Fashion retailers that have developed relationships with mobile games developers are helping to boost downloads of their own apps, a new study suggests.
App Annie’s analysis of fashion apps that include in-app gaming experiences finds that the approach appears to be paying off for retailers.
The mobile data and analytics company monitored downloads of the Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Drest, Polo and Burberry apps and found that their games partnerships may well be driving downloads.
Louis Vuitton, for example, has provided in-game skins for League of Legends since 2019. App Annie suggests that has proved a popular item for gamers and has helped to boost the brand’s visibility within the game. It monitored downloads between January 2020 and March 2021 – covering the duration of the pandemic – and found that the app saw a relatively high level of downloads over that time, compared to the other luxury brands in its study. In August 2020 alone, there were more than 120,000 downloads.
Gucci has an arcade element in its app, which also proved relatively popular during the study period, and more recently Burberry has developed in-game character skin-designs for Honour of Kings through a partnership with TiMi Studios, owned by Tencent.
Other brands are taking alternative routes to raise brand awareness via online gaming. Puma, for example, is working to sponsor e-sports. It is sponsoring teams in North America, Europe and Asia through deals with organisations including Gen.G Esports and Tencent’s King Pro League.
Lexi Sydow, head of marketing insights at App Annie, says: “Gamification within shopping apps will continue to rise as the industry continues to get back to normal and mobile gaming grows in popularity. Gamers downloaded around a billion titles every week in Q1, while total consumer spend on gaming hit $22 billion. With more games being released and brands constantly pivoting to stay relevant, incorporating gaming into their mobile experiences or partnering with popular gaming developers is one way to stand out.”
