About this series

Marvel Strike Force sets the benchmark for webshops. Scopely has shifted over 50% of their revenue to their webshop, boosting net revenue and profits while fostering direct player connections. This four-part series dissects the Marvel Strike Force webshop, offering best practices for game developers to enhance their own webshops.

Cultivate a new webshop habit across your players

Many mobile game players have never visited a webshop. They are used to buying directly through the App Store and Google Play. To shift their habits, you must encourage frequent visits and purchases on your new web shop. Scopely has been managing their Marvel Strike Force (MSF) webshop for years and has found effective ways to build a webshop habit among their players, let’s take a closer look at how they do it.

Build trust & give players an inexpensive onramp

Many players may be confused or suspicious when they first encounter your webshop. MSF builds trust by using their official website domain for their webshop - https://marvelstrikeforce.com/en/store.

MSF also gives players confirmation that their web shop free gifts, Milestones, and purchases were completed successfully via the in-game player’s inbox. This confirmation gives players immediate positive feedback and confirms that the webshop is legit.

Finally, MSF also offers lower-priced options as players will likely want to try out the webshop with a small $0.99 or $1.99 purchase. Once they get acquainted with the webshop and trust it, then they’ll spend more.

Create a destination

Marvel Strike Force (MSF) does a great job at establishing their website (which prominently features their webshop) as a core destination for their game, which motivates people to visit and then discover their shop. For example, they periodically host fan voting on their site where players can vote on the next character that will be released in game. The site also houses news/updates, character stats, and player tools like an Alliance dashboard.

Provide a strong & consistent value proposition

Players need strong motivators to break the typical habit of only purchasing in-app. It’s important to give players a clear value proposition that incentivizes them to use the webshop. Generally effective motivators fall within these buckets: freebies, discounts, exclusives, or value adds.

In the case of the MSF webshop, they offer very strong freebie, exclusives, and added value.

Daily free gifts

• Every day at 2pm PDT, MSF unlocks between 4 to 8 free gifts that’s only accessible via their webshop. This gift is promoted via their community and email marketing (they get your email when you create a login).

• Freebies are a very powerful incentive and these free gifts are a a crucial mechanic to drive players to the MSF webshop.

• Pro tip from MSF: Put your free gifts in the middle of your UX, so players end up naturally browsing your webshop when finding the free gift.

Web-exclusive missions and bonuses

• In game, MSF rewards players with currency, items, characters, and much more for completing missions, a key aspect of their gameplay.

• MSF offers exclusive missions, or Milestones, on their webshop. These can be completed through in-game progression, spending in-game currency, webshop purchases, and more. These bonuses are in addition to the in-game milestone rewards.

• MSF has a web-only rewards program where players earn UPC points for web purchases. UPCs can be used to complete Milestones for bonuses or to make webshop purchases. We’ll explore this program further in the next part of this series.

• Unlike many webshops, MSF doesn’t rely on discounts. Instead, they attract spenders with exclusive offers and the value provided by their webshop rewards program.

Extend your content & LiveOps to your webshop

The MSF webshop is deeply connected to the game and integrated into the game’s LiveOps. When new content is launched in the game, the webshop will have corresponding updates with offers and missions tied to what’s new in the game. For example, when a new character launches, there will be exclusive, time-based offers on the webshop specific to that new character. When a new mission launches in the game, corresponding web-only Milestones will arrive on the webshop. This constant synchronization between game and webshops gives players new motivators to visit the webshop and further establishes that habit.

Let’s build

Marvel Strike Force really nails how to run a successful webshop, boosting player engagement and revenue. But of course, every game is different. Experiment to see what works best for your audience. Use MSF's strategies for inspiration, but don't be afraid to tweak things to fit your game’s unique style and needs. Request a demo today to see how Sanlo Webshop can help.

Plus, keep an eye out for the next article to learn more from the best webshop in the industry. Or follow Sanlo on LinkedIn to get updates. The next installment will take a closer look at the Marvel Strike Force UPC rewards system.