The Gamification of Shopping

Consider this story from the past holiday shopping season: A boutique on the quaint main street of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. opened at 6 a.m. on Black Friday, offering 50 percent discounts to the people already huddled in line outside its doors. At 7 a.m. the discounts dropped to 40 percent, and by 8 a.m. they were down to 30 percent. Sound like a game? The well-informed early bird gets the cheapest, juiciest worm. Elsewhere, bigger brands had special Black Friday offers that could only be accessed and activated on mobile devices. Without your smartphone, it would have been like trying to play a video game without the controller.