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Harrods taps social media contest to reward loyalists

July 26, 2011

Harrods' Twitter contest

British department store Harrods is rewarding its most loyal customers and celebrating social media milestones by giving away money to a consumer that follows the brand’s Twitter feed.

Having just approached the 100,000 Facebook “like” milestone, Harrods has decided to reward one of its 50,000 Twitter followers with $1,630 – £1000 — to spend on Harrods.com. The brand is holding a contest to determine the winner of the Harrods credit.

“We aim to strengthen our network and online presence by building an engaged group of followers,” said Lisa Maynard-Atem, head of social media for Harrods, London.

“By offering an online spend, we are also highlighting Harrods.com and the wealth of brands it has to offer,” she said. “[We] intend to drive future advocacy for both the store and the online brand.”

Harrods sells 700 high-end brands such as Christian Dior, Chanel, Prada, Burberry, Valentino, Michael Kors, Yves Saint Laurent and Marc Jacobs.

Pounding away
Harrods is promoting this initiative on its social media pages including Facebook and Twitter.

One consumer who follows @HarrodsofLondon on Twitter will be rewarded with the credit to Harrods.com after the brand reaches 50,000 followers.

Harrods’ Twitter contest

The winner will be notified via tweet.

“The greater number of customers and potential customers we can interact with, the more likely they are to become advocates of our brand,” Ms. Maynard-Atem said.

“Our Twitter followers are highly engaged and a considerable number of purchases, made both in-store and online, are inspired or facilitated by social media,” she said. “We are also engaging with younger followers on a regular basis – potential future advocates.”

Harrods also published a news story on its Web site at http://www.harrods.com explaining the contest.

Contest on Harrods’ site

The brand will be featuring a different staff member who answers the question, “If I won £1000 to spend on Harrods.com, I would buy”’ with an array of photos from their chosen items. They will be posted on Facebook every week.

Harrods is also engaging bloggers and its Twitter audience by asking what they would buy with the money won from the contest.

Harrods heard
Harrods promotes many of its new initiatives via social media.

For instance, it used a multichannel digital strategy to unleash its new men’s shoe salon (see story).

The store also turned to email and social media as a tool to drive sales and to push its new denim boutique (see story).

As of press deadline, Harrods’ Twitter account has 40,783 followers and 100,285 Facebook “likes.”

By wooing customers to follow Harrods on Twitter, the retailer will be able to engage with customers before, during and after the winner is chosen.

Harrods will be able to promote new campaigns, sales and in-store events to its 50,000 followers. This will most likely increase both online and in-store traffic.

“Social media represents a fantastic opportunity for us to interact more closely with our vast customer and fan base, as well as to introduce the brand to new audiences,” Ms. Maynard-Atem said.

“By providing exclusive news and content, we successfully created conversation around our brand whilst retaining our luxury credentials,” she said.

“By allowing us to respond instantaneously to customer enquiries via Facebook and Twitter, we have also taken our reputation for excellent customer service to a new forum.”

Final Take
Rachel Lamb, associate reporter on Luxury Daily, New York

Rachel Lamb is an associate reporter on Luxury Daily. Her beats are apparel and accessories, arts and entertainment, education, food and beverage, fragrance and personal care, government, healthcare, home furnishings, jewelry, legal/privacy and nonprofits. Reach her at rachel@napean.com.