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Convenience Store Apps Boost Engagement with Mobile Games and Gamification Strategies

Gamification

Business Honor
03 March, 2025

Gamification increases customer engagement, with retailers rewarding app users through mobile game interactions.

During a session at CSP's Convenience Retailing University, Mike Templeton, vice president of digital strategy at NexChapter, a consulting firm for convenience-store retailers, stated that consumers of convenience stores already play mobile games in formats like puzzles, social media games, card games, casino games, board games, and more.

Pir, president of retail at Loop Neighborhood Market in Fremont, California, however, witnessed the effects after launching a trial game in collaboration with Mobivity, a Chandler, Arizona-based business that links mobile game and app marketers at eateries and convenience stores.

However, after introducing a trial game in partnership with Mobivity, a Chandler, Arizona-based company that connects mobile game and app marketers at restaurants and convenience stores, Pir saw the results.

38% of Loop app users play the game, according to Pir, and they do it 3.9 times a day. Furthermore, according to him, 84% of Loop's staff members had downloaded the chain's app and played the game within the previous 30 days. Employees that participate in the games are more prepared and inclined to discuss it with clients, demonstrate its operation, and act as advocates.

The gamification of Chestnut's loyalty program began when Abigail Cerra, manager of marketing, loyalty, and communications at Chestnut Market in New Paltz, New York, became personally interested in mobile games during COVID.

According to Templeton, gamification increases the frequency of apps, and users are accustomed to receiving prizes in real time. Customers can be rewarded by retailers with free car washes, cents off per gallon, buy one, get one promotions, and more. Retailers can use games to interact with customers in a variety of ways. As seen by Sheetz's recent release of its own map in the Fortnite realm, one tactic is integrating the brand into an already existing game.