NEW YORK — A GameStop executive at the sixth annual Mobile Marketing Day conference said the brand’s ability to leverage customer data from its PowerUp Rewards program was instrumental in its crafting of a mobile strategy that has maximized engagement, revenue and increased loyalty.

During the session on “GameStop’s PowerUp Rewards Loyalty Program: the Real Driver Behind a Mobile Channel Strategy,“ the executive spoke about how by offering customers choice and convenience when it comes to shopping across multiple retail channels the brand was able to turn its loyalty program into a huge success with more than 40 million members nationwide and globally.

“Our loyalty programs have given us access to the wealth of information about our customers so that instead of guessing about where they’re going and what they want, we can simply ask them and deliver the services and experiences they are looking for from GameStop,” said Jason Allen, vice president of multichannel with GameStop, Grapevine, TX.

Mobile Marketing Day is a Mobile Marketer event jointly hosted with the Direct Marketing Association.

Shopper behavior
GameStop uses its storehouse of data on shopper behavior plus shopper feedback to prioritize services and initiatives to deliver a better customer experience.

GameStop app, updated for winter holiday season.

Although the company had no one working full-time on or thinking about mobile, it discovered that more than 40 percent of its customers were engaged heavily in the mobile space.  Less than 5 percent of customers visiting from a phone were purchasing from a mobile device, Mr. Allen told the conference.

Between 40 and 65 percent of customers were using mobile for product research. Between 40 and 65 percent were using to search for store information while 10 percent to 20 percent were using it to find stores and products. Ten to 20 percent were using mobile to shop from an online catalog.

GameStop said customer data and analytics, organizational acceptance and alignment and delivering growth and value helped it transition to a multichannel focused business model.

Reflecting the effectiveness of its strategy which tries to balance customer and business/organizational needs, the loyalty program has more than 40 million members who account for 71 percent of GameStop’s business.

The video game retailer, which has 6,600 stores, more than 40,000 employees and 2013 revenue of $8.8 billion, realized it had to broaden its thinking from an organizational standpoint.

“Mobile is just one channel that we can leverage,” he said. “Just like stores are another channel.”

That said, for every $1 of direct sales online, GameStop’s mobile channels are influencing 10 times that amount in the brand’s stores.

GameStop is hoping to entice more consumers to download the app with the opportunity to win a vast amount of rewards points. Only users who have PowerUp Rewards accounts may enter.

Customers can use the rewards points to purchase digital and physical merchandise from the brand’s catalog in the app or on its Web site. Points can also be redeemed for discounts and coupons.

PowerUp offers weekly coupons on its mobile and Web sites, along with “steal of the week” items. The app has quick access to PowerUp accounts.

The 6^th Annual Mobile Marketing Day was co-hosted by Direct Marketing Association and Mobile Marketer. This year’s agenda included strategic, tactical and execution advice from mobile experts spanning organizations such as CBS Interactive, eBay Enterprises and AutoTrader.com.

In-store transactions are a robust part of GameStop’s business with 26 percent of non-buying online visitors buying in-store within 48 hours.

Finicky space
“Mobile is a finicky space right now,” Mr. Allen said. “There’s a ton of technology out there. There’s a ton of activity.

Jason Allen at Mobile Marketing Day.

“Start with the base – what your customers want,” he said.

“You have to understand your customers and you have to be willing to be OK with the fact you don’t understand them as well as you think you do.”

Final Take
Michael Barris is staff reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York