TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference
TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference
Workshop B analysed the implications of gamification for the duty free and travel retail industry. It explored how getting people to play and have a fun experience will mean customers are more likely to make purchases and ultimately become loyal customers. Paul Bulencea, Co-Author of Gamification in Tourism and Chief Experience Officer at Dziobak Larp Studios, said that when people are intrinsically motivated to do something, it engages them. Experiences are, he said, what we crave and retailers need to see customers as participants and not consumers.
Lewis Allen

According to Lewis Allen, Director of Environments at Portland Design, consumers live in parallel worlds. There is the physical world, but there is now also the digital world. This means that in an airport, the consumer is only partly there, as their attention is somewhere else in the virtual space. Retailers therefore need to use gamification to attract the consumer’s attention. Consumers are already enjoying gamification as part of their everyday lives, and eBay, for example, is essentially a game for people to win, he suggested.

Gamification is not just fun, its one of the most effective ways to engage customers, agreed Jessica Lau, Travel Retail Area Manager China and Taiwan of Guerlain. Her company’s WeChat gamification campaign behind the KissKiss Matte lipstick line attracted more than 10,000 users in one day. The key to success for luxury brands is, she concluded, to deliver high enjoyment which will mean players will be excited to share their experience.