How We Gamified EU Food App and Boosted Sales During the Post-Holiday Slump
InAppStory's client, a leading food retail and grocery chain, operates in a highly competitive market where consumer behavior and spending habits dictate business success. During the Christmas holiday season, this chain experiences a significant surge in consumer spending as individuals and families stock up on groceries for holiday celebrations. However, this client noticed a stark contrast in spending patterns immediately following the New Year. As the festivities wind down, consumers typically reduce their spending, leading to a noticeable decline in grocery sales.
To counter the post-holiday slump, a leading European food retail chain launched an in-app gamification campaign using InAppStory. The result: over 2.5 million game sessions, 1 million promo codes distributed, and a major boost in engagement and digital sales during a traditionally low-traffic period. The campaign turned shopping into play, and it worked.
What Specific Challenges Did the Client Face?
Decline in Customer Spending
Each year, after the holiday season ends, the client faces a sharp drop in consumer spending. This period, often called the “January slump”, is driven by a shift in behavior. Shoppers cut back after heavy holiday purchases, choosing to save rather than spend.
This sudden budget tightening leads to a visible decrease in grocery sales. It poses a serious challenge for sustaining revenue during the first months of the year.
Decrease in Store Traffic
The drop in customer spending is accompanied by a corresponding decline in foot traffic within the stores. After the holidays, customers are less inclined to visit and make purchases, leading to fewer transactions. This decrease in foot traffic is particularly challenging for the client, as it directly impacts the daily operational metrics and long-term customer engagement strategies crucial for a retail business.
Inventory Management Issues
The food retail industry is further complicated by the challenges of managing perishable goods. The need for consistent turnover is critical, as unsold inventory can quickly lead to losses. The post-holiday period exacerbates this issue, with the client facing the dual task of not only attracting customers back to the stores but also efficiently managing inventory levels to minimize waste and financial burden.
Why This Was Urgent
These combined challenges threatened not only short-term profits but long-term positioning in a highly competitive market. Solving them required more than a price drop. It called for a new way to activate customers, drive traffic, and maintain product movement — all through a digital-first approach.
The Solution with InAppStory
To address the post-holiday sales slump and reinvigorate customer interest, the client partnered with InAppStory to implement a creative gamification strategy within their shopping app. This approach centered on engaging customers through an interactive game designed to integrate seamlessly with their shopping experience.
The main business goal was to motivate users to make digital orders in food delivery app through distribution of promo codes. For further insights into trends shaping the food industry, explore our Food Tech Industry Insights Report.
Introduction of Gamification
The core of the solution was the development of a simple, yet engaging game within the client's app. The game was designed to be intuitive and easy to play, encouraging widespread participation among users. It's a traditional and popular jumping-type gameplay. Players were tasked with guiding a character through a virtual environment to collect snowflakes, each round offering the potential for rewards.
Distribution of Promo Codes
As users gathered snowflakes, they participated in a truly win-win situation. Each snowflake collected brought them closer to earning valuable promo codes, which could be redeemed for enticing discounts on a wide range of products. These codes included attractive offers on the client's own merchandise as well as exclusive promotions from partner brands. This ingenious mechanic not only incentivized players to continue their engaging gameplay but also encouraged them to make purchases, leading to a remarkable increase in both user retention and sales frequency.
Enhancing Customer Engagement
The game was strategically released during the post-New Year slump, providing a fun and appealing reason for customers to revisit the app. The added element of gamification transformed routine shopping into an exciting and rewarding experience, significantly boosting user engagement. By turning the act of shopping into a game, the client was able to attract customers back to the store, thereby addressing the critical issue of reduced foot traffic and interaction.
This innovative approach effectively leveraged the principles of gamification to address the client's specific challenges, creating a dynamic marketing tool that increased sales and customer engagement during a traditionally slow sales period.
What Made the Strategy Effective?
It created a win-win loop:
- Users played for fun, not obligation
- They earned real rewards
- They had a reason to return daily
The client timed the release perfectly right after the New Year giving customers a low-effort reason to reopen the app.
Conclusion
The implementation of the gamification strategy by InAppStory was a resounding success. Over 400,000 unique users played the game, with the number of gaming sessions exceeding 2.5 million times, and 1 million promo codes were distributed. This information could be presented as an infographic with three metrics in addition to the text. Plus, this could make a great headline: "How we created a game for food retail that was played over 2.5 million times during the slow post-holiday season.
What You Can Learn From The Case
- Use seasonal gamification to drive engagement during post-holiday slumps
- Tie in-app rewards (like promo codes) to gameplay to boost perceived value
- Launch campaigns without dev support using a no-code visual story builder
- Turn routine shopping into a repeatable experience users want to return to
- Use daily interaction mechanics (e.g. collectible items) to increase session frequency
