Clever retailers are using social media well, but there’s nothing worse than doing it badly

For a four day week it’s been incredibly busy, with Retail Week breaking stories about the collapse of Focus (and subsequent sale of 31 stores to B&Q today), Hugh Harvey’s exit from Comet, two big new arrivals at M&S and Poundstretcher buying Alworths. Add to that the sale of All Saints, Julia Reynolds’ appointment at Blacks and the upbeat trading statements from Next and Morrisons and its been one of the most eventful weeks for ages.

One of the most interesting things in today’s Retail Week is Rebecca’s feature on social media, where she’s taken 19 retailers and tested how good they are at using Facebook and Twitter as a customer service tool. The good news is that many retailers are great at responding to customer queries really quickly via their social media sites, far more quickly than if a disgruntled or merely curious customer went through the traditional channels.

Some retailers have developed a real sense of personality through their twitter accounts. Although not featured in Rebecca’s piece, one of the best to my mind is Sainsbury’s, where the account is monitored, responds quickly and has a ‘voice’ which is totally in keeping with the brand.

The big thing with social media is that it raises expectations among customers about how quickly they can expect a response and how much can be done. I recently had a bad experience with a major retailer when I tweeted something about a bad experience in one of its stores. Very quickly I got a Direct Message back asking for my phone number and email address - the retailer must have been searching Twitter for mentions of its name.

All good so far. But the problem was that I never heard anything back. Not a thing. Which to a typical customer would have been really disappointing. In today’s market, expectations are higher.

You can read the feature here. Here’s to an equally hectic week next week, and a Chelsea win at Old Trafford at the weekend!