In February, RSR launched its first-ever survey dedicated to the topic of social media in retail. Like everyone else, we want to know what’s working for retailers in their early attempts to leverage these new channels. But perhaps beyond the scope of everyone else, we also want to know what they NEED in order to make those new efforts successful. This, of course, means an in-depth line of questioning about the internal challenges they face, and how the best performers can offer suggestions on ways to get past those roadblocks. Retailers have been eager to help us find the answers (more than 100 qualified retailers have already taken the survey), and though the full report won’t be released until May 17, 2011, I figured I’d share a few data points today.

For starters, 51% of respondents so far operate some type of social media. Yet in drilling down, we can see that for most, this translates to a simple Facebook page for customers to like the brand. When asked which most aptly describes their social media strategy, the most popular answer is “we’ve been using it, know what we’re trying to achieve, but need to know how to measure better “ (43%). Similarly, 23% tell us that they are currently just trying to select the right social channel.

However, this early data gets particularly interesting when we start asking about how retailers can create a differentiated social experience (Figure below).

Clearly, the coordination of social media efforts across existing channels presents a tremendous challenge for retailers (56%), which given our recent omni-channel research, Omni-Channel Fulfillment, comes as little surprise. What is fascinating is that very few retailers blame the technology asset (15%), admitting instead that their ability to understand how different customers engage (54%) AND what consumers will ultimately appreciate as a valuable or differentiated experience is largely undetermined (46%). This is where our final analysis of Winners’ behaviors in May will likely become quite valuable.

Lastly, in a completely staggering statistic, retailers of all sizes and performance levels respond with most revealing honesty — 100% say they have no idea whatsoever what percentage of their annual sales is being influenced by the social channel. We are very eager to dive into this data and present its full findings.

If you are a retailer and have not yet participated in the survey, we certainly invite you to share your thoughts by taking 10-15 minutes to complete it online. There is still quite a bit of time to weigh in and have your experiences contribute to the data before we begin the writing process.