Twitter, a Preferred Social Media Outlet for Top Online Retailers

A couple of years ago, if you had asked what twitter meant, you would have been called a bird brain. Excuse the pun, but don’t they teach at elementary school that birds twitter, dogs bark and so on!! And if you ask folks what twitter means now, some might still call you a bird brain as who doesn’t know about this burgeoning social tool that has revolutionized the way we communicate.

Twitter is a popular service, which combines social networking, instant messaging and micro-blogging features.  You can send updates anytime via SMS, instant messaging, or email to the Twitter website.

It is a powerful tool which if effectively used can help you connect with your audience and build your brand. You can also use this platform as a promotional medium. So, it comes as no surprise that online retailers are tweeting like crazy. They are using this tool to increase visibility and stay ahead of completion. All it takes is 140 characters!!

So, we did a small research to find how many of top 100 online retaielrs of 2009 are on twitter and who is not. 
 Of 100 almost 92 are on Twitter. Top retailers like Staples, Apple Abercrombie and Allposters are on Twitter but they are not active yet. Retailers like QVC Inc, Victoria’s Secret and Walmart have initiated tweeting but the number of tweets by them is limited to single digits. It is astonishing to know that retailers like Hpshopping.com, bedroomfurniture, effollet, Ralphlauren and others still don’t have twitter presence. VistaPrint, Buy.com, Overstock and Kohl's Corp are exploiting the service to the most as they are churning out tweets by the thousands with Buy.com leading the pack with 8491 tweets. Zappos have the maximum number of followers at 1574483 followed by Dell at 1468239. Toys 'R' Us, Nordstorm, Buy.com, and Overstock also have a lot of ardent followers. It is quite plain that retailers who tweet regularly have a good volume of followers.

Black Friday saw ferocious activity on Twitter with deals and promotional offers and as Christmas and New Year advances, we can only expect these activities to pick up more pace. In other words, we can expect changes in Twitter activity by retailers and the numbers furnished by us might change (for the better). Twitter is here to stay……and why not, retailers are flocking to Twitter for marketing. Excuse the pun and follow us on Twitter ;-)