Nearly 1.4 million Liked Apple Inc.’s Facebook page in February, according to the ChannelAdvisor Facebook Commerce Index. That’s a 56% jump from January, which is particularly impressive because the retailer doesn’t use the social network to promote its new products or to interact with consumers.
The Apple Facebook page is mostly untouched. It features a single image of the Apple logo and no content-based posts to its wall.
“Apple is so popular it doesn’t even have to engage consumers to be Liked,” ChannelAdvisor Corp. notes in its report. ChannelAdvisor helps retailers sell through online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay as well as comparison shopping sites.
The retailer’s growth was likely due Apple’s February announcement that it would begin selling the newest version of its iPad tablet computer this month, says the report. The gain made Apple’s page the third-fastest growing page in the index, which tracks the number of Likes gained by each of more than 500 brands at the end of each month. The fastest growing fan bases were for EverythingFurniture.com, whose fan base increased 93%, and Blinds.com, whose fan base grew 70%.
Here are the 10 most Liked retail brands on Facebook, with their ranking in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, their number of Likes at the end of February, and the month-over-month percentage increase:
• Victoria’s Secret, No. 18, 17.8 million, 3%
• Adidas Originals, No. 205, 13.2 million, 7%
• Wal-Mart, No. 6, 13.0 million, 14%
• Victoria’s Secret Pink, No. 18, 11.4 million, 4%
• Burberry, No. 400, 11.0 million, 5%
• Levi’s, No. 351, 10.9 million, 6%
• Target, No. 22, 9.6 million, 14%
• Lacoste, 8.7 million, 13%
• WWE, No. 469, 8.2 million, 9%
• Nike, No. 78, 7.6 million, 24%
Here are the fastest-growing brands in the index, with their ranking in the Top 500 Guide, the number of Likes they added in February and the percentage growth:
• EverythingFurniture.com, No. 394, 1,135, 93%
• Blinds.com, No. 215, 9,417, 70%
• Apple Inc., No. 3, 1.4, 56%
• Nine West, No. 204, 194,401, 46%
• The Company Store, No. 104, 4,641, 39%
• Jones New York, No. 204, 2,230, 36%
• Sony Electronics, No. 14, 659,750, 35%
• The Woodwind & Brasswind, 12,107, 35%
• 1-800-Contacts, No. 101, 9,877, 32%
• Karmaloop, No. 180, 92,750 31%
Overall the retailers tracked in the index have added 173 million fans since the index launched in February 2011.
At the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2012, Jason Goldberg, president of Fab.com, will speak in a session entitled “Going social from Day One: How a start-up online retailer gained 1 million members through social marketing.” The IRCE $200 early-bird discount expires March 31.
Favorite