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Pick n Pay app finds success in Europe

Kgaogelo Letsebe
By Kgaogelo Letsebe, Portals journalist
Johannesburg, 03 Aug 2017
Sea Monster's Super Animals mobile gaming app has successfully entered the European market.
Sea Monster's Super Animals mobile gaming app has successfully entered the European market.

Locally developed mobile gaming application, Super Animals, has successfully entered the European retail market.

Super Animals is the brainchild of Cape Town-based start-up Sea Monster. The app was initially created for local retailer Pick n Pay and has now been commissioned by Brand Loyalty, a European company that specialises in customer loyalty and rewards, to recreate the app for retailers in Spain, Poland and Portugal.

Sea Monster MD Glenn Gillis says the app has received an overwhelming international response. "Brand Loyalty, recognising the success the mobile app brought to the campaign in the South African market, requested that it be adapted for its European retail clients in Poland, Portugal and Spain.

"We have to give Pick n Pay credit for creating the opportunity for us to [address] their needs. That helped to lay the ground for the app to launch in Europe."

Super Animals was first launched in SA in 2016 and was relaunched in April this year. It has been downloaded over 314 590 times, with an average session duration of 08:43 minutes and a returning user rate of 86.5%.

The app has so far been downloaded over 950 000 times in Poland, 8 800 in Spain and just under 325 000 in Portugal.

A recent study by research company Clutch, which surveyed 505 US e-commerce app users, revealed that 54% said they would use augmented reality (AR) features and that discounts, loyalty rewards and personalisation are some of the features they increasingly want from retail apps.

Gillis notes the app has been created to provide more content around the retailer's collectible cards, encouraging consumers to head back to the store to complete the 108-card pack.

"With the app, users can scan their cards and load them into their collection on the application, where they can keep track of their cards in different categories. Every card in the app is accompanied by more interesting trivia on the animal. By tapping on a card in the app, users can listen to the sound of that animal. Five special collectible cards would reveal animated 3D animals if scanned using the AR capability of the app."

For the European retailers, Sea Monster had to adapt the app for the specific countries. "We first had to change the language, add animals that are specific to the region, as well as recreate the animation content. The app is currently being used by Pingo Doce in Portugal, Condis in Spain and Biedronka in Poland," says Gillis.

"For me, the biggest or most important trend in AR is that it is beginning to be considered as a serious business tool. Companies are finally starting to realise this technology needs to be front and centre of their business and marketing outputs."

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