Keywords

1 Introduction

Customer experience – strategic focus of many modern companies – continues to evolve as consumers rely on their social connections, online recommendation engines, and other enabling technologies to drive their purchasing decisions. Consumers seek utilitarian and hedonic benefits as well as experiential value in online shopping. Companies want to find ways to provide consumers with enjoyment and positive feelings, and seek to ensure a unique e-commerce experience in order to achieve a competitive advantage. Online experience comprises online functionality, information, emotions, cues, stimuli and products or services [3]. As in many other technological trends (e.g., multi device usage) online communities, social commerce, and online social interaction are becoming increasingly relevant in online shopping. Gamification, although not an entirely new concept, has experienced significant growth in popularity in recent years. In academia, gamification is commonly defined as the adoption of game technology, game design methods and game elements outside the games industry. Gamified systems are game-like and draw inspiration from games, but are not games per se [4]. Since gamification makes shopping more attractive and can change human behavior by increasing motivation, engagement and loyalty, retailers have begun to enhance the online customer experience by implementing game elements and mechanics in online shopping with the aim of increasing customer engagement on their sites [13].

This paper is divided into four sections. The first section introduces the background of the given topic by providing important related work, the methodology and a broader explanation of Octalysis framework. The second section includes the conducted survey and its outcomes, followed by the third section, which analyzes the final results more in depth. Lastly, the fourth section outlines the conclusion of this research and suggests potential future research.

1.1 Related Work

The usage of e-commerce platforms positively influences on user’s feeling of excitement, and websites should be fun to use to increase the perceived enjoyment of the client [1]. Online customer experience has become an important success factor in retailing [13], and it manifests as an internal and subjective response of the customer to the e-tailer’s website [1]. According to Oliver [16], satisfaction refers to a consumer’s psychological state while evaluating the surprise during product acquisition or consumption. Gamification in online retail can help to increase consumer engagement and constitutes a conscious reposition of the shopping experience as a form of entertainment [13]. Many online consumers shop for fun because of experiential shopping motives such as experiential behavior and experiential outcome [25]. They are fun seekers and represent an important customer segment, since they tend to be more impulsive and generate higher sales.

Gamification can produce engaging customer experiences by improving the way customers interact with a company or its brand [18]. Understanding how customer engagement in the online shopping process can be improved is therefore a significant factor in creating a successful digital strategy [13]. The authors of [13] proposed implementing the following retail strategies to maximize the benefits of gamification: Gamification should be (a) optional, (b) used to reduce forms of undesirable consumer behavior and to manage price-comparison behavior, and (c) a source of data to generate insights.

Gamification is defined as the application and integration of game design principles and characteristic game mechanics to change behavior in non-gaming concepts. It is a tool that, if designed and implemented in the right manner, can increase engagement (e.g., [4, 5, 18]).

On the one hand, multidisciplinary efforts to investigate gamification effects on Human Computer Interaction (HCI) are at an early stage, but on the other hand gamification is considered to be an emerging approach to encouraging user engagement, motivation and enjoyment in a non-gaming but technology-mediated environment [22]. Success in gamification is driven by adequate configuration of gamification dynamics, mechanisms and emotions depending on specific player types [18].

We identified the Octalysis framework (see Sect. 1.3) as the most appropriate gamification framework to be applied in our research. It has previously been employed in research in a variety of contexts. Doumanis and Smith [5] used Octalysis as a module of their framework for evaluating gamified mobile applications. Sanchez-Gordon et al. [19] mapped the Octalysis framework using the ISO 10018 standard and described to which extent the core drives of the Octalysis framework are embedded in this ISO standard. Ewais and Alluhaidan [9] employed the Octalysis framework to explore how gamification is being used in mHealth apps. They investigated the twelve highest rated stress management applications and presented an evaluation based on the Octalysis framework. Economou et al. [6] used the framework to evaluate the effectiveness of serious game platform tools in supporting the creation of motivating and engaging educational simulations.

1.2 Methodology

The survey presented here was conducted from October to December 2016 and followed a qualitative approach in order to evaluate which core drives of the Octalysis framework are prevalent in e-commerce companies of different industries in the European market. This survey had been conducted in several phases. Firstly, researches were searching for potential literature sources in order to identify the most appropriate gamification framework for this type of research. Concerning the industry choice,

Eurostat [8] presented a statistical report that listed the most popular e-commerce industries in the EU in 2016: 61% of all e-buyers bought an item from the category apparel and sporting goods, 52% from travel and holiday accommodation, 44% from household goods and toys, 38% bought tickets for events, 33% purchased books, magazines and newspapers. Within each industry, our analysis includes some of the largest enterprises within the European market, (according to turnover), and selected examples of innovative, technology-driven companies that are gaining in importance. A recent study published by the European Parliament estimated that the collaborative economy has the potential to generate revenues of €575 billion across the EU [10].

1.3 Octalysis

According to Yu-kai Chou [2], pioneer and international keynote speaker on gamification and behavioral design, every successful game appeals to certain core drives and motivates people to make decisions and pursue certain activities. He suggests that the term gamification as adopted by the industry be replaced with “human-focus-design” - a process by which human motivation, and not pure efficiency, shapes the design of the system.

Different types of game motivate differently, for instance through inspiration and empowerment or manipulation and obsession. Based on an octagon (see Fig. 1), Octalysis suggests 8 core drives behind every motivation and desired action such that if no core drive is affected, no behavior is provoked and motivation is zero. Note that a hidden, ninth core drive - Sensation - is not placed in the octagon, because, unlike the other eight core drives, it deals with physical feelings.

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Octalysis framework based on [2]

We also adopted Chou’s general definition of gamification being a combination of game design, game dynamics, motivational psychology, behavioral economics, user experience/user interface, neurobiology, technology platforms and business systems that drive an ROI (Return of Investment). Octalysis defines the following eight core drives [2]:

  1. 1.

    Epic Meaning and Calling motivates player by invoking a feeling of doing something on a grand scale, and so s/he devotes a lot of his/her time to creating, maintaining, helping and contributing to project.

  2. 2.

    Development and Accomplishment focuses on internal drive and motivation to achieve mastery by making progress, developing various skills and overcoming challenges and involves PBLs (points, badges, leaderboards).

  3. 3.

    Empowerment of Creativity and Feedback harnesses users’ interest in the process of creating new things and trying different methods and combinations. Players are not only enabled to express their creativity, but also to see the results of their work in form of the feedback. This is the core drive where the brain simply entertains itself.

  4. 4.

    Ownership and Possession motivates users by giving control or ownership of something. Owning and possessing an item motivates consumers to protect or improve it or to collect more.

  5. 5.

    Social Influence and Relatedness activities motivate through the influence of others, for instance, by mentorship, social acceptance, competition or envy, companionship and social feedback.

  6. 6.

    Scarcity and Impatience involves a commodity that is not immediately or easily obtainable, which increases its desirability.

  7. 7.

    Unpredictability and Curiosity is often erroneously thought to be the drive behind points, badges and leaderboards, but refers to being constantly engaged in order to find out what will happen next.

  8. 8.

    Loss and Avoidance motivates through the desire to avoid negative effects, consequences or other negative situations.

All core drives, depending on the nature of their motivation, can be viewed either as intrinsic or extrinsic motivators. Extrinsic motivators focus on logic and analytical skills and are shown on the left side of the octagon, while the right side focuses on intrinsic motivators, namely on creativity, self-expression and social dynamics. Self-determination theory distinguishes between two fundamental types of motivation: intrinsic motivation which refers to doing something because it is inherently interesting and enjoyable, and extrinsic motivation, which is doing something in order to achieve a certain outcome [17]. These two types are classified as “Left Brain core drives” and “Right Brain core drives” but the distinction is symbolic and not neurological. This framework further distinguishes between positive (top of the octagon) and negative motivators (bottom of the octagon), which it calls “White Hat” and “Black Hat” gamification, respectively (though the latter is not considered as negative as the name might imply).

2 Survey

This section details the results of our survey, structured according to the industries described in this section. For each industry, we discuss common elements and present company’s unique features. Summaries are shown in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively.

2.1 Apparel and Sporting Goods

Fashion is a global business that pushes cultural and social boundaries. Today’s growth of the “new economy” affects the structure of the fashion business. This is a fast moving industry where most brands now interact with consumers through their own branded online stores and multi-brand e-tailers. Digital technology gives consumers access to an unprecedented amount of product information. We found that fashion retailers use similar core drives to motivate and engage consumers. Zalando Footnote 1, for example, has established different channels for different types of customers – Zalando Shop, Zalando Lounge and Zalon – which are particularly good examples of Empowerment and Scarcity. These channels not only let people discover and develop their own styles by connecting them with experienced fashion professionals who choose items from across the range to create individualized styles for everyday or special occasions they also attract customers with exclusive daily offers to which only members have access.

The same elements were found for Asos Footnote 2, a British retailer that regularly “gamifies” online shopping [13] via fashion bingo, matching celebrities with clothing, and Pinterest competitions to win prizes, which corresponds to both Accomplishment and Empowerment. Aiming to promote positive body images, Asos invites all customers to post images of themselves wearing their purchases under the hashtag #AsSeenOnMe. Using style advice blogs, recommendations, reviews and outfit building, this company encourages its customers to share links to clothes on social media, which falls within the Social Influence and Relatedness core drive. Asos’ “Earn While You Shop”, three-level reward list available to UK customers only is an example of Unpredictability and Curiosity, while Zalando customers earn e-points, which they can exchange for rewards (available just in United Kingdom and Ireland).

In the cases of single-brand retailers H&M Footnote 3 and Marks & Spencer Footnote 4, Social Influence dominates. Aside from offering the Dressing Room application on their official H&M website, where customer can easily select fashion pieces, choose a virtual model and try on the complete outfit before deciding what to buy, H&M also gamifies in other ways: Recall, for example, their well-known campaign featuring David Beckham statues erected in several cities in the USA in which people were able to win prizes by photographing themselves with the statue and sharing them on Instagram. This campaign involved several embedded core drives, such as Accomplishment, Empowerment and Unpredictability. Similar to H&M Dressing Room, Marks & Spencer also has clever tools for making online purchase more interesting: Shapewear Finder, Style Advisor and “Cook with M&S” app. Zara Footnote 5, the best known brand in the Spanish Inditex group, does not feature strong game elements but makes cautious use of the Social Influence core drive.

2.2 Travel and Holiday Accommodation

The Internet has become a major distribution channel for the hotel industry. Travelers embrace the Internet as their primary means of locating and booking accommodation, making other travel arrangements and learning about making smart online decisions for the best rate possible. Recommender systems are commonly defined as applications which e-commerce sites increasingly exploit to suggest products and provide consumers with information that facilitates their decision-making processes (e.g., [20, 21]). New forms of sharing have reached critical mass in recent years, creating new ways of providing goods and services, and opportunities for “connected consumption” and “collaborative consumption” [14].

TripAdvisor Footnote 6 is an interactive forum with various game mechanics that motivate travelers to upload reviews and collect not only points and badge, but also votes and compliments from other users who found their reviews useful. This company awards active travelers and businesses with various badges, thereby exploiting the Development and Accomplishment core drive. Further, the Facebook social graph enables users to filter for and read Trip Advisor content created by their Facebook friends only [23]; this functionality is a good example of employing Social Influence and Relatedness. The same core drives are exploited in the case of Booking.com Footnote 7, where star ratings in combination with reviews can bring a Guest Review award for eligible partners. Inviting customers to submit their favorite summer photos and turning them into animated GIFs was a contest that invoked motivators within the Empowerment and Creativity drives. Prominently displayed “Last chance options” and “time remaining” for bookings motivate travelers through Scarcity to make a purchase and not miss the last chance or best offer.

In the case of Airbnb Footnote 8, each accommodation is unique, which can be interpreted as an example of exclusivity. This company has gained popularity among researchers and practitioners in recent years, especially viewed through the lens of disruptive innovation theory, sharing economy, and its great impact on the hotel industry (e.g.,[11, 26]). It motivates users not only by offering Super-Host badges, travel coupons, priority support and product exclusiveness but also with two-sided reviews as a significant drive for consumer behavior. When users are unsure about the trustworthiness of a provider, they can ask other users for recommendations, which builds trust and reputation among users – an important factor in peer-to-peer systems. Even the presence of the provider’s photo has an impact on the decision-making of potential guests [7]. For Airbnb, Uber Footnote 9 and BlaBlaCar Footnote 10 building trust is important to success since they do not serve one base of customers alone, but connect buyers and sellers or service providers and customers while ensuring that users have a positive experience. This excellent example of employing Epic Meaning & Calling can be observed in the Airbnb Community Centre, which connects different hosts and inspires people to act, enabling them to help each other, share experiences, ask for advice and above all, feel great while doing this.

BlaBlaCar encourages trust-building in its online community by awarding Superhero badges to users who complete their BlaBlaCar profiles, increase their experience levels and leave ratings. In addition to Social Influence and Relatedness, this community also harnesses the Epic Meaning and Calling core drive, as each community member can be “superhero” of trust and contribute not only to company growth and reputation, but, above all, to trust among peers. Every member in the community has an experience level that evolves with time and increasing activity, depending on certain rules. Uber offers different services for different user groups, and has a reward program for active and high-performing drivers: This includes Power Driver Plus awards, congratulations on reaching a specific number of journey or covering specific distances, Six-Star Award contest, in which both drivers and passengers who leave ratings can win.

2.3 Household Items and Toys

Buying furniture involves a complex decision-making process with multiple constraints such as budget, available space and time disposal of currently usable items and fit to existing furniture and lifestyle. The ability for customers to test the physical comfort of an item is essential.

Independent of selling to consumers directly, company websites need to provide information [15]. Ikea Footnote 11 has an online showroom that combines music, photography and creativity, and applications such as the Ikea Home Planner let shoppers position virtual Ikea furniture in their homes, so they can see how it looks and fits in the space they have available. This activity emphasises “Play” and therefore falls within the Empowerment core drive. The community photo-sharing website “Share Space” enables users to upload photos of their living space, find and share inspiration comment, and save the photos they like most. Every week Ikea design experts evaluate the photos based on creative usage of design elements, furniture arrangement, innovative ideas and achieving expensive looks on a small budget to select one room as their “Pick of the Week” which is displayed on the Share Space homepageFootnote 12, and the user receives a “Pick of the Week” badge.

Additionally, users and their rooms can be acknowledged as Space Sharers, Ikea Fans, Ikea Super Fans, Admired Spaces or Exceptional Spaces, respectively, which reflects several core drives at the same time: Accomplishment, Empowerment and Social Influence. Competitions for children that involves designing and creating toys focus on children’s right to play and develop. For every toy, game, book and selected children’s furniture sold, the IKEA Foundation donates $1 to support child development, thereby showing strong Epic Meaning and Calling. The Ikea Family loyalty program, in contrast, is an example of Ownership and Unpredictability, as it offers benefits such as free drinks in the restaurant, an extra 10% off sale prices, free product insurance and chance to win Ikea gift cards.

Danish home retailer Jysk Footnote 13 gives each member resident in Canada a monthly chance to win CDN$500 gift card, thus motivating via Scarcity and Unpredictability. This company offers prizes in a variety of contests relating to member birthdays, review writing and subscribing to a newsletter.

In the case of the UK-based retailer Argos, Scarcity and Impatience are triggered by Argos Clearance, a bargain and sale section of the website, where new and refurbished Argos products are available for a limited time. Likewise, XXXLutz Footnote 14 has exclusive offers time-limited online. This company uses a 5-star scoring system where customers who are XXXL Community members can evaluate products. It also offers online bargain options and a 3D kitchen planner. The red chair is a trademark of this company but also charity organization committed in helping people and organizations lacking food, medicine and education. Though Epic Meaning and Calling drive lies in challenge of believability, furniture seller Otto Group Footnote 15 affirms the correctness of its customers’ choice by reporting regularly on the importance of sustainable forestry and responsible handling of timber for manufacturing, thus incorporating a global mission into their offerings.

2.4 Books, Magazines, Newspapers; Tickets for Events

In our survey, we combined these two industries. Leading French book retailer FNAC Footnote 16 and German book store Thalia Footnote 17 provide their members with advantages and benefits such as special discounts, loyalty bonus, exclusive offers and invitations to cultural events. FNAC offers various themed gift e-cards, for instance, Christmas and Anniversary, and gift e-cards with a range of values. Relay Footnote 18 provides three levels of subscription packages where customer can choose which digital libraries they want to access. Eventim Footnote 19, an event and ticket agent, uses ticket alert options for fans and customers and fun-report-like reviews and a star scoring system. Ticket Alarm enables fans to sign up for updates and news on particular artists or events.

Companies in this category motivate mainly through loyalty programs and special discounts. Similar marketing tools were found for all companies listed in this section, and a deeper evaluation revealed that they most closely relate to Ownership and Social Influence. As only a few gamification elements are used in this category, these companies are shown outside the octagon in Fig. 2 and in a very central place of the radar diagram in Fig. 3, respectively. AmazonFootnote 20 – the best known company in this category – was not taken into consideration, since it has already been described in various publications and also been used as an example to explain several core drives of the Octalysis framework [2].

3 Discussion

This paper has identified motivators for online purchase decisions shared within and between a variety of different industries. There are certain similarities between companies within the same industry, but also across different industries. Strong Epic Meaning & Calling is employed in peer-to-peer companies from the travel and accommodation category. Many good business ideas arise when a personal frustration triggers a problem-solving strategy, as in the cases of Airbnb, Uber and BlablaCar.

These companies make heavy use of “storytelling” by connecting, involving and inspiring users to share their personal experience and make them proud of contributing to the community. The best examples of this are community centers, which provide users with a sense of belonging, personal relatedness, feelings of acceptance, and opportunities to share success stories. Companies from the travel and accommodation category mostly rely on motivators within Epic Meaning and Calling, not just in the sense of belonging but also in the sense of increasing trust between users, and connecting actions with environmental sustainability (e.g., Uber and BlablaCar). The same core drive could be found in companies from household and furniture items category. They underline importance of protecting the nature, giving a special attention to charity or supporting children’s development and learning. Various Scarcity and Impatience motivators – accommodation in high demand, displaying the number of remaining rooms or people who are currently looking at the same accommodation – encourage users to take up certain offers to avoid missing the last chance. In the case of fashion companies, Scarcity and Impatience motivators are also strongly present but combined with Social Influence. People shop, buy and choose brands because of how it makes them feel. In the fashion industry, purchase decisions involve not only the action of buying garments, but also buying a style. Online fashion shopping therefore essentially relies on buying an image based on a photo. For this reason, e-tailers encourage their customers to share photos on social networks to win prizes. In this industry, the most highly developed motivators belong to the Accomplishment, Empowerment and Social Influence core drives.

Fig. 2.
figure 2

Results of the survey

In addition to effective filters that help to narrow down searches, fashion sites employ interactive features and encourage online reviews, as they play an important role in purchasing decisions, (see e.g., [12, 24, 27]). One-sided reviews or two-sided reviews on a scale from 1–5 stars are found for each company in our survey. Of course, companies encourage their customers with a variety of approaches to participate in interactive forums, leave reviews, ask questions or rate products. Companies from the travel and accommodation industry motivate users by giving them the opportunity to win badges, awards or special discounts. Ikea also awards interactive customers on its Share Space platform with “kudos” for achievements; for instance when a room has been saved by 5 or 25 people, users receive the award “Admired Space” and “Exceptional Space”, respectively. Bookstore websites do not apply particularly strong game elements to make purchases more entertaining.

Figure 2 summarizes the results: We conclude that most the commonly used motivators are positive, and that the majority of companies uses techniques that employ intrinsic motivators. Although Social Influence has the power of duality when combined with other motivators from the top of the octagon, this drive constitutes a strong positive force, which can be seen in the fashion and travel and accommodation industries. The dominance of the Right-Brain core drives is evident.

Fig. 3.
figure 3

Classification of industries

In Fig. 3, the surveyed industries and the core drives’ distribution across the industries are graphed. The scale from 0 to 5 represents the level of core drive usage in the each industry, where 0 means not presented at all and 5 means high usage. The diagram shows that Ownership, Scarcity, Unpredictability and Avoidance are not commonly used in marked contrast with the other drives in the octagon. For example, Social Influence is rated with 5 points for both the fashion industry and the travel and accommodation industry, whereas Meaning is very heavily used in the travel and accommodation industry and a point less in the household items and toys industry.

4 Conclusions and Future Work

The objective of this work was to investigate how companies from different retail industries use game elements and techniques to motivate and engage their online customers in online purchase. Octalysis was applied as a framework to evaluate and compare existing motivators in a variety of companies and industries. Various core drives were found in the selected companies which demonstrates that Octalysis framework was an adequate and suitable for this task. With the exception of the industries concerned with books, magazines and newspapers and tickets for events, all companies surveyed make strong use of at least one gamification element, thus triggering at least one core drive. Our analysis included 20 companies from 5 different industries; future research could include a greater sample of industries in order to identify similarities and differences among different industrial sectors. Also, a focus on more companies within just one industry could confirm our preliminary results and bring better understanding of the gamified mechanisms and techniques within that industry. Even though some companies use the same core drives, there is a need to highlight the differences in quality (variety of engaging tools and mechanisms) and the power of these drives. One implication for the industry is thus to acquire a deeper understanding of their customers’ needs in order to implement game elements as effectively as possible while resisting the temptation to implement a game element because it appears fashionable.