Gamified promotion to boost foot traffic

One of the principal features of multimedia messaging app Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before they become inaccessible to their recipients. The moment, the atmosphere is the point, which is made more and more exciting with virtual stickers and augmented reality tools.

Game and promotion

Mobile Marketer announced that PetSmart is the first pet retailer to use an augmented reality (AR) lens in a campaign on photo-messaging app Snapchat. The AR lens includes a quiz that gradually transforms a Snapchat user’s face into a reptile based on their answers. PetSmart’s filter is available in the Snapchat carousel of AR lenses to select users in the U.S. and also can be accessed by scanning a Snapcode with the app.

The AR lens includes an offer to receive 40% off a pet reptile with the purchase of a PetSmart Thrive starter kit for people who are new to owning a snake, lizard or turtle. Snapchat users can bring the offer to a PetSmart store to pick out a pet and learn from an employee how to care for it.

The retailer expects that as Snapchat users take the quiz and share their reptile selfies with friends, family and followers, PetSmart can extend the reach of its campaign and urge others to interact with the AR experience. PetSmart’s AR lens aims to engage and educate Snapchat users, mainly Gen Z and millennial user base, while potentially driving traffic to nearby stores.

A sales hike in pet products during lockdowns

PetSmart’s sales jumped 36% in mid-March as lockdowns went into effect, per Earnest Research data. For the whole month of March, sales of pet supplies rose 10% from a year earlier, Nielsen found. PetSmart has seen a 50% lift in reptile sales as homebound consumers introduce pets into their households, the retailer said.

AR contents rule

More than 180 million Snapchat users engaged with AR content daily in Q2 this year. Several other companies began sponsoring AR lens. To engage those users, Microsoft’s Xbox gaming platform recently debuted a dozen AR lenses on Snapchat to promote the upcoming release of its next-generation video game console. Food deliveries, luxury, cosmetics, aparel brands appeared on Snapchat as well.

The Snap company says it reaches more than 75% of U.S. consumers ages 13 to 34, and more than 90% of people ages 13 to 24. Snap this month reported that its revenue rose 17% to $454 million in Q2 from a year earlier, while its user base expanded by the same percentage to 238 million.