Google gamifies holiday shopping. Your move.

Author

Ada at Sellify
December 10, 2024

In partnership with

Hey Sellify Rockstar!

Apologies for the delay in this week’s edition, but today’s edition is well worth it!

Here’s what to expect:

  • Google’s holiday gamification attempt

  • How you, too, can use gamification to increase your profit margin

  • Weekly challenge

  • Trending: light therapy wands

When Google speaks, we listen. And when they gamify shopping, we pay even closer attention.

In the build-up to Black Friday, Google launched "Can You Gift It?", a holiday-themed game show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. The series paired Kimmel with celebrity duos competing in lighthearted challenges to find the perfect gift. Google used the short-lived series to draw attention to its holiday shopping insights and search data.

Why does this matter to you? Google knows something important:

Humans have an innate desire for rewards, progress, and competition. Google taps into this desire to command our attention for longer while “training” us to engage with its Shopping platform.

Now, forget Google for a minute. How can we merchants do the same - command our customers’ attention and “train” them to buy more from us?

Growth Hack: Gamify Your Way to Higher Revenue

Think about it - as a customer, which would you rather respond to?

“Gimme your email address”

or

“Wear it or Tear it? Enter your email address to find your perfect fit”

“Gamification” might sound like something for video games, but in eCommerce? It adds a layer of “fun” to your checkouts, loyalty programs, promotions…. basically any aspect you want your customers to pay attention to.

It helps you earn more sales by creating small, fun, addictive wins for your customers while keeping them close and their wallets open :-).

Here are a few of our favorite gamification strategies:

Loyalty Programs

Lola’s Lashes, a UK-based beauty store, attracts new customers organically, then retains them with a gamified loyalty program

AOV

You can create simple games using this free, addictive Shopify app to tempt customers to share their email addresses in exchange for discounts. It’s a perfect way to naturally gather emails—while keeping customers happy.

Weekly Challenge: Use gamification to collect marketing emails

Now, it’s time to act.

Use Adoric to add a simple game to your store. Set it up, watch the engagement roll in, and create an email flow using your collected emails.

If you’ve been paying attention to beauty trends, you notice that light therapy wands are exploding. One startup leading this wave is making $5K/day on Amazon with its LED-powered skin-enhancing devices.

Here’s why they’re trending:

  • Science-backed benefits: Light therapy is proven to stimulate collagen, reduce inflammation, and promote skin renewal.

  • A growing beauty market: Searches for “light therapy wand” have surged 6,400% over the last 5 years.

  • Influencer-backed hype: From TikTok tutorials to celebrity skincare routines, these wands are getting prime visibility.

How You Can Capitalize:

  • Source light therapy wands or complementary products like LED face masks and stock them in local US-based 3PLs close to customer interest.

  • Highlight before-and-after results or user-generated content to build trust.

  • Position your product as an affordable alternative to high-end dermatology treatments.

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Final Thoughts:

What’s your move this week? Start gamifying, source trending products, and help your customers win this holiday season.

Let’s keep growing,
Ada
Your Weekly Ecommerce Growth Guide

P.S. Got a success story? Reply to this email and tell me about it—you could be featured in next week’s edition.

P.P.S Watch out for my email tomorrow if you’re looking to connect with journalists for free media coverage of your products.