8CIOReview | | SEPTEMBER 2021IN MY OPINIONWHY GAMIFICATION FOR RETAIL IS A POWERFUL TOOL FOR CONNECTING WITH MILLENNIALSBy Anand Shaw, Co-Founder, Inventrik Pte LtdIn the age of smart-phones, social media and connected devices; keeping millennials engaged has become more difficult than ever before, especially for retailers. Our increasingly digitalized lifestyle means that we have more information available to us than ever before, with more ways than ever to access it. According to a study by Microsoft Corp., the average human attention span is only 8 seconds, and it isn't increasing anytime soon. So as our attention span decreases to that of a goldfish, how can retailers get cut-through to keep millennials engaged and build customer loyalty? Enter gamification for retail.What is gamification?Gamification is the use of game elements within a non-gaming environment to influence behaviour and increase engagement. Let me be clear on what a "non-gaming environment" means. Playing candy crush on your phone is NOT gamification, that's simply you playing a game. It's only classified as gamification when used OUTSIDE a gaming environment. For example, online retailer Sephora uses a points based loyalty system to reward customers for repeated purchases. Sephora offers customers more points for each purchase, enabling consumers to reach higher levels and receive more perks. This is a great example of using the engaging traits of games outside of a traditional gaming environment to connect with consumers.Why gamification is so effective in retail.Gamification has been shown to be most successful in highly competitive industries where organisations need to differentiate themselves. Retail is a good example where competition is fierce, cut-through is difficult and anything that can be used to stimulate consumer behaviour should be welcomed with open Anand Shaw
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