Gamification in digital marketing for e-commerce: a review of strategies to boost engagement and sales
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Gamification has become an innovative and strategic approach within digital marketing, particularly for e-commerce platforms striving to enhance customer engagement, drive sales, and cultivate brand loyalty. Despite its growing adoption, the academic understanding of its mechanisms, implications, and sustainability remains underexplored. This comprehensive review integrates empirical evidence and theoretical perspectives to construct a robust framework for evaluating gamification strategies in e-commerce. The analysis identifies pivotal elements leaderboards, challenges, and incentive structures and their influence on consumer behavior across diverse contexts. Four overarching themes emerge: enhanced consumer loyalty, increased purchase frequency, strengthened brand engagement, and the critical importance of ethical design. Furthermore, the study underscores challenges such as sustaining long-term user commitment and addressing ethical dilemmas related to transparency and manipulation. By offering practical guidelines for implementation and illuminating areas for further inquiry, this research contributes to the scholarly discourse on gamification as a dynamic tool in digital marketing. It establishes a foundation for advancing its application in an ethically responsible and consumer-centric manner.
DOI: 10.14419/bfmn7r29
Authors: Nazik Saber Rashid, Subhi R. M. Zeebaree
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4408366635