Amazon scores a basket with U.K. social shoppers

London - Online retailing pioneer Amazon Inc. has climbed to the top of the retail social media ranks, thanks in part to the introduction of #AmazonBasket. According to the latest Retail Social Media Benchmark results from eDigitalResearch, since the introduction of the new social media shopping functionality, Amazon has added 700,000 new followers to its U.K. Twitter account in the past six months, bumping them up to second overall, just behind leaders Topshop.



Launched in May 2014, #AmazonBasket allows Twitter followers to automatically add items to their Amazon account by simply tweeting the hashtag.



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+.



In addition, discount retailer Primark continues to surge up the league table, despite operating a limited online presence that offers no transactional functionality. Primark instead uses social media sites, especially Facebook to its advantage, posting pictures of products and actively encouraging users to visit their nearest store.



Topshop claim the top spot in Instagram with a million more followers than second placed ASOS.