e-commerce: E-commerce cos add games to increase customer engagement, Technology News, ETtech

Games have become the new buzzwords on popular apps, with ecommerce companies such as Flipkart and Amazon,social media startups like Sharechat, and content aggregators like Dailyhunt introducing game elements, including contests and quizzes, to increase customer engagement.

The idea is to build brand loyalty and serve as a gateway to commerce, especially for first-time internet users from small towns.

High engagement products such as games, local language interface and videos tend to build trust and familiarity with a brand, especially among customers who have recently come online.

This is especially so for users in small towns who find transacting on the web an intimidating experience, companies say.

“Flipkart is primarily a shopping company, but the customers [who hail from smaller towns and cities], access a huge amount of video, gaming…we are therefore building these products for them to engage with us,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Group CEO, Flipkart.

Also Read: Payments & food delivery apps launch games to increase users

The strategy has seemingly worked. Over 2.3 million consumers played games on the Flipkart platform, one day into the company’s flagship Big Billion Day sale on Sunday, the company said.

According to a report by market research firm Kantar, 50% of smartphone users in India play mobile games, spending an hour on average daily.

Affordable smartphones and cheaper data plans in small towns and cities are aiding this process in an audience every consumer technology company is trying to capture, experts say.

Earlier, the internet meant messaging, gaming and video — either on YouTube or other social media — for these users, which are essentially non-transactional. Companies hope that apps inbuilt with games and contests will turn into simple, yet cost-effective ways of acquiring, retaining and encouraging customers to spend more time and money on their platforms.

“Gaming is one of the areas where customers love to engage with us, and then eventually continue to shop with us,” Amit Agarwal, country head, Amazon India told ET.

Amazon has introduced games like spin the wheel, as well as contests, to make customers engage with the platform better.

Apart from loyalty and engagement, these games are one way of rewarding customers, running subscription programmes and providing them with discounts.

Fashion portal Myntra, for instance, runs a free-to-enroll membership programme called Myntra Insider.

It asks customers to browse a line of products, play quizzes, crosswords etc to win points, which can then be used as discounts either on the platform itself or merchants it has tied up with.

“After winning a tournament of some kind, the user can also be given a currency (points), which can be used as a coupon code to avail discounts on products,” said Ashwin Suresh, co-founder, Pocket Aces, which runs a trivia game on local language news aggregator Dailyhunt.

For content companies, games drive viral content, engagement, and cost-effective monetization.

“These companies spend huge marketing dollars on driving retention, a key metric for content startups. Gaming is an effective medium,” said an investor requesting anonymity.

As customers spend more time on an app playing games, apps get to charge more for advertisements.

Advertisements are the next part of the plan, not only for startups like Dailyhunt and Sharechat, but also for established e-commerce companies.

“In the future, Flipkart/Amazon can also use games to earn ad revenue from brands, like, running games on behalf of a phone manufacturer — answer three questions correctly or spin the wheel to win a phone,” said a person familiar with the matter said, requesting anonymity.

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