Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Walmart have all officially entered the arena of Social Networks in an attempt to boost their market share, and there’s still plenty of room for growth. With Walmart over 1.6 million Facebook followers, and Target with almost 1.8 million, the race is on to see who will be the Retail-King of social media. These large chains are fully underway in social media to gain exposure and build customer relationships, but mid-size and smaller grocers are strangely proving much slower to implement the technology.
Clearly there are some market-leaders when it comes to technology adoption outside of the major chains – Newport Avenue Market in Bend, Oregon and Granite Falls IGA Market in Washington state are two great examples – but the segment as a whole appears to be lagging behind their larger competitors. In an industry where smaller retailers are unable to compete with the big-boys on price or product selection, building and maintaining customer relationships should be priority number one; the vast majority of small and mid-size grocers are missing a great opportunity to connect with their customers through social media.
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