All of the retailer’s high and lows can now be found..on Twitter.
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The once web unfriendly retailing giant has now gone a step further to the other side by opening a Twitter account.
One of its first utterance was a promo to flog the new iPad.
“iPad 2 now is available at our Funan Center, West Mall, Suntec city, Square 2 and Parkway Parade outlets.”
Since Twitter holders often vent their anger or annoyance about anything from what they ate for breakfast to bad traffic on the highway, one wonders if such Tweets are to come like…”pesky JB Hi-Fi with their new fancy concept stores…who do dey think dey r!”
Or another might be:”OMG, Apple have just told us dey have no more iPads in stock!”
But the biggest shock of all is its complete U turn with regards to online selling. Until now consumers have been unable to purchase its goods online.
In 1997 it’s Chairman Gerry Harvey famously uttered: “No one will ever make money selling online,” when the Internet was emerging as a sales platform.
Even as late last year, it refused to bring its brick and mortar network fully online and was part of a major retailing campaign pressuring the Federal Government to slap a 10% GST on Internet purchases made from overseas web sites, claiming they were losing business to foreign rivals.
However, last month it unleashed a deal of the day website selling everything from cosmetics to garden beds and hammocks. It also now has a Facebook site, answering customer queries and promoting new products.
And this was following the seller’s pledge to have “sizeable internet presence” this year, although Chairman Harvey is still sceptical about the move, despite evidence to the contrary.
“My heart’s beating very strongly on whether we make any money out of it,” he said earlier this year.
The Twitter account currently has ten followers and you can join in the fun at @harveynormanSG.
