IS A ‘POKEMON GO’ GYM OR POKE STOP AT YOUR FAVORITE RETAILER?

As you look around your local restaurants, convenience stores and retailers, do you see people hard focused on their phones, and looking for something at that establishment you cannot see? Most likely these are users of the new, very popular, Pokemon Go app, getting explorers to go out into the real world with their avatars.

The game is so popular that it has already doubled the engagement of Snapchat and is beating Twitter in its percentage of daily active users. People are spending hours at a time traveling around looking for Pokemon.

Since the game maps out locations where players can find Pokemon, gather rewards at Poke Stops and battle each other at Gyms, retailers can take advantage of this major bump in foot traffic and convert gamers into shoppers. Retailers can pull up the map and find the Pokemon location closest to them. Smaller retailers can purchase “lures” on the app to increase the number of Pokemon that are virtually around their physical location. Larger retailers can determine if a Gym is nearby, and advertise incentives or give away Pokemon badges with their custom logo or business name.

While the game is not promoting specific retail sales, retailers should take advantage of the relevant, social aspect of the game to draw in traffic. The game’s developer is overwhelmed by requests from businesses who want to be included in the game – and will be announcing soon sponsored locations opportunities. Reports are out that Pokemon are hanging out in top retail brand stores including Macy’s, American Apparel, Sephora and H&M and lots of malls.

Source: Forbes, Retail Customer Experience, NCS