Facebook: 503,217 fANs
YouTube
cHaNNel VIewS: 805,844
To understand which retailers are taking the early lead in social
TwITTeR: 15,692 foLLo Wers
uploaD VIewS: 10,168,697
retailing rIs has devised a social retailing Index (srI), which ana-
MobIle appS: oNLY reDIrec TIoN To Web sITe
lyzes data from the dominant social retailing channels – facebook,
Lowe’s focuses its social retailing team on YouTube
and actually beats Home Depot handily in upload
views. No points were awarded to Lowe’s for its mobile initiative
because it does not have apps in the Apple or Android marketplac-
es. Instead, it just has a mobile-enabled version of its Web site.
SeaRS
Facebook: 377,603 fANs
TwITTeR: 52,588 foLLo Wers
SRI: 10. 9
YouTube
cHaNNel VIewS: 530,300
uploaD VIewS: 1,725,797
MobIle appS: IPHoNe, IPAD & ANDroID
Twitter, YouTube and mobile apps (iPhone, iPad and Android).
After gathering the data, rIs converts fans, followers, uploads
and mobile apps into numerical values. one million facebook fans
and YouTube views/uploads are counted as one point. Ten thousand
Twitter followers are counted as one point. And one point is awarded
each for mobile apps on the iPhone, iPad and Android platforms.
These are then combined to create the srI value. only logo-brand-
ed corporate facebook pages, Twitter accounts, YouTube channels
and mobile apps are counted, although going forward it may make
sense to include multiple sites as official brand extensions multiply.
At this early stage in social retailing few retailers have compre-
hensive plans in place. Wet seal, for example, has a presence in all The final retailer we examine with a fully functioning
channels, but apparently does not devote enterprise-level resources enterprise-level social retailing team is sears, which
to them, judging by the low numbers of followers and fans. others was an early leader in the mobile channel with its highly regarded
