Some 33 of the 50 largest U.S. retail firms use content material advertising. And 22 of these are doing it pretty nicely.
I reviewed the web sites and social media channels of the 50 largest U.S. retailers, in keeping with the Nationwide Retail Federation, to be taught which of them used content material advertising.
Affirmations
A easy rely of whether or not companies equivalent to Walmart, Amazon, and The Kroger Firm have a weblog is, admittedly, not earth-shattering data. However it did affirm three of my prior observations.
Retail content material advertising wants enchancment. Whereas 22 of the businesses reviewed did a passing or good job with content material advertising, 11 did content material poorly, and 17 didn’t use content material advertising in any respect.
Think about being a retail enterprise with $100 billion in annual income and having a content material advertising program that’s not so good as many private blogs.
Many of the poor performers appeared sporadic with subjects and schedules, lacked inner linking, and used little content material promotion.
Some merchandise are higher suited to content material. With only one exception, grocery chains, auto components shops, and residential enchancment facilities have been all utilizing content material advertising.
These classes have apparent subjects to cowl. Grocery shops can publish a unending checklist of recipes. Auto half shops can produce how-to articles and movies on duties starting from oil modifications to changing a bearing meeting. Dwelling enchancment facilities can produce a lot of how-to content material, too.
Most giant retailers are doing it. Two-thirds of the highest 50 retail firms on the NRF checklist — and eight of the highest 10 — used content material advertising in some kind.
The 2 largest retailers, Walmart and Amazon, each used content material advertising in vital methods.
Walmart
Let’s face it, Walmart in all probability doesn’t want content material advertising to draw customers. The Walmart model is well known.
For instance, on the finish of January 2021, Walmart had 4,743 places within the U.S., roughly 2,000 in Mexico, and lots of shops worldwide — equivalent to China, the UK, Canada, Chile, Guatemala, many extra.
So attracting prospects is probably not Walmart’s content material advertising precedence. However the firm does use content material to have interaction prospects. Its Concepts web page is stuffed with how-to articles associated to the merchandise Walmart sells.
Walmart’s Thought part had a lot of helpful how-to articles.
“Your kitchen might be one of many most-used rooms in your house. It’s additionally the place your meals is saved, ready, and cooked day by day, so preserving it clear is essential. Refresh this essential room this spring with our kitchen cleansing guidelines,” learn the opening paragraph of a latest thought publish titled “Spring Cleansing: Clear Your Kitchen.”
Different Walmart Concepts embody:
- “5 kitchen group tricks to strive in 2021,”
- “The whole lot You Have to Know About Tires,”
- “Colourful DIY crayon & soy wax candles,”
- “Crispy Oven-Baked Buffalo Wings.”
The corporate additionally has its Walmart Museum web site for the bodily museum at 105 North Principal Avenue, Bentonville, Arkansas. One would possibly argue that working a museum is an instance of content material advertising in the true world.
Amazon
You would possibly consider Amazon as an ecommerce large, a streaming film and tv service, or perhaps a cloud-based infrastructure platform. However the retailer that sells all the things from A to Z with a smile (as depicted in its brand) additionally makes use of content material advertising in a number of varieties.
The smile in Amazon’s brand is an arrow pointing from A to Z.
First, there’s Amazon Video. Whereas this can be a paid service and a part of a Prime membership, it’s unquestionably content material that draws of us to Amazon. The identical, by the way in which, could be stated about Amazon Music.
Additionally, you will discover dwell streams on Amazon that enable sellers and different creators to assist customers uncover merchandise or full duties. Examples embody cooking reveals that exhibit recipes and have the merchandise used. Lots of the packages are much like the Dwelling Buying Community or QVC. Others resemble private YouTube channels and even the Meals Community.
Amazon Stay packages are much like Dwelling Buying Community, QVC, private YouTube channels, and even the Meals Community.
Subsequent, Amazon has a company weblog owing to its dimension and affect. Take into account that The Wall Avenue Journal featured Amazon in seven articles from April 1 to April 6, 2021, and has in any other case talked about Amazon hundreds of instances.
Many customers and buyers are serious about what Amazon is doing. A well-written company weblog is sensible in context.
Furthermore, Amazon publishes information on workers, firm initiatives, and extra. Latest posts embody:
- “Amazon, Delivered: Meet 4 ladies main in logistics,”
- “Cloud computing pioneer’s new focus is on sustainability transformation,”
- “Amazon Air launches first air gateway in Fairbanks, Alaska,”
- “How Alexa helps first-time mother and father.”
Amazon additionally publishes regional blogs for India, Australia, Japan, Germany, Poland, the European Union, and others.
There’s additionally Amazon Science, a microsite about Amazon’s “customer-obsessed science”; the Amazon Net Companies weblog, dedicated to the corporate’s know-how platforms and providers; and a number of other guides, together with one about ecommerce.
Briefly, Amazon makes use of content material extensively.
The Overview
A evaluate of how prime retailers use content material advertising requires a normal of what content material advertising is. For this text, I’ve assumed a retailer has a content material advertising initiative if it makes use of content material in most any means, together with a stale weblog. I didn’t contemplate social media alone, nonetheless, as a content material program.
An organization with a number of manufacturers — e.g., Albertsons, Ahold Delhaize — I counted solely as soon as as long as any of these manufacturers had a content material advertising program. Hole and Outdated Navy are Hole Inc. manufacturers, and neither had an obvious content material advertising program. However Banana Republic, additionally a Hole Inc. model, had a weblog known as The Journal. So Hole Inc. counted.
How nicely retailers have been utilizing content material advertising was much more subjective. To be counted, the corporate needed to have both frequently up to date content material or a spread. In some circumstances, the well-done content material took the type of YouTube channels or related. Lowe’s, for instance, has a reasonably lively concepts part on its web site, 3.7 million followers on Pinterest, and a YouTube channel with greater than 1 million subscribers. Thus Lowe’s makes efficient use of content material.