بازاریابی موبایلی درون فروشگاهی
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Theory and hypotheses development
3. Method
4. Results
5. Discussion
Conflicts of interest
Funding
References
Abstract
This study investigates the effect of gamification on in-store mobile advertisement. More specifically, it investigates the effect of gamification on the inclination to act on offers gained at point of purchase. For this purpose, a field experiment was conducted at a supermarket, where real customers were recruited. Eye tracking, smartphone activity logging and choice were used to investigate the customers’ behaviour. The results reveal that gamification is not always useful for increasing the tendency to act on offers. In fact, engagement in a gamified shopping task is needed; otherwise, the tendency to act on offers might even decrease when gamifying.
Introduction
Surveys have shown that as many as 90 per cent of customers use smartphones while visiting stores (SeessionM, 2015). This ubiquity of Internet-connected mobile devices is an important facilitator for the transformation of retailing due to digitalisation (Hagberg et al., 2016), and their constant companionship with their owners make them a fitting supplementary channel for physical retailers (Shankar et al., 2010). These devices open up new possibilities for these retailers to integrate online and physical store offerings, thus creating competitive advantages through multichannel or omnichannel customer experiences (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Verhoef et al., 2015). In fact, such devices have the potential to change the retailing paradigm from one based on customers who enter the retailing environment to one in which retailers enter the customers’ environment anytime and anywhere (Shankar et al., 2010). To do this, the location sensitivity of smartphones can be used to develop location-based services that provide functions based on where the service is engaged (Shankar and Balasubramanian, 2009; Wilson, 2012). Such functions enable retailers to use smartphones as a means to enter the customers’ environment in stores at the point of purchase for marketing purposes. Another recent development that has taken advantage of the widespread presence of mobile phones is gamification. Using a gamified service triggers psychological outcomes – that is, gameful experiences – that motivate specific behavioural outcomes (Huotari and Hamari, 2017). From a marketing perspective, such outcomes might include attitude, purchase/repurchase, retention and engagement (Hofacker et al., 2016). With these kinds of outcomes, it is unsurprising that gamification has attracted the attention of retailers. For example, one survey found that 87 per cent of the responding retailers expected to have integrated gamification features into their loyalty programmes by 2020 (Boston Retail Partners, 2015).