Amazon hashtag tops in social shopping

Amazon has climbed to the top of the social shopping ranks, thanks in part to the introduction of #AmazonCart and #AmazonBasket.

The latest social shopping study from eDigitalResearch shows that #AmazonCart and #AmazonBasket, launched in May 2014 in the UK, allow Twitter followers to automatically add items to their Amazon accounts by simply tweeting the hashtag. Since the introduction of the new social media shopping functionality, Amazon has added a staggering 700,000 new followers to their UK Twitter account in the past six months, bumping them up to second overall, just behind Topshop.

Kat Hounsell, sales and marketing Director at eDigitalResearch, said: "The popularity of social media platforms amongst brands and consumers is continuing to grow at a substantial rate - we're now seeing some retailers with millions upon millions of followers. Results therefore show that social media channels are reaching more consumers than ever before. In fact, supporting eDigitalResearch insight shows that social media use within the customer service mix is also growing at a steady pace. It's important for retailers to bring the Voice of the Social Customer into the heart of their business - and to not only listen to what they're saying, but to interpret conversations and feedback accurately in order to improve."

The latest rise in social media following makes Amazon one of the most popular retailing brands in the online social sphere.

The online giant manages to mix promotional and product material seamlessly and has an active and growing presence across all major social media platforms - including Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Elsewhere in the eDigitalResearch study, discount retailer Primark continues to surge up the league table, despite operating a limited online presence that offers no transactional functionality. Primark instead use social media sites, especially Facebook to their advantage, posting pictures of products and actively encouraging users to visit their nearest store. For the first time, the Retail Social Media Benchmark also measured the presence of retailers on growing photo sharing site Instagram.

Download a full copy of the latest Retail Social Media Benchmark results here.