Gamification has been a popular trend that businesses capitalize on to innovate themselves and engage with consumers. We have seen Foursquare and Badgeville as some good applications of this technique. The Fashion industry is no stranger to gamification. Chictopia and Lookbook have used reward systems to incentivize its users and engage them. Chictopia, for instance has chic points given to the most stylish person. The points can then be exchanged for special goodies. On the other hand, Lookbook.nu has Hype and Karma. The more hype a person receives, the more likely his profile will be featured in the home page. These hypes and karmas also equate to higher rankings and more goodies.

But these gamification techniques have more to them than goodies, hypes and chic points. Gamification drives valuable consumer data. For example, analytics behind these techniques can offer deep insights into purchase behaviour and incentives. This is very useful for marketers to develop exclusive offers, promotional content and strategize brand loyalty.

Key Take-aways:

• Fashion brands, retailers, start ups shouldn’t be afraid to test out gamification techniques.
• They have great potential in the near future
• Start small and progress! Begin with rewarding points and unlocking goodies then maybe start to build on more complex games…