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The viral nature of social media platforms has contributed to increased online retail sales, as cash-strapped shoppers hunt for a bargain

The viral nature of social media platforms has contributed to increased online retail sales, as cash-strapped shoppers hunt for a bargain

 

Social media platforms Facebook and Twitter have driven more than £21.4m sales for popular discount website MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, accounting for 12% of the site’s total sales in quarter four 2009.

 

MyVoucherCodes, which has more than 12,000 fans on Facebook and 2,600 followers on Twitter reported that direct searches and traffic from these two social networking heavyweights has accounted for more than £21.4m in sales in the busy trading period of the fourth quarter (Q4) 2009.

 

MyVoucherCodes also said average monthly unique users of 11 million estimates that throughout Q4 2009, the site enjoyed a combined total of 4,070,000 visits courtesy of Facebook and Twitter alone, with each fan or follower averaging six visits to the site a month.

 

The remaining traffic was generated virally from the companies; Facebook and Twitter fans reposting deals and posting positive messages to friends and followers about the savings they had made.

 

Word of mouth proves invaluable

 

Mark Pearson, managing director of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, said: “I’ve seen many people say that having a presence on social media networks does little more than improve brand awareness for companies – but our experience really proves that social media really can be a worthwhile form of marketing.

 

“Since we started using Facebook and Twitter more regularly to notify people of the big discount voucher codes they could be using to save money online, we’ve seen a leap in not only the amount of traffic referred, but also the money spent through the site.”

 

He continued: “We have a search function within our Facebook group, that many of the fans use to check for codes and discounts, as well as a constant feed of the best discounts available online. This has undoubtedly impacted positively on the sales for our site and affiliates.

 

“I genuinely think our success is based on the fact that we offer something for nothing, as opposed to the many brands trying to use Facebook and Twitter just to hard-sell.”