Businesses capitalize on ‘Pokemon Go’ craze
Lures meant to attract virtual critters in the “Pokemon Go” game are also luring customers to Orlando-area businesses.
Business owners say dropping the virtual lures — which can be bought by players for 99 cents for a 30-minute boost — have driven business, even on typically slow days.
“It has been a success,” said Victor Villar, general manager at Hawkers Asian Street Fare in the Mills 50 district near downtown Orlando. “We have noticed a few people at the bar and in the dining room catching Pokemon on a daily basis, thanks, in part, to lures set up by our employees and guests.”
“Pokemon Go,” a free app that can be downloaded onto iPhones and Android phones, debuted July 6 and took off like a rocket. Reports estimate total users at 30 million, with the app attracting more than $35 million in revenue
from purchases made for special items in the game.
The game uses real-world maps as its game board, with players searching for virtual creatures called Pokemon.
The melding of the real world with augmented gaming created an opportunity business owners in Central Florida quickly seized, introducing Pokemon-themed treats or other deals for the game’s players.
An analysis of Hawkers’ Friday lunch crowd showed business more than doubling the first time the restaurant dropped a lure.
On July 8, 15 customers visited Hawkers and spent $437 between noon and 1 p.m. One week later, when the restaurant placed a virtual lure, it took in $909.
Sus Hi Eatstation in Altamonte Springs rewards persistent Pokemon hunters, offering up free food for a month to the highest-level players.
“Any business that has the ability to take advantage of this and isn’t, is making a huge mistake,” said David K. Gibson, a member of the Mills 50 board of directors.
The 46-year-old said he and his wife enjoy the game and that he has seen more people out on the town ever since the game has come out.
Gibson spent part of his evening Thursday in Mills 50, dropping lures during a Pokemon-themed pub crawl.
Restaurants and bars offered drink specials if player bought a $5 wristband. The Orlando Sentinel itself has two Pokestops on its property; one of them is being used to promote a raffle for a $50 gift card, if people sign up for the paper’s entertainment newsletter.
The mobile game also attracts teams of players — Team Mystic, Team Instinct and Team Valor — in a battle for supremacy. As players collect cartoon critters on their phone, they enhance the critter powers to develop and strengthen them, ultimately pitting them in battle against other Pokemon players’ rosters.
Mike Tatiano Jr., store manager for GameStop on Michigan Avenue near Orange, says the video-game retailer has been packed with players since the mobile game debuted.
He says he routinely places lures in his vicinity to attract sales.
“It’s a constant draw, all day long,” he said.
Nationwide, GameStop has seen a 113 percent jump in sales of Pokemon-related merchandise, according to a spokeswoman.
That number jumps to near 130 percent when only counting stores that are used — in the game — as a Pokestop, where players can find items that make their characters stronger.
“I have not seen anything that generates foot traffic like this does,” Gibson said. “It’s a foot-traffic app. If you can get people to walk into your place, that’s what marketing is all about.”
In Winter Park, chamber of commerce marketing director Erika Spence says she has seen players walking through the city’s downtown business district.
But she warned businesses to determine how beneficial dropping a lure would be before they jump into the game.
Still, she said, summer’s the perfect time for this kind of trend to take off.
“The summer is a slower time for us,” Spence said. “Many of our residents go on vacation, so staying on top of trends for business owners is important.”
“Pokemon Go” is a partnership between the videogame giant Nintendo and Niantic, a San Franciscobased software-development company.