NEW YORK -- Multinational retailer Tesco is still trying to understand the value of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, said one of the company's top executives at the National Retail Federation's Big Show here Monday.
"I am a bit less messianic about this," said Andrew Higginson, chief executive of retailing services and group strategy director, Tesco, speaking on a panel with other retail executives. "We have not put a lot of money on it, but we are trying to understand it. It is a fine line to walk, as to whether or not you are intruding into people's communication between their friends."
Cathy Green Burns, president of Food Lion, agreed that retailers still have a lot of learning to do when it comes to social media, but said she was confident such sites would be an important part of Food Lion's multi-platform communication efforts with consumers going forward.
"One of our largest expenses from a marketing perspective is our flier," she said. "We are very paper-based, still, so there may be opportunity to gain some efficiencies leveraging the Web and things like Facebook and Twitter."
