Between LG’s sponsorship of most recent Pout event, and their high fashion inspired launch party for their new Chocolate BL40 – fashion and tech are definitely being quite flirtatious with each other lately.
Designers and major clothing brands are wanting to meet with bloggers, and online media is finally starting to be recognized by the high street.
And now, Debenhams is embracing Twitter. And not just by setting up an account .
Tomorrow sees the launch of their Megaday Sale, and to help their staff and customers cope with the added chaos, the Oxford Street Debanhams will have selected members of staff armed with Blackberrys, enabling them to respond to customers’ Twitter queries during the sale.
Whether it’s “can you get me a bigger size” or “the zip on this coat is screwed”, the Oxford Street Debenhams Twitter Assistants are there to help, Tweet, and do whatever it is their customers want.
Well, within reason. I wouldn’t recommend Tweeting at a Twitter Assistant to dance, sing, or go get you a coffee.
Customers will need to follow “@debenhamsretail” and tag their tweets with #debtwtasst for assistance.
Ed Watson, Head of PR at Debenhams, says:
“Our Megaday sale on Wednesday (Sept 9) is one of the busiest times, so using Twitter in this way will be the equivalent of having a dedicated shop assistant with you for the entire time you are in our store.
“We believe it will give Debenhams a real commercial advantage too. Instant communication with our customers as they do their shopping is a tremendous asset. We intend to develop this approach for the future”.
While in theory this is a great idea, and I’m excited that Debenhams are “with it” and “down with the social media kids”, there are many potentials problems with this idea.
Firstly, Debenhams are highly underestimating the stupidity of people.
People will use the wrong hashtag, and then get upset that no one has brought them a size 14 to their dressing room.
Debenhams say that “any and all messages are encouraged”, even “social networkers outside of the store" are welcome to ask the Twitter Assistants questions.
Any and all messages?
If Debenhams get enough coverage on this, and enough people start replying to @debenhamsretail online for assistance, how many times are we going to see Tweets like:
@debenhamsretail OI BRING ME A SANDWICH & SIT ON DADDY’S LAP LUV #debtwtasst
How many people are going to abuse the hashtag to the point where the assistants have a hard time differentiating between who is a legit customer, and who’s an idiotic twat sat at home in their living room?
Plus, how do you identify yourself & ask the Twitter Assistant for help in only 140 characters? How many Twitter Assistants are there in the shop? There are plenty of questions like this (as well as, “Does Debenhams know what it's getting itself into?”) that customers will have.
However, this is all on the assumption that the people who will go nuts at at Megaday Sale at Debenhams on Oxford Street use Twitter on their mobiles, understand hashtags, and can even be bothered to use the Twitter Assistants.
I’ll be curious to see how this all works out. Best of luck to Debenhams and their Twitter Assistants. May the force be with you.
You'll need it.