CorpComms Magazine

Retail giant Tesco is harnessing digital tools like Facebook and Twitter to improve its customer service.

Last year's iPhone application, which enables shoppers to locate stores, check for products and even track down the latest special offers in store, demonstrated a tech-savvy approach to meeting consumer needs and making trips to the supermarket more fruitful. And the retail chain shows little sign of stopping.

Marketers at Tesco are now looking to make full use of the crowd-sourcing applications of social media by responding to regional and national outbursts of '#Tesco' Twitter. The retailer's insight team will sift through positive and negative consumer and employee feedback to track down problems such as late deliveries of goods or cashier dissatisfaction in particular stores and pounce on them more quickly.

Nick Lansley, head of research and development at Tesco.com, said: 'We're in a listening phase at the moment. Eventually I'd like to have a team to engage with customers through sites like Twitter.'

Tesco is clearly anxious to avoid repetitions of recent months' more high profile corporate social media errors. Lansley illustrated the vulnerability of a brand's reputation on instant messaging platforms, citing the recent incident when a Vodafone employee posted obscene tweets on the mobile phone provider's Twitter feed. He also highlighted the need to protect privacy for the consumer, noting the difficulty responding effectively to complaints from Tesco home delivery customers, for example, without divulging addresses and phone numbers on such a public forum. 'So you see, the move from 'listening' to 'interacting' is fraught with challenges - and we must think of everything before we start.'

In opting for Twitter over Facebook for this track and respond service, the retailer may also be responding to another digital faux pas - food giant Nestle's notorious entrance onto the social networking scene last month. Lansley noted: 'If we were to try to communicate with people who have posted negative opinions on Facebook it could be seen as too intrusive. Twitter is more of a broadcast medium and people there appreciate that their posts are going out to a wider audience.'

Whilst Facebook may not always be the perfect forum for diplomatic consumer relations, it has plenty of applications in the world of e-commerce. And Tesco is taking full advantage of them. A final version of 'MyShoppingAssistant', a gadget that will enable shoppers to buy their groceries online via the social networking site, is set to go live in the next few weeks.

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