How Gamification in Retail Can Enhance the Shopping Experience

Retailers are always looking for new and innovative ways to improve the shopping experience, get new customers into their stores or websites, and retain existing customers. Gamification in retail appears to be helping companies check all of these boxes by injecting some fun into the shopping process. Since so many companies are now using e-commerce gamification solutions, you need to know all of the various games to play in stores so you can start reaping all of the rewards for your business. Let’s start by taking a look at why gamification in retail is so effective. 

Why Implement Gamification in Retail? 

Just like when playing a regular board game, people get naturally competitive and want to earn as many points or rewards as they can. The same concept applies to gamification in retail. When customers collect points, the sense that they are on the verge of a reward that entices them to shop more. However, we can take this a step higher and allow them to compete with their friends for those same rewards. A great example of this is the e-commerce gamification solution Wizzzi. When customers make purchases, they get trading cards with characters from the wizarding universe, which come to life with the help of augmented reality development. Not only could people take pictures with the wizard characters, but they could also engage in AR battles with their friends. This is one of the coolest retail store games because of all the action. 

Now that we know why brands implement gamification in retail, let’s look at some of the techniques companies use to implement such solutions. 

How Can You Implement Gamification in Retail? 

One of the most commonly used methods in retailing games is offering some reward. This can be giving users various badges, points, unlocking new levels, special discounts, and many other things. You can also introduce a virtual environment, which is what Mondelēz International did to achieve greater sales numbers of their popular chocolate biscuits, Barni, in six countries: Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, and Azerbaijan. When a user would buy a package of Barni, they could scan a QR code, and they would be able to view the dinosaur either on the ground or on the card. They could also take a photo with the dinosaur and share it with their friends. This e-commerce gamification technique really paid off in terms of helping Mondelēz International achieve its business goals. 

There are additional ways you can implement gamification in retail, such as: 

• Progress bar – Show users how close they are to getting a reward or unlocking a new level and stimulate people to keep working on completing a task. 
• Challenges – The challenge setup is usually tailored-made and directs the customers depending on the context, which helps you to refine where you want your customer to go and how you want them to get there.
• In-game currency – In-game or virtual currency added to a gamification application can shape users’ behavior and increase their retention and engagement.

While there are many ways of implementing gamification in retail, we need to further explore its benefits for your business. Let’s take a look at this in the next section. 

What Does E-commerce Gamification Do for Your Business? 

Ecommerce gamification offers many different benefits for your business. These include: 

• Stronger connections with customers – Customers are looking to engage with your brand in more ways than just simply buying something. They are looking to establish a connection and get closer to your brand. By offering interactive content, like retail gaming, you activate certain parts of their brains that static images cannot reach. 
• Increased dwell time – If you have been disappointed by static images and pop-up ads in the past, you will be pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of e-commerce gamification. The thing is, you are not interrupting the shopping experience when you use virtual shopping games or even retail store games, for that matter. When people have a moment to spare, they will check out the game. 
• Better data gathering – Retailers go through all sorts of steps to find the right data about their customers’ spending habits, but what if you were able to get this information from your customers themselves instead of going to some third-party resource? Gamification allows you to do this since you can offer your customers a gaming reward for completing a survey or answering a few questions. By the way, gamification vendors can also create all kinds of retail sales games to fit your needs.
• Drive customer loyalty – If you currently have a loyalty program, consider turning it into a gamification experience. The Wizzzi AR loyalty program we mentioned earlier allowed the company to increase the average check, purchase frequency, and user traffic. Therefore, these sorts of retail sales games really work. 

So far, we have only talked about retail sales games for customers, but you can also create a retail management game to help you better run the store. 

Gamification for Employees 

Your in-store team has certain KPIs and targets they need to meet. Gamification can really encourage your staff to perform better by bringing out the competitive element that exists inside every person. There are a few notable benefits for this approach: 

• Drive intrinsic motivation 

Finding ways to motivate your employees is always challenging, but it is necessary for the overall success of your store. So, how can you motivate your associates to be active partners rather than passive bystanders? Well, gamification is a great motivation tool since you are offering your employees continuous challenges. This helps your staff constantly develop their skills, giving them more confidence and motivation to work harder. 

• Purpose

Your employees need to feel like their work is a part of an overall larger picture. A good way to apply this is to tie your gamification efforts to a larger and more meaningful goal. For example, let’s say one of your goals is to increase the number of people signing up for your loyalty program. You can show your team the big picture by telling them the impact your loyalty program has on the business through gamification. 

• Increase Efficiency

Retail sales games can help you increase efficiency by performing higher-value tasks faster and minimizing downtime. For example, you can turn each task into a mission for your employees to complete, and they will get a badge to mark their achievements. You can also get creative and include “secret” badges whenever an employee unlocks a new goal. For example, if the entire team completes a training course in the same week, they all get a special award. 

• Better Communication

Let’s face it, running a store has its own specific communication challenges. People are working different schedules, and there is also a hectic business environment where people are jumping from one task to another. You can combat these issues by coming up with gamified programs that encourage team members to work and communicate with each other. For example, you can create a game that partners team members that usually do not work with each other to build stronger relationships. 

Start Taking Advantage of Gamification 

Virtual shopping games and in-store ones offer a wealth of benefits for both you and your team as well. If you have been disappointed by other methods of increasing revenues, customer loyalty, and efficiency, consider giving gamification a try. However, you will need a team of experienced and qualified game developers to create your game for you to get the highest return on your investment. Skywell Software has extensive experience building all kinds of retail store games for some of the most well-known brands in the world. Skywell has the expertise on staff to make even the most visionary games a reality. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.