Eighteen months ago, Big Lots didn’t have a social media presence. But things have changed since then that have helped spur customer engagement.
“In Q4 we reached our goal of 1 million Facebook fans,” Big Lots CEO David Campisi said during the company’s March 6 earnings conference call, according to Seeking Alpha. “We enjoyed social media sweepstakes that launched on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We also hosted our first-ever Pinterest sweepstakes, “Christmas Like Crazy,” which drove over 3.2 million impressions. Remember, our company had virtually no social media presence 18 months ago. So 2014 was a major step forward.”
The “Christmas Like Crazy” Sweepstakes offered a grand prize of a $1,000 Big Lots shopping spree.
“Aside from social media, we also expanded our reach from a multi-cultural perspective,” Campisi said. “Our Christmas campaign was our top holiday television spot airing in multiple languages on culturally diverse television networks, which we see as an accomplishment for our company and for Jennifers everywhere.”
“Jennifer” is a design persona, an archetype that is representative of a key customer segment at Big Lots created a few years ago. Campisi believes the design persona of Jennifer will develop a new mentality to focus on her and all facets of the business will pay off and begin to drive positive comps over time.
“The final leg of the three-legged tool, who are the Jennifer pillar, is our store,” Campisi said. “Store execution and, most importantly, our people in the field, during our most challenging time of the year the stores team maintained their standards and actually improved their scores during Q4, whether it would be the J plus score or other customer feedback measurements.”
Net fourth-quarter sales increased 1.4%, to $1.593 billion. Comparable store sales rose 2.9%.
“We’re still in early innings and my excitement continues to build for this business,” Campisi said. “This business continues to exhibit solid fundamentals and deliver results.”