Adding a layer of gamification to retail loyalty programmes, Gamifiera raises $1.3 million

Sweden's Gamifiera has raised $1.3 million in seed funding and aims to shift the traditional bribery-based customer loyalty programme to a gamified social community model. The capital is slated to drive an aggressive recruitment campaign and expansion into markets beyond the Nordics.

Founded by former executives from Swedish electronics retailer Webhallen, who, presumably have seen their fair share of loyalty programmes and their associated methods come and go, Gamifiera wants to move the needle on the retailer-consumer relationship.

“In the past 20 years, nearly everything about ‘online’ has changed except how retailers fundamentally approach loyalty. It’s all transactional. Spend is either awarded with or catalyzed by discount. That’s not loyalty, it’s more like buying friends,” explains co-founder and CEO Wilhelm Sporrong. “Meanwhile, social networks and gaming platforms have grown huge, passionate, dedicated communities without giving them a cent. They succeed because people come back for connection, emotional satisfaction and some ego gratification. This is exactly the relationship retailers should aspire to.”

Tapping into the proven research that 97% of consumers want to read other customer reviews, Gamifiera’s offer provides retailers with a platform whereby brands' biggest ambassadors are rewarded based on the content they contribute, and not solely the amount they spend.

Gamifiera’s seed round was funded by investors including Quiq Holding and Wellstreet.

“Loyalty programs have been yielding disappointing results for decades. Gamifiera’s founders know what’s wrong and they’ve built a platform to fix it. As a SaaS solution, it’s even easy for retailers to leverage on top of existing programs, not instead of, so there’s nothing to lose,” adds Quiq Holding’s Daniel Johnsson. “Win share of heart, grow share of wallet and boost SEO at the same time. It’s an easy choice.”