Convenience-store consumers are already playing mobile games in formats such as puzzles, social media games, card games, casino games, board games and more, said Mike Templeton, vice president of digital strategy at NexChapter, a consulting firm for convenience-store retailers, during a session at CSP’s Convenience Retailing University. Why not offer games within a loyalty app?
Pervez Pir, president of retail at Loop Neighborhood Market, Fremont, California, wasn’t interested in offering gaming at first.
“I don't play games, and I was reluctant to actually have games in loyalty,” he said. “I thought that most people coming to a convenience store aren't going to use our app to play games. Just like when they go on our website, they're looking for store locator, hours, what we offer.”
However, after rolling out a trial game in partnership with Mobivity, a Chandler, Arizona-based company that connects mobile game and app marketers at convenience stores and restaurants, Pir saw the results.
“As I was looking at the data, I started realizing I was missing the opportunity,” he said. “Return on investment was there. I started seeing the numbers.”
Pir said that 38% of Loop app users play the game, and they’re playing it 3.9 times per day.
In addition, 84% of Loop's employees have downloaded the chain’s app and have played the game in the last 30 days, he said. When employees engage with the games, they are better equipped and more likely to talk to customers about it, show them how it works and be an advocate.
Abigail Cerra, manager of marketing, loyalty and communications at Chestnut Market, New Paltz, New York, developed a personal interest in mobile games during COVID, which sparked her journey with gamification within Chestnut’s loyalty program.
“I realized how important that segment was for us, for all of the reasons we talked about, like engagement but then for the segmenting of customers as well,” she said.
Integrating gamification into loyalty is a “game changer,” Templeton said, especially at a time when loyalty is challenged. Enrollment is slowing, participation is stalling, activity is waning and costs are rising.
Playing games has become the No. 1 activity on mobile phones (70%), even over social media (55%) and texting (46%), according to Mobivity.
In the United States, 45% of mobile gamers are 18-34 years old, and the average time spent on mobile gaming is 40 minutes a day, according to Zorka Agency and LimeLight Networks.
Gamification drives app frequency, and real-time rewards is what consumers are used to, Templeton said. Retailers can reward customers with buy-one, get-one deals, cents off per gallon, free car washes and more.
Retailers have the opportunity to engage consumers with games in multiple ways. One strategy is inserting the brand into an existing game, such as Sheetz’s recent launch of its own map in the Fortnite universe. Retailers can offer another option, their own branded game, such as TXB’s spin to win game. The third option is offering existing games within the convenience retailer’s loyalty app.
Offers can vary depending on what the retailer is aiming to accomplish.
In Cerra’s previous role at Refuel, she ran a deal for a two pack of Newport cigarettes with a 20-cents-per-gallon discount attached and saw a 77% scan rate. After learning that customers wanted cents-per-gallon discounts, Refuel tied it to its game. Customers were redeeming their 20-cents-per-gallon discount from the game, and they were also purchasing more gallons than any other cents-per-gallon discount program.
In addition to cents-per-gallon discounts, Loop offers deals to get more customers to try its food and car wash.
“Whatever your strategy is, you're looking for opportunities to reinforce that, not to create something different or divergent for the consumers, but something that fits within the mechanics and the scheme and the way they think about your brand, whether that's points fuel, food or otherwise,” said Templeton.
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