Duane Reade Surpasses 1 Million Followers, Becomes Twitter's Most Followed Retailer in the Drug, Food and Mass Arena Worldwide(1)

NEW YORK, Sept. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Duane Reade, a 250-store New York City drugstore chain, part of the Walgreens family of companies, has become Twitter's most followed retail chain in the Drug, Food and Mass Arena worldwide. From September 2012 to-date, the regional retailer has organically grown its Twitter following by 6,709%, making it one of the world's fastest growing retail accounts on Twitter year over year.  Duane Reade's social media accomplishments have prompted Twitter to produce a comprehensive case study showcasing the retailer's social media milestones and innovative digital marketing strategies.   https://business.twitter.com/success-stories/duane-reade   

Duane Reade's social media prowess is powered by a strategy it refers to as 'Parallel Persuasion' – a marketing approach that generates ROI through omni-channel engagement; it's an equation based on brand advocacy, brand voice, PR integration and conversation relevance. The formula has led to industry recognition with Duane Reade winning the 2013 Silver Hub Prize for Social Shopper Media and Shopper Marketing campaigns. http://www.hubmagazine.com/prize/

"This social milestone is all about our customers and represents the ability and focus we have to seamlessly reach them whenever and wherever they are with useful content they crave and now have come to expect via effective two-way communications," said Calvin Peters, Digital Communications Manager, Duane Reade. "Our goal has been social community building and expanding relevant engagement to enhance our overall customer experience; achieving this while also creating social communication vehicles that can generate tangible ROI results for both corporate and vendor initiatives have proven successful."

Duane Reade's consumer-generated media focused "Get Social" program - marked by a Promoted Tweet engagement rate of more than 4% and generating over 3 billion+ digital impressions year over year - has resulted in increased sales and bolstered ROI including a 28% lift in sales of Duane Reade Legwear through the chain's #DRLegwear – 'Show Us Some Leg' social amplification vendor campaign.  Over the same period, the industry experienced a 5% decrease in sales of these products. Post campaign performance numbers for the vendor, Doris International Hosiery Mills, have been equally impressive with sales up 21% year over year as of July 2013.

"We are extremely proud of these achievements as they are reflection of Duane Reade as an iconic New York City retailer, our amazing omni-channel customers and engaged social media community," said Deepika Pandey, VP Digital Marketing & Customer Experience for Walgreens. "We're already focused on attracting our next million followers and increasing our community engagement across all owned platforms to continue having important and relevant conversations with our core customers."

About Duane Reade:

Founded in 1960, Duane Reade is the largest drug store chain in New York City. In keeping with the company's brand vision of New York Living Made Easy, Duane Reade provides New Yorkers with prescriptions, health products and services, beauty products and services, food and convenience items for daily life in the City...everything for "How I Feel", "How I Look", and "What I Need Now." The company operates 250+ stores throughout the metropolitan New York region. Duane Reade is part of the Walgreens family of companies, the nation's largest drugstore chain with more than 8,000 stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

¹ SOURCE: Drug Store News <http://drugstorenews.com/article/duane-reade-dominates-twitter-more-1-million-followers>                                                         

SOURCE Duane Reade