CUSTOMER CASE: WALMART JAPAN USES SOCIAL MEDIA TO ENHANCE SALES AND BRAND REPUTATION

November 5, 2015

Walmart Japan (SEIYU) is running a Sageriku campaign to select products and reduce their process according to votes from Twitter users. SAGE-RIKU, meaning “request down” in Japanese, is the concept of a new campaign that gives consumers a voice and is perfectly aligned with SEIYU’s mission to provide outstanding products at everyday low prices. SEIYU organized two rounds of a Sageriku campaign, the first from September to October 2011 and the second from January to February 2012, reducing the cost for 100 and 200 items respectively.

Objectives

• To support SEIYU’s Every Day Low Price (EDLP) strategy in Japan
• Give customers the opportunity to indicate their preferences and provide SEIYU with feedback
• Enhance sales and brand reputation in Japan

Results

Sageriku I (September – October 2011)
The campaign received a significant response from customers, with around 25,000 tweets. Prices for 100 items, which were selected from the list of 10,000, were reduced for the period of 4 weeks. Of those 100 products, 30 products remain at the reduced prices today.

Sageriku II (January – February 2012)
Seiyu received 26,000 votes through Twitter on more than 13,000 items. As a result, 479 products were subject to discussion for price-cut and prices for 200 items were reduced. The items were reduced in prices at the maximum of 24% around the country.

Going forward, Seiyu will continue to work on better meeting the needs of its customers in order to offer customers the safe and secure products with unbeatable prices.

How To

The campaign was divided in three phases:

Phase 1: Twitter users voted for the product they wanted to see reduced in price from among the list of more than 10,000 items during Sageriku I, and 13,000 items during Sageriku II. The item for which the price reduction was decided was announced on the Sageriku campaign site and Sageriku official twitter account.

Phase 2: The 100 total items that were selected for price-cuts were reduced in prices for up to four weeks in SEIYU stores across the country.

Phase 3: The campaign’s impact on sales, customers’ responses, and the comments made on the sites during the campaign period were reflected by the actions of the company, such as pricing, development of new Private Brand products and choice of the items to be imported through Walmart Global network.

Once users voted for the items and wrote their reasons, the comments were sent to users’ Twitter timelines. The reasons of request sent by voters for the selected items can be found in the viewing areas of these products. There is also a function that allows users to ask their followers supporting his/her ‘Sageriku’.