Social media spurred sales for independent retailers in 2011

DETROIT -- Cheryl and Karen Daskas, owners of the upscale Tender boutique in Birmingham, Mich., were trying to find a way to draw their social-media friends into the store this year.

So they created an offer. They would sell their private-label Tender tights for $15 a pair — a bargain at a store that sells $1,500 messenger bags and $300 designer dresses.

"We sold out thousands of pairs in a few days," Cheryl Daskas said. "Blasting it on Twitter really drove it home. It was a lot of fun."

Using social media such as Twitter and Facebook to drive retail sales was a budding trend this year that is expected to grow exponentially in 2012. It is especially meaningful to independent retailers without large advertising budgets.

Other big retail trends on the horizon include continued momentum in shopping locally, increased use of smartphones by retailers and consumers, the growth of online sales and greater use of consumer data by retailers to boost sales.

The rise of retailer applications or apps for smartphones is expected to intensify in 2012, according to Joan Primo, principal of Sylvan Lake, Mich.-based Strategic Edge and a retail real estate consultant. Retailers can use the apps to distribute discounts to shoppers, let them know about a sale item and sell products.

"You see people doing a lot of comparison shopping with them," she said. "Somewhat because of smartphone apps, you've got a lot of fluidity between the customer and the store and the retailer's website."

According to ComScore data, 91.4 million people in the United States owned smartphones during September, October and November, up 8% from the preceding three-month period. ComScore is a Reston, Va., digital analytics company.

Downloaded applications were used by 44.9% of subscribers, while browsers were used by 44.4%. Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 2.1% to 33% of mobile subscribers, ComScore said.

In a recent survey of holiday shoppers, Deloitte found that 21% of consumers said they planned to buy something for the holiday from their smartphones, said Mark Davidoff, managing partner for Deloitte's Michigan operations.

Add to that data analytics and retailers have new areas of potential growth despite a still sluggish economy that may not recover until well into 2012. Data analytics is a practice of taking a multitude of data such as demographics and where you click on the Web and analyzing it to predict behavior.

That approach could help convert sales at a time when disposable incomes for the average person are lower than a year ago.

Consumers are stuck in neutral and worried about gas prices, the national debt, European economic issues, the upcoming presidential election and job insecurity.

"I think that unless there is some extraordinary change, we will continue to see a guarded perspective on the economy and whole retail spectrum," Davidoff said.