Business 12th Edition by William Pride,Robert Hughes,Jack Kapoor

Exercise 1

SOCIAL MEDIA EXERCISE
Wholesaling, retailing and physical distribution Gamification is a new trend in social media that essentially uses the ideas and theories behind gaming (rewards, competition, levels and so forth) to engage people online. Fantasy Shopper is a good example of combining the retail experience (in this case fashion retailing) with online games. For example, a luxury handbag by Stella McCartney worth $960 is the prize in a online game to design the best virtual outfit using real items on sale in Matches, a real store. The players of the game choose the winner. Players visit a city (say London, with others to follow) and compete to find bargains and assemble the best outfits using virtual money to spend on goods actually sold in stores. The choices are then published in Facebook newsfeeds and others can vote on these looks. In addition to winning real prizes, players are also rewarded virtually with badges and vouchers to use in real stores. This game is popular with women 20-25 and retailers are excited because it helps them to promote their products and provides instant feedback about what is likely to sell. The real value to retailers is the amount of data generated and passed along by these "social shopping" firms based on the players' behavior. Visit Fantasy Shopper (www.fantasyshopper.com) and take a look about the games available.
1. For what types of retailers are these games most likely to be effective?
2. While the game mentioned above is aimed at women 20-25, what other age and gender segments would be most likely to participate in online games?