The company has debuted its Shoe Paradise mobile game that lets consumers interact with the company while they are shopping in-store. The effort was developed by Dynamo.

“This in-store game was created to fulfill two goals,” said Alex Nemeroff, interactive director at Dynamo, Quebec, Canada.

“To extend the Shoe Paradise microsite concept to mobile customers and
introduce an experience tailored to Aldo mobile shoppers as a bit of a test for the brand, building on Aldo’s recently-launched mobile commerce site,” he said.

Game on
Aldo is promoting the new initiative through in-store signage that invites consumers to play the game by going to http://www.aldosp.com on their mobile browser.

From there, consumers can find the special shoes featured in the store – as directed by the app – to earn rewards.

Users must play three levels at three different Aldo stores to enter for a chance to win prizes such as Aldo gear.

By using a mobile game, Aldo is letting consumers not only interact in their stores for a longer period of time, but have fun doing it as well.

Additionally, by offering an incentive, consumers are more inclined to participate.

“Players of the mobile game are targeted in a different way – since the game is meant to be played in stores, the calls to action are found in stores as well,” Mr. Nemeroff said.

“In each participating Aldo store across Canada, USA and the UK there is an easel inviting shoppers to play right then and there, and showing the store’s location code,” he said. “All of the drive-to-site is happening in stores.”

Shoes, shoes, shoes
Aldo has been creating a presence for itself in the mobile space for a while now.

In addition to this new effort, the company also has a mobile-optimized site that lets consumers shop the latest products, browse by categories and find the nearest store.

Having a mobile presence is key to driving revenue and sales.

“Aldo introduced mobile commerce sites in the US and CA in 2011 and in the UK in 2012 – they have been very happy with the results so far but haven’t made much of a foray beyond that yet into mobile marketing,” Mr. Nemeroff said.

“We are using the mobile commerce site and the Shoe Paradise mobile web app to learn more about the mobile habits of customers to then provide them with an app they would enjoy and find useful,” he said.

“The game serves as a great short-term, focused, testing ground and allows Aldo customers to interact in a really fun, platform-appropriate way.”

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York