By Mairi Clark, senior pr and marketing manager, IAB
It may seem incongruous that the doyenne of Seventies’ “high-tech” retailing, Argos, and the Queen Bee of digital, Facebook, have tied up a deal, but in the world of Facebook Deals, this shouldn’t be deemed that unusual.
I’ll declare myself now. I’m a huge fan of Argos. I love its ability to understand consumers and what they want, and how to serve them. To put Facebook Deals to one side, Argos – to me – at least is a retailer who totally embraces the “bricks to clicks” ethos that was bandied about when I first started writing about digital in the mid-nineties.
Argos allows the consumer to decide what they want: order online and wait for delivery, order online and pick up from the store, or check availability and then browse the ubiquitous catalogue in store. Perfect. Allow the consumer to pick how it works with your retail brand, don’t force them to use something they don’t want to.
Will its arrangement work with Facebook Deals? Yes.
Facebook Deals’ biggest challenge it to fight off the Daily Mail’s readers who will dislike the close targeting that this will allow marketers (though it will probably take them a while to work that out).
My barometer will be when Facebook Deals starts to permeate past the Big Boys like Starbucks et al and goes for smaller retailers, or more obscure. Then it will have really lit the touchpaper. But as for the data issue, I’m happy telling people about myself if I get what I use and for cheaper. In these times of austerity, we all have to fly the flag for frugality. Just ask poor Wills and Kate. Bet she’s gutted.
