Bloomingdale’s Takes a Cue From Pokemon Go For Its Swipestakes Event

With Pokemon Go still going strong, it’s not surprising that businesses are looking to borrow pages from its playbook in a bid to capture some of that amazing organic growth for their own operations.

Bloomingdale’s, oddly enough, is no exception, and it’s using Pokemon Go as part of its own event, the Swipestakes.

Instead of having well-heeled, upscale shoppers hunt fictional monsters with superpowers through the store, Bloomingdale’s hid a slate of Snapchat filters throughout various store locations, and had shoppers go hunting through the store in a bid to find them.

It was considered a kind of scavenger hunt, in which shoppers went looking for one thing, and might have spotted a few things they wanted to take home with them.

Essentially, as described by Bloomingdale’s operating vice president of social media Jonathan Paul, the program effectively turned Snapchat filters into the basis for a game, which allowed the store to better connect with its shoppers and hopefully build a better customer experience for the brand.

That’s not a bad idea as it sits, and it can go farther. Consider the value of using these beacons and filters as the means to trace down a massively marked-down item.

It takes the concept of a loss-leader one step farther; yes, there’s not much profit made on this item, but it gets foot traffic through the store, it gets shoppers seeing what all’s on hand, and by extension, it develops interest in making purchases.

Pokemon Go has taught us that, for the right inducement, potential shoppers will leave their houses and go shopping. The right inducements include fun, excitement, the thrill of the hunt, and the ability to find things that can’t be had online.

By using gamification tactics-the practice of turning common activities into games-those fun and excitement elements can be brought forward, getting users into the store.

From there, if the values are good, shopping may take place, and that leaves businesses better off.

It’s not a foolproof plan, but using gaming elements to draw users into a store and get them shopping can be just the ticket to recovering from the drubbing brick-and-mortar stores have been taking from online shopping for years.

Throw in new developments in mobile payment systems like built-in loyalty program support and maybe the regular store isn’t so dead after all.