Bazaarvoice Stories competition helps House of Fraser build relationships at Christmas
Tue, 2012-01-31
One quality that has set House of Fraser apart from other department store groups in the UK throughout their 160-year history is the commitment to build strong customer relationships by providing an imaginative, exciting and relevant shopping experience. As their online presence has grown, so has the desire to extend to the web this strong sense of engagement and belonging among customers. During the 2011 Christmas season, Bazaarvoice Stories helped House of Fraser make major strides in this effort.
“We want our customers to see the House of Fraser website not only as an online shop with merchandise to sell, but also as a place that can inform and inspire them,” explained Andy Harding, eCommerce Director. “For our Christmas promotion, we used Bazaarvoice Stories to activate engagement and activity on the site. We wanted to motivate visitors to share their stories with each other, bringing them back to the website time and again.”
Customer participation in Christmas promotion far exceeds expectations
The “You Shouldn’t Have!” promotion invited online visitors to share stories of the strangest, funniest and most hideous Christmas gifts they ever received, with a winning entry ultimately chosen to receive a Christmas stocking packed with House of Fraser brand goodies. To encourage participation, House of Fraser emailed customers who had written reviews or submitted questions on the website or who had liked House of Fraser on Facebook.
“By targeting socially engaged customers, we had a strong, immediate response to the promotion. We received good stories early in the process, which in turn ensured other visitors were excited about participating,” said Harding. “Their early involvement helped to drive the campaign.”
According to Harding, the response far exceeded expectations. “We were excited by what we saw,” he said. “908 stories were submitted in just a month. Our customers really enjoyed reading them, and so did we. There were so many good stories that we had a hard time choosing a winner.”
About House of Fraser
House of Fraser is the leading, national premium department store group in the UK and Ireland trading principally under the iconic House of Fraser brand name through a portfolio of 63 well-invested stores as well as through its rapidly growing website, www.houseoffraser.co.uk. The House of Fraser brand is differentiated from other department store groups in the UK by its 160 year history in the UK retail market, its wide geographic reach (across the UK and online), its broad range of high quality premium brands, including its increasing exclusive House Brand offering.
