how do retailers communicate?
Pretty Little Thing is an omni-channel retailer, they use a variety of different channels in a customer’s shopping experience. They use all of these channels as a way of communicating with consumers. They communicate mainly through social media such as Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook. They have over 7,000 posts on their Instagram and 1.1 million followers.
They also communicate via emails. They email all customers subscribed to their mailing list when they have offers on such as 20% off or a free delivery code. This is a good way of communicating with customers because most people check their emails daily, if not multiple times throughout the day, so they are likely to see the emails PLT send out and be aware of available offers and it can tempt a customer to shop. They time their emails according to when people are likely to buy. For example, on a Thursday evening they might send an email with a code for free next day delivery with the message ‘get it in time for the weekend’. This will encourage anybody who as plans over the weekend to buy a new outfit because they can have it delivered the next day for free.
The language they use when communicating with their customers is very clever. They use the language that their consumers would be more likely to use, including slang or ‘texting language’. For example, in a recent email they wrote ‘crushin on new – cos there’s always room in your wardrobe for a whole lotta new, right?’ they have used abbreviations such as ‘cos’ and ‘crushin’ because their target market are more likely to use language like this, especially when online. They also use emojis in their emails, which are very popular on all social media nowadays. Using this language is beneficial to the brand because it makes the consumer feel more friendly with the brand and therefore they’re more relaxed. The more relaxed the consumer feels the more likely they are to engage with the brand and purchase items.
Topshop communicates with their consumers in a variety of different ways. They use online platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and e-mails to communicate however unlike Pretty Little Thing they also have face-to-face communication with customers in their stores. They have 7.8 million followers on Instagram and over 300 stores in the UK, so they are a much larger company than Pretty Little Thing.
Unlike Pretty Little Thing, Topshop uses more plain language in their emails. For a similar e-mail, Topshop used the caption ‘new pieces just landed’. Compared to Pretty Little Thing’s e-mail this may seem a bit boring, but Topshop have a much wider target market and a much wider age bracket, therefore this language is appropriate for them.