebookis an extension of her brand. Dang pays aprofessional photographer and a copywriterto put together Facebook posts and coverphotos. Her Facebook look always matchesthe company website, which you can believetakes some finagling. Dang shared a numberof examples of how one Facebook post hashelped move product that had formerly beensitting on shelves for weeks (by declaring pur-ple and yellow the new "it" color combina-tion), and how the company has been able tosell out of items in mere hours after one post.

After one attendee asked about the ROI

of Twitter, several of the panelists talkedabout their lessons learned on the importanceof prioritizing. Twitter doesn't lend itself toshowcasing experiences or a brand, said thepanelists, so they haven't found it as valuable.And even those channels that do help youdemonstrate your brand need to be evaluated.(Second place winner, stationery and gift storeowner) Kim Williams talked about choos-ing to shut down her blog after several yearsbecause it was a "time suck " and she didn't

68% of Pinterest usersare women, 50% have

children, 49% arebetween the ages of 25

and 44, and 28% have anannual household inoome

of $100,000+.see the work translating into sales. Instead, shehas chosen to focus on Pinterest, which hasalready proven to be a better way of connect-ing with the moms who visit her store.

Williams' experience with Pinterest con-firms a February demographics report byBlacksburg, Va.-based Modea. The numberssuggest that 68% of Pinterest users are wom-en, 50% have cliildren, 49% are between theages of 25 and 44, and 28% have an annualhousehold income of $100,000+.

Another study, this one by e-commerceconsultancy RichRelevance, found that whileFacebook currendy dominates as a source oftraffic for retail (at 86% of referrals), shoppersreferred by Pinterest spend much more moneythan Facebook or Twitter shoppers, withan average order value of $169, vs. $95 forFacebook and $71 for Twitten The data came

from 689 miUion browser-based shoppingsessions that took place online between Jan. 1and Aug. 31,2012.

An impressive example is the case ofSephora, an early adopter of Pinterest. Ven-tureBeat writer John Koetsier last monthreported that, per capita, Sephora's Pinter-est followers spend 15 times more on thecompany's products than its Facebook fol-lowers. "The reality is that when you're in thePinterest mindset, you're actually interestedin acquiring items, which is not what peoplego to Facebook foi;" Sephora's head of digitalJulie Bomstein told Koetsien "Facebook con-tinues to be just a great customer interacdontool that gives us the real-time abuity to dialogwith our customer; it's a big customer-servicevenue for us."

In a shopping survey conducted last fall,Bizrate Insights found that Pinterest is moreoften used as a destination for shoppinginspiration, tracking, and product discovery.Forty-three percent of the respondents usePinterest, and 24% use Facebook, to associatewith retailers or brands. Sixty-seven percentsaid they use Pinterest to keep up with the lat-est trends "on things like fashion and homedécor" vs. 22% on Facebook.

There's sdll a lot of room for Pinterest,which launched three years ago this month, togrow in popularity. In January 2012, Com-score reported Pinterest was the fastest site inhistory to break through the 10 million uniquevisitor mark. Bizrate Insights' data showedthat as of September 2012, about 63% ofonline consumers have a Facebook accountwhile only 15% have a Pinterest account.

In February, the company announced ithad raised $200 million in funding (giving it avaluation of $2.5 billion) and that it plans tohire more engineering talent and develop moreservices for businesses. •

Call for Nominations:50 Retail Stars, 2013Home Accents Today is currently accepting nominations forits ninth annuai 50 Retaii Stars feature, which recognizes inde-pendent brici<-and-mortar retaiiers of home accents, includingfurniture stores and interior design boutiques, that are creative intheir merchandising, contributing to their communities and distin-guishing themselves from the competition. This is not a ranking,and is not based on sales volume.

18 H0MEACCENTST0DAY.COM MARCH 2013

Stores that have been honored as a Retaii Star within the pastfive years are ineligible for the current year's list. Retailers that werenamed to the list prior to 2009, however, may resubmit. The nomina-tion form is online at researchtodayonline.com/data/HATStarsi 3.htm.

The 2013 Retail Stars, sponsored by Americasmart Atlanta,will be listed in the May 2013 issue of Home Accents Today. Hon-orées will receive both print and digital copies to reproduce anduse on websites and in marketing materials. The retailers will alsoreceive a certificate and formatted press release to share withlocal publications and media.

For more info, contact sdickenson@homeaccentstoday.com.

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