Revolutionize Shopping With Gamification
Follow the footsteps of Procter & Gamble’s new virtual home store and make even mundane shopping fun!
Gamification in business is not a new concept but what we’re seeing today are new use cases where gamified elements are driving consumer interactions. With attention spans falling rapidly, businesses not only need to attract customers but also keep them engaged longer for better conversions.
Gamification marketing has found new tailwinds in the metaverse. Virtual stores need to offer differentiated experiences to customers and gamified elements might just be the strategy that does the job.
The State of Gamification in 2022
This decade is shaping up to be a watershed period for gamification and it’s not surprising to see its growth coinciding with the rise of virtual commerce and metaverse. Here are some numbers you might find interesting:
- The Gamification market is growing at a CAGR of 27.4% and will reach $30.7 billion in 2025 – Mordor Intelligence
- 90% of employees say gamification helps them become more productive at work while companies using gamification are 7x more profitable than their counterparts – Zippia
- Gamification can increase new customer registration by 600% – Forbes
The numbers paint a compelling picture for gamification in business but not a lot of companies are experimenting with new use cases, especially in web 3.0 and metaverse.
Some companies, however, are ready to take it to the next level and make even the most mundane shopping fun. Procter & Gamble revolutionized shopping for household items by launching a virtual home store that is fully made into a game. The exclusive 360 shopping experience fully embedded into the Shopee app has it all: alongside a 360-degree view of the rooms, users are able to click on the array of P&G products for product education through a number of experiential games and other engaging features. It’s a store that makes shopping accessible, engaging, and inclusive.
Why does gamification work?
Gamification uses the designs and mechanisms of games to reimagine non-game ecosystems such as workplaces and retail stores. Gamification works because of three powerful and universal emotions: control, competitiveness, and a sense of accomplishment.
When we are motivated to solve a challenge and go through the suspense of doing it, we end up with a positive sense of achievement. This creates a feedback loop where efforts are rewarded constantly. Companies use leaderboards and fun challenges to boost productivity all the time. And it’s not a lot different in gamified products geared towards consumers. From fitness trackers and language learning apps to social media, every platform uses game designs to reward repetitive and successful behaviors to increase sessions and conversions.
The same concepts can be seen in retail stores. A lot of shop owners run loyalty programs where shoppers can “achieve” free products after a certain number of transactions.
How is gamification impacting virtual shopping?
With proper execution, gamification marketing can have a much bigger impact in the metaverse.
1. Create a competitive edge
Virtual stores are still an evolving concept and only a handful of companies are trying new things. This means there’s an opportunity to get a headstart in this space. As the metaverse evolves with consumer buying patterns, more and more businesses will look to improve shopping experiences with branded virtual stores, leading to market saturation. You can get ahead of the curve today by using gamified shopping to attract more customers.
2. Incentivise each interaction
Virtual stores can help you build richer visuals and advanced game designs, which will encourage passive shoppers to commit to the shopping experience. The more invested your shoppers are, the easier it will be to upsell and cross-sell to them. By incentivizing the choices, you’ll also have better control over consumer interaction.
3. Build trust
With games, people feel they’re in control of every choice they make so they trust the process. You can build trust by sharing free value that also aligns with the products you sell. Fitbit often conducts running challenges that not only help their consumers but also align with what they want to achieve as a business. As long as you offer quality content and visuals in your virtual store, consumers will keep interacting with your product and brand.
4. Encourage loyalty
This is a direct result of having a well-defined gamification marketing strategy. By helping consumers reach their goals with gamified elements, you’re also building strong brand loyalty. You can use in-store currencies and loyalty rewards to convert one-off customers into brand champions.
5. Use interaction data to build meaningful experiences
Virtual stores built in metaverse offer hundreds of powerful datapoints that help businesses tweak their strategies. From the amount of time consumers spend to finish a challenge to the number of times they replay games— the better analytics you have, the more immersive experience you’ll be able to provide to shoppers.
6. Transcend generational barriers
Since the market is still cutting-edge, the idea of virtual stores may come off as too complex for the older generations. Gamification helps bridge this gap by catering to emotions that are universal. Shoppers irrespective of age can take part in solving challenges to learn something new, and get a free gift or a discount on products. By lowering the barrier of entry with gamified elements, retail brands can reach consumer segments beyond Gen Z and millennials.
