How Panda Hypermarkets Built Daily Habits with Gamification

About Panda

Panda Retail Company, part of the Savola Group, is the largest food retailer in the Middle East. Founded in 1978 in Saudi Arabia, Panda has grown from a single supermarket to a retail powerhouse operating over 200 stores across 40 cities in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, serving more than 100 million transactions annually. With 50,000 employees, Panda is the undisputed leader in Saudi retail.

The Challenge

As the dominant player in Saudi retail, Panda faced the ongoing challenge of maintaining high customer engagement across their massive customer base. Traditional promotional mechanics like discounts and flyers were becoming less effective. They needed to:

• Drive repeat visits and conversions during shopping seasons
• Create memorable brand moments that differentiate Panda from competitors
• Partner with FMCG brands to create mutually beneficial promotional campaigns
• Leverage their mobile app as an engagement channel beyond transactions

The Solution

Panda partnered with Gameball to launch a strategic mix of gamification campaigns across their mobile app, each designed to serve a specific engagement goal while creating partner brand visibility.

Milestone Celebrations with Instant Gratification

For their 46th anniversary, Panda deployed a Spin the Wheel campaign with the tagline "Spin & Win Big! Every spin is a win!" The mechanic delivered instant rewards—cashback, vouchers, and gift cards—creating immediate excitement and driving mass app engagement. Push notifications and in-app banners ensured maximum visibility.

Cultural Moments with Daily Engagement Rituals

During Ramadan, Panda launched "Fawazir Panda"—a daily trivia game sponsored by FMCG partners including Pepsico, Sanita, Shani, and Aquafina. Brand-sponsored trivia questions created daily touchpoints, while timed countdowns added urgency. Participants earned instant rewards and entries into weekly raffles with prizes including iPhones, AirPods, PlayStations, and a Hyundai car. This approach turned the daily ritual of checking the app into a fun, interactive experience while giving partner brands direct engagement with Panda's audience.

Targeted Category Campaigns

Spin & Win campaigns were also deployed for specific customer segments, such as beauty enthusiasts, offering exclusive category rewards and discounts. This demonstrated how gamification can drive both mass engagement and segment-specific loyalty.

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Key Features Implemented

• Native SDK Integration for seamless, high-quality in-app experiences
• Couponing Engine Integration for real time reward issuance
• In-app Games such as Spin the Wheel, Trivia, and more mechanics for instant gratification
• Calendar Challenges for building daily engagement habits
• Multi-channel reward delivery via app notifications, SMS, and email
• Partner sponsorship framework enabling FMCG brands to sponsor interactive experiences

Why it worked

Gameball's approach worked because it didn't just offer coupons; it introduced a system for driving emotionally rewarding, habitual interaction.

• Native Integration: By integrating via the Native SDK, the experience felt seamless and high-quality, ensuring maximum customer trust and adoption.
• Instant Gratification & Fun: Using Spin & Win addressed the core problem of lack of excitement by providing instant, positive reinforcement.
• Rhythm of Engagement: The Calendar Challenge created a reason for customers to return to the app every single day for nearly a month, successfully building a powerful engagement habit.
• Gamification as the Hero: Panda successfully used gamification features as the "hero" solution, proving that non-monetary, fun elements are incredibly effective at driving conversions in the retail sector.

Results

Panda achieved a 30% sales lift during campaign periods through gamification-driven engagement. The Ramadan calendar campaign built daily app usage habits over nearly a month, while the partner sponsorship model created new monetization opportunities beyond traditional advertising.

Key Takeaway

Panda's partnership with Gameball demonstrates that large-scale retailers can drive meaningful engagement without relying on pure discounting.

The key lessons for brands:

1. Gamification creates emotional connections that coupons can't. Instant gratification mechanics like Spin & Win provide positive reinforcement that keeps customers coming back.
2. Cultural relevance builds habits. Tying campaigns to moments like Ramadan or anniversaries gives customers a reason to engage daily, transforming occasional shoppers into habitual app users.
3. Partner sponsorships turn engagement into revenue. The "Fawazir" model shows how FMCG brands can sponsor interactive experiences that benefit both retailer and partner—driving traffic, brand awareness, and shared ROI.

For retailers seeking to differentiate through experience rather than price, Panda's approach offers a blueprint: create exciting mechanics, enable partner participation, and integrate rewards seamlessly into the shopping journey.