TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 12/22/14 -- Engagement Labs (TSX VENTURE: EL), the world's foremost data-based communications company and creator of evalue™, the only independent global benchmark for social scoring, today released its "Retail Index" showcasing the top evalue scores for the world's leading retailers. Champs Sports (96), GameStop (95) and Tiffany & Co. (89) were top-of-the-class in social engagement, impact and responsiveness - three key actionable components of the more than 300 conventional social media metrics in the evalue score. The Index includes evalue scores from 80 different major retail brands.
The diversity of offerings from top scorers including Champs Sports, GameStop and Tiffany & Co., underscores that no matter the industry, thoughtful, genuine, sharable and consistently engaging content truly differentiates a brand from its competitors on social media. In particular, the top three performing brands significantly outscored many notable fashion retailers such as J.Crew (55), H&M (54), Forever 21 (54), Old Navy (54), Banana Republic (52), Zara (46), American Eagle (45), Gap (42), Levi's (40), Urban Outfitters (38) and Guess (23), all of which fell well below the retail industry average of 64.
"From sporting goods and videogames, to luxury goods and jewelry, it's great to see such a wide variety of companies that were able to use social to differentiate their brands," said Eli Singer, CSO of Engagement Labs. "The secret to their success, is the ability to generate significant engagement by being thematically consistent, timely and relevant with their content. For Tiffany, by delivering interactive, animated content and integrating live streaming of Google Hangouts that include clever hashtags, the brand has seized the opportunity to connect on social with people in a way that differentiates its business during the holiday shopping season."
Social media is a place where effort, thoughtfulness and being genuine can pay big dividends for brands. To stay relevant, major retailers need to focus on creating content that has a uniform look and feel, is relevant to their target audience and is not afraid to push the boundaries. Tiffany does well with using their signature blue color throughout all of its efforts, which is a great way to immerse customers in their brand and drive organic engagement.
"Champs Sports' evalue score is a clear indicator of how thematically aligned, consistent content differentiates specialty-sporting goods and shoe retailers from larger multinationals on social media," said Bryan Segal, CEO of Engagement Labs. "For instance, Champs Sports' 'TheDrop' series, offers fun and interesting facts about top athletes and professional sports teams. It's a great way to drive engagement and jump into mainstream, pop culture moments that build trust with consumers using relatable content."
Outside of Champs Sports, the majority of sporting retailers scored above average on the Index, including the likes of Foot Locker (85), Finish Line (76) and Dick's Sporting Goods (68). Sports Authority (43) was the lone outlier that finished well below the industry average.
Other evalue Retail Index findings include:
-- Levi's, Gap (42) and Coach (35) also offer little-to-no seasonally
specific content, missing out on an important moments to connect with
their audience in a timely, interesting and relevant way
-- Coach (35) and Guess' (23) customer service numbers were extremely low,
and were a key factor in their being ranked very low on the Index. Guess
was also ineffective in their use of hashtags, and lacked a strong and
consistent theme to their content
-- Big box retailers populated the middle tier of the Index: Costco (68),
Sam's Club (65), Sears (65), Kmart (59), Walmart (50), Target (44)
-- Home improvement companies in general scored in the middle-to-upper
tier: The Home Depot (81), Ace Hardware (75), Sherwin-Williams (62) and
Lowe's (57)
Methodology
Brands are ranked by their evalue score, which is an overall measure of performance and effectiveness on a given social media channel. The ranking is based on the evalue scoring system, which is backed by a patented algorithm and benchmarked against a database of 50,000 verified brand accounts. The evalue score itself is an aggregate of the ideal social media KPIs - the three sub-scores of engagement, impact, and responsiveness. Unlike most tools, evalue analyzes all Facebook Page custom targeting options simultaneously. For the purpose of this Index, we looked at standard pages, global/local pages and geo-targeted content facing the United States.
About Engagement Labs
Engagement Labs' patented evalue™ Score is the Global Standard for Social Scoring. evalue™ analytics Pro, an enterprise grade social media analytics platform, scores brands between 1-100. evalue™ measures brands' social media and digital marketing efforts. It's composed of a series of metrics and KPI's, among them: engagement, responsiveness and impact, benchmarked against 50,000+ handpicked verified brands.
Engagement Labs (TSX VENTURE: EL) offers intelligent social data, analytics and insights for organizations that are actively engaging on social networks. Offered as a SaaS or through an API, the evalue™ analytics platform allows brands to measure and maximize the effectiveness of their social media marketing campaigns, as well as measuring that of their competitors, across major social networks Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Engagement Labs maintains offices in Montreal, Toronto and Paris. www.engagementlabs.com / www.evalueanalytics.com
RETAIL INDEX
Ranking Brand evalue Score
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1 Champ Sports 96
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2 Game Stop 95
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3 Tiffany & Co 89
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4 Hot Topic US 89
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5 Macy's 89
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6 Nordstrom 87
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7 Safeway 85
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8 Boot Barn 85
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9 Foot Locker greater than United States 85
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10 Aeropostale - Global greater than United States 84
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11 Belk greater than United States 82
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12 Big Lots greater than United States 82
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13 The Home Depot - Global greater than United 81
States
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14 Pier 1 Imports greater than United States 81
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15 Publix greater than United States 81
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16 Petco greater than United States 81
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17 Bath & Body Works greater than United States 80
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18 Best Buy greater than United States 80
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19 JCPenney greater than United States 79
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20 Sephora greater than United States 79
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21 Williams-Sonoma - Global greater than United 78
States
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22 Kohl's greater than United States 78
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23 Finish Line greater than United States 76
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24 Ace Hardware greater than United States 75
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25 Abercrombie & Fitch - Global greater than United 75
States
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26 Chico's greater than United States 73
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27 Barnes & Noble greater than United States 73
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28 JustFab greater than United States 72
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29 Ross Dress for Less greater than United States 71
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30 CVS greater than United States 70
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31 Kroger greater than United States 70
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32 Advance Auto Parts greater than United States 70
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33 Dick's Sporting Goods 68
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34 Costco greater than United States 68
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35 IKEA USA 67
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36 Toys 'R' Us greater than United States 67
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37 PetSmart - Global greater than United States 66
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38 Sam's Club greater than United States 65
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39 Sears greater than United States 65
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40 Michaels Stores greater than United States 63
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41 Marshalls greater than United States 63
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42 Sherwin-Williams for Your Home greater than 62
United St
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43 Bed Bath & Beyond greater than United States 60
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44 T.J.Maxx greater than United States 60
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45 Neiman Marcus greater than United States 60
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46 Kmart greater than United States 59
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47 HomeGoods greater than United States 57
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48 Lowe's Home Improvement greater than United 57
States
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49 Bloomingdale's greater than United States 57
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50 Whole Foods Market greater than United States 56
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51 Dollar Tree greater than United States 56
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52 Buckle greater than United States 55
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53 J.Crew greater than United States 55
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54 Old Navy - Global greater than United States 54
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55 Forever 21 - Global greater than United States 54
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56 H&M - Global 54
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57 Banana Republic - Global greater than United 52
States
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58 PacSun greater than United States 52
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59 Office Depot greater than United States 52
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60 Dollar General greater than United States 51
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61 Walmart greater than United States 50
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62 Wet Seal greater than United States 50
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63 RadioShack greater than United States 49
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64 Family Dollar greater than United States 48
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65 Walgreens greater than United States 48
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66 DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse greater than United 47
St
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67 ZARA greater than United States 46
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68 Build-A-Bear Workshop greater than United States 46
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69 Spirit Halloween greater than United States 46
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70 American Eagle Outfitters - Global greater than 45
United
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71 Target greater than United States 44
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72 Sports Authority greater than United States 43
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73 Gap - Global greater than United States 42
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74 Levi's - Global greater than United States 40
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75 Topshop - Global greater than United States 38
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76 Urban Outfitters greater than United States 38
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77 Coach - Global greater than United States 35
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78 AutoZone greater than United States 33
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79 GUESS greater than United States 23
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80 7-Eleven 19
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Contacts:
Engagement Labs Inc.
Eli Singer
Chief Strategic Officer/ Chief Marketing Officer
416-566-2322
eli.singer@engagementlabs.com
Engagement Labs Inc.
Sasha Bricel
Account Executive
647-981-7397
sasha.bricel@engagementlabs.com
