Lidl and Aldi lead on word of mouth

Technology and data company Engagement Labs has released data rankings on how UK supermarkets perform socially, both on social media and offline via word of mouth (WOM). The rankings incorporate Engagement Labs’ eValue score and Keller Fay’s WOM conversation measurement data. Engagement Labs recently acquired Keller Fay as part of its expansion into the US and UK markets.

According to the rankings, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland have emerged as WOM leaders, based on their share of positive conversations relative to their market size. Asda ranks highest of the big four supermarket brands (Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons), just behind Waitrose. Sainsbury’s is behind it in sixth place.

“In all three cases, strong performance is driven by relatively high volumes of WOM (taking into account the size of each store’s customer base) and above-average sentiment from consumers when discussing these brands,” said Steve Thomson, UK managing director of Keller Fay. “It’s no coincidence that these brands are outperforming the market.”

With regard to social media, the analysis revealed that most of the supermarket brands had a high volume of fans and followers on both Facebook and Twitter. The big four lead the way on Facebook, with Asda ranking top, Tesco in second, Sainsbury’s in third and Morrisons in fourth. Aldi is in fifth place while Lidl is in seventh, behind Waitrose. Sainsbury’s ranks top in terms of Twitter performance, with Aldi behind it in second place. Lidl lies in fifth place, behind Ocado and Morrisons.

“When looking at Asda, the company is strong on Facebook and demonstrates the ability to leverage social media to engage and communicate with followers, creating a truly social community,” said Bryan Segal, CEO at Engagement Labs. “On Facebook, the brand has the highest Engagement and Impact subscores and also has the highest number of likes and shares per 1000 fans. By using a mix of online content, such as recipes, new product launches and highlighting customer experiences through user-generated content, they have successfully increased brand affinity.

“However on Twitter, Asda’s eValue score is dragged down by very slow responsiveness, with admin reaction to tweets considerably slower than channel leader Sainsbury’s.”

• A recent US report on the influence of social media on grocery purchase decisions revealed that shoppers use social media to get recipes ( 59%), compare prices between food brands ( 54%), or access a supermarket website to check prices or find products, etc. It also revealed that social media is far more likely to influence millennials’ — in particular millennial men’s — grocery purchase decisions.