An analysis of the performance of the major fashion retailers on social media in the run-up to Christmas has shown that Zara and New Look topped the list for more engaging social media posts during December.
What’s interesting is that the analysis purely focuses on engagements and “selling” on social media is still far from front of mind when considering social activity. This may be in part because brands wish to drive instore traffic, but it demonstrates that social media selling is still nascent with a long way to go before it becomes a primary channel alongside web, marketplace and retail stores.
Fashion Retailers Analysis
The analysis, conducted by social media specialists Maybe*, reveals that Zara topped the overall list with a total of 290,000 engagements across the month, which equated to around 9,400 engagements with its content every day. Its most successful post was on Instagram about its women’s capsule collection, which secured nearly 71,000 likes.
New Look was ranked second with 105,000 engagements, albeit from 331 posts compared to Zara’s 57. Its most successful post relied on humour – an Instagram reel from TikTok influencer Amie Scottand friends as three wise women in white coats ad-libbing and dancing to East 17’s Christmas classic ‘Stay Another Day’ inside a New Look store.
However, when overall engagements were calculated as a proportion of total followers, New Look achieved the highest cut through – 1.55% – compared to Zara’s 0.33%. Other retailers achieving a high rate of engagement compared to their following included Jack Wills (1.17%) and River Island (0.93%).
All the most successful posts by the fashion retailers appeared on Instagram, except for one by River Island, whose humorous post of a man staring through a frozen car windscreen with the words “when you’re late for work in the winter” achieved 9,000 views and was shared 6,500 times.
Although Zara’s post was numerically the most successful, this is due to their consistent approach to delivering engaging content. The other successful posts capture the sense of fun and excitement of the Christmas season or to offer something to followers. In short, it’s about the brand being human and less about them overtly “selling.”
Jack Wills, for example, secured most cut-through with an Instagram post offering the chance to win an all-inclusive ski trip worth £5,000 or Dorothy Perkins offering the chance to win an ‘ultimate party package’ with outfits from them and beauty products of your choice from Illamasqua. Competitions always engage a wide audience.
– Polly Barnfield OBE, CEO, Maybe*
