‘We are down, but not out’: Sears on social media

As the company and its bankruptcy advisers prepare for a possible liquidation, the retailer has taken to social media to reassure the public that it is still around.

“We are down, but not out... - SMT,” Sears, via its official Twitter account (@Sears), said in reply to one of the many posts Monday morning about the 126-year-old company potentially going out of business.

Another Twitter user opined that the retailer “had a good run I would say.” Sears replied: “We would say that as well, but we are Marathon Runners, and we are still running. We may be slowing down, but we are not out of the race just yet. Don’t count us completely out. Happy Shopping! -SMT”

The “SMT” sign-off is for the Sears Social Media Team that runs the Twitter account, which has a following of 209,000, significantly smaller than many of its retail peers.

The company declined to comment on its social media strategy.

In the face of competition from online giant Amazon.com Inc and other brick-and-mortar retailers, including Walmart Inc, Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based Sears has struggled to reinvent itself.

Sears’ former Chief Marketing Officer Kelly Cook told Reuters at the end of 2017 that the company planned to invest more heavily in social media in 2018.

Cook said marketing directly to shoppers via Twitter and Instagram posts and influencers could help change consumer sentiment toward Sears. The company also planned to use shoppers’ opinions to make operational and merchandising changes, she said.

However, only 9 percent of US millennials - aged between 22 to 37 years in 2018 - said they would consider buying goods from the retailer, according YouGov BrandIndex, a company that tracks public perception of brands. On Monday, Sears encouraged those saddened by its store closures to shop online. “Thank you for the picture! It is very surreal,” the account tweeted at a user who posted a picture of a Sears store stripped of inventory, one of many to shutter its doors. “Here’s to ONLINE shopping for everyone! -SMT”

Over the last 30 days, Sears’ posting frequency on Twitter has gone up by the week, as have interactions per post, according to social media analytics firm Zoomph.