Coop is Denmark’s largest consumer goods retailer. As a true co-operative, the company’s aim is to create value for its 1.8 million members. But the market is crowded, and no retail brand is immune to the efforts of competitors vying for customer attention. In fact, research shows that 83% of shoppers visit between four and nine grocery chains a year. Against this backdrop, Coop was looking for effective ways to engage, activate and delight its customer base, to strengthen customer loyalty and boost wallet share. 

Services used

• Playable gamification platform
• App integration for game campaigns

The process

Like many brands, Coop used its app to interact with its customers. However, the retailer was keen to strengthen those relationships even further: to create memorable experiences with the power to engage, as well as offering added value. 

Coop’s plan was to execute two game campaigns a week, to be accessed via the app. In terms of production volume and roll-out, this was certainly an ambitious target. It was also vital that these campaigns were technically solid: with hundreds of thousands of daily visitors, the company couldn’t afford to compromise on app performance. 

Coop chose Playable to help deliver its goals. With pre-built game concepts, customized templates and a super-easy editor tool, the gamification platform contained precisely what Coop needed to manage its campaign production burden. Even for a campaign schedule as demanding as Coop’s, Playable enables everything to be done in-house and on-track.

Coop used Playable’s integration to seamlessly embed campaigns into its app. In a single place, customers can now pay for groceries, keep receipts, browse products and also interact with Coop-designed game campaigns.

The results

Coop’s game-based campaigns have helped to re-engage and achieve extra value from existing customer relationships. The strategy has brought lots of new customers on board, too. 

Standout successes include the team’s Advent Calendar campaign for December 2018. That month, 95,000 new users downloaded Coop’s app. A total of 700,000 people engaged with this Christmas-themed offering a total of 3.5 million times. These stats show that the game was a big draw for new and existing shoppers alike. People had multiple goes; all the while engaging with the brand in a fun, positive way. 

Looking across three years’ worth of campaigns, the company’s real-life results are even more impressive. Throughout 2018, people played games in their Coop app 10 million times and in 2020 that number reached almost 25 million. One of the retailer’s core aims is to drive footfall into stores, and in fact, driven in large part by targeted game campaigns, 1.1 million samples were picked up in-store in 2020. It’s a prime example of how retailers can use gamification to trigger specific behavior. 

The game module is now the second most used feature in the Coop app, with almost 13 million minutes spent on the various games. The high level of engagement has helped Coop increase customer loyalty, footfall and spending.

Thanks to Playable’s platform, Coop’s ambitious two-games-per-week target became a reality. It meant that the company had plenty of scope to play around with new ideas and roll them out. This has included tie-ins with FMCG brands to highlight their products: a further rich seam of game ideas to keep customers engaged, as well as an opportunity to strengthen relationships with commercial partners. 

The ability to execute regular and frequent games enables the company to deliver a consistent brand experience. The app has established itself as the go-to hub for all things Coop: and for customers, this also means a steady stream of fresh, rewarding games and chances to win. Coop nudges its customers through push notifications, and those customers can rely on the fact that they’re being pointed towards something worthy of their attention.