Consumers Earn Virtual Currency By Shopping Online, Publishers Gain New Revenue Channel
‘Shop & Earn’ Gives Users a Safe and Secure Way To Earn Virtual Currency With Retail Purchases
LOS ANGELES – Sometrics (www.Sometrics.com) launched a new in-game Shop & Earn Shopping Feed that enables consumers to earn virtual currency for games when they make online purchases at select brand-name retailers. Shop & Earn helps consumer’s purchases go further while generating revenue for publishers of free-to-play games.
“This is a no-brainer for publishers who want to give their players an easy, safe and secure way to earn virtual currency and deepen their participation in and loyalty to their favorite games”
Much like earning airline miles or cash back when using a credit card, people playing participating games online can use the Sometrics Shop & Earn Shopping Feed to earn virtual currency for use within a participating online game, extending and enhancing their game play. Players looking to earn game currency simply click through the Shopping Feed to get to their favorite participating retailers, purchase products as they normally would, and watch their game credits increase.
Sometrics’ feed includes hundreds of global shopping offers from trusted, brand-name retailers. The transactions are fast, safe and secure, and players can revisit the same merchants as many times as they want for repeat buying.
“This is a no-brainer for publishers who want to give their players an easy, safe and secure way to earn virtual currency and deepen their participation in and loyalty to their favorite games,” said Ian Swanson, co-founder and CEO of Sometrics. “This is a loyalty program that taps into a method consumers are already comfortable with – earning points or virtual currency for purchases they would make anyway at their favorite stores. It’s a great way to start monetizing gamer users who don’t want to pay to play.”
More than 200 million people worldwide play casual games (which are often free-to-play), according to the Casual Games Association. Free-to-play social games represent the largest and fastest-growing segment of the U.S. virtual goods market, which will top $1 billion this year and is expected to grow to more than $1.6 billion next year, according to Inside Social Games.
For publishers of online games, Shop & Earn offers a new safe and secure revenue channel and a way to enhance the game experience to keep players engaged. After easy integration, a custom iFrame displays shopping offers from major brands worldwide – aimed at attracting both hard core gamers and non-paying users who want to earn virtual currency through actions they would take anyway, like shopping for clothes or electronics through their favorite online merchants. Intuitive navigation allows users to browse by category – automotive, clothing, electronics, flowers, etc. – or by individual retailer.
Sometrics’ Shop & Earn Shopping Feed has gone live with several of the company’s publisher partners.
Sometrics launched the industry’s first virtual currency platform to help publishers manage payment options and optimize multiple offer providers from a single dashboard. On average, Sometrics partners have seen a 15 percent lift through optimizing third-party virtual currency offer providers and ad networks. The Sometrics solutions have achieved an average eCPM of more than $700.
For product demos, contact Jennifer Bartlett or Mickey Maher at [email protected].
About Sometrics
Sometrics (www.sometrics.com) pioneered social intelligence – combining deep, relevant social analytics with precision-targeted ad serving capabilities to help developers and brands monetize the social web. The company has adapted its advanced targeting and optimization expertise to give online game developers the first-ever full-service offer and payment management solution. Sometrics provides one place to manage everything – all the ads, all the offers, and all the offer networks – coupled with powerful analytics capabilities that help publishers/developers analyze all activity, down to detailed demographics. Sometrics has received funding from Steamboat Ventures, Greycroft Partners, AT&T and was the first recipient of capital from The Mail Room Fund, an investment consortium that combines big Hollywood (the William Morris Talent Agency) with Silicon Valley (Accel and Venrock). Sometrics is based in Los Angeles.
