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Turn Pokémon Trainers into Customers

qualicominnovations
Jul 14, 2016
2 min read

Do you remember when you were a kid and the only entertaining thing to watch on TV was Tom & Jerry, or Barney, or Teletubbies, or Pokémon? Hands up if you used to trade Pokémon cards. That was my jam. But then we all grew up and instead, moved on to Netflix and our iPhones. However, there's a new comeback from the Nintendo-owned franchise, Pokémon. Niantic recently released a new mobile app called Pokémon Go, where users (or trainers as they liked to be called) can catch and train Pokémon and even join a team and battle with others to level up. Pokémon Go uses your phone's GPS to detect where you are and uses your camera to make Pokémon appear around you (technically it's only on your phone screen). As Vox puts it, "The idea is to encourage you to travel around the real world to catch Pokémon in the game."

This augmented reality has its ups and downs, but more importantly, retailers have recently reported an increase in sales through this game. How? Businesses are utilizing the "Lure" module that comes with Pokémon Go to make rare Pokémon appear in their retail stores or restaurants. This attracts trainers to come into their stores to catch Pokémon. According to the New York Post, a known pizza joint recently saw sales rocket up to 75% after the store's manager spent $10 on luring Pokémon to his store.

But it isn't just L’inizio Pizza Bar that's manipulating this game to attract customers, many other retailers are doing the same thing with some even giving out discounts for playing!

It's crazy to realize the power mobile apps can have on the business world. And who would've ever thought you could use Pokémon to attract customers? It reminds us that anything from the past can return, whether good or bad, and those who are able to adapt to the new and innovative changes have the greatest potential to succeed in the future. These stores realized the power of this one game and used it to their advantage. Now they're watching sales grow - a valuable lesson learnt. So is business not as busy as it could be? Get your phones out, download Pokémon Go and start your Luring! There are hundreds of trainers out their hungry after a long day of catching Pokémon. Thi