The real world is imitating the virtual world: Kmart is printing off video game reviews written by users from MyKmart.com and posting them in its brick-and-mortar retail stores around the country.
Pictured here, the featured reviews are quick snippets that are placed right beneath the games on store shelves. They’re selected by Kmart staff, who’ve published a blog post outlining their criteria for potential contributors. The reviews are unpaid since they’re just republished user ratings a la Amazon.
User-submitted reviews and ratings are a big part of the online shopping experience, but that’s not generally true of the old-fashioned retail stores. When you walk into Best Buy, Walmart or (until now) Kmart, you’d better already know something about the video games or other products you’re looking to buy, because you won’t find any guidance there except from the salespeople — who are, after all, trying to sell the products.
Rockstar Games’ open-world Western Red Dead Redemption was the subject of one example of an in-store review pulled from the web: “You’ll hunt and search for treasure in a world teeming with danger. One of the best games of 2010. For more game reviews, check out KmartGamer.com.”
That lacks the substance of a review to us as much as it sounds like promotional copy, even though Red Dead Redemption actually is a critically acclaimed and popular game. Brick-and-mortar stores may be less inclined to dissuade customers from buying any particular product in their limited selections, so we’re expecting most of these reviews to be glowing endorsements. Still, we could be proven wrong, and it’s a neat idea even if we’re not.
More About: blogging, games, gaming, kmart, MARKETING, mykmart, retail, reviews, social media, video games
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