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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Social media the new way of marketing

Retail tries Twitter, Facebook

By: Geoff Kirbyson

Posted: 02/2/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Retailers are increasingly using social media to connect with their customers and advertise new product offerings. (JONATHAN HAYWARD/ THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES)

It's safe to say there were no hashtags when Winnipeg Jets merchandise was peddled through the Sears catalogue years ago.

My, what a difference a generation makes.

Fast-forward to 2012 -- and the second incarnation of the Jets -- and the battleground to sell the most popular items in town since, well, possibly ever, is moving quickly to Twitter and Facebook.

Royal Sports, for example, has nearly 100 staff members at three locations and virtually all of them have Twitter accounts. Sure, they tweet about their own lives but they also let their followers know when new Jets stock comes in.

"We have thousands of followers," said Randy Tesluck, manager of Royal's Pembina Highway location.

This new form of word-of-mouth advertising, as well as the old version, comprises Royal's top means of promotion, he said.

"We have a different group of shoppers (compared to other stores). We have hockey players to snowboarders. Every kind of group is looking for Jets stuff. It's a large population that wants something with a Jets logo on it and that population is 17 to 23 years old," he said.

Retailers in Winnipeg have identified a "booming" market and they're using social media to hive off as big a slice as possible, according to Michael Benarroch, dean of the I.H. Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba. Depending on who you listen to, sales of Jets merchandise is anywhere from No. 2 to No. 5 across the entire NHL.

"The Jets have become the story of the year in Winnipeg. I think the franchise has done a brilliant job of marketing the team, and retailers are certainly looking at the Jets as a way of pulling in customers. It's working," he said.

Social media represents a new wave of marketing where retailers can connect with their customers, particularly the younger ones, quickly and at a minimal cost per contact, he said.

"It has become another means of getting a message out. It's an opportunity to touch on a generation and a group of people that maybe don't read the newspaper. You're hitting people individually. The messages are coming right to their phones," he said.

National retailers have taken to social media, too.

Josh Klassen, Calgary-based purchasing analyst for the licensing department at the Forzani Group, owners of Sport Chek and Sport Mart stores, said Twitter and Facebook are "the new battleground" for retailers.

"Our Sport Chek Twitter account is updated daily and that drives a lot of traffic. People will stay interested if it's updated regularly and keep checking back on different items," he said.

Klassen said Tweets and Facebook posts have longer shelf lives than traditional advertising, too.

"People are on their computers and phones all the time. They can ask questions and we have people that reply to questions on Facebook and Twitter regularly," he said.

Klassen said there are some added bonuses, as a certain percentage of customers come in looking for Jets gear and end up picking up a piece of sporting-goods equipment, too. He said Sport Chek has sold about $2.3 million in Jets merchandise since last summer, 90 per cent of which was sold in Winnipeg.

"The attitude is pretty much, 'give me anything Jets,'" he said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 2, 2012 A6

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