It is remarkable that PokemonGo- AR (Artificial Reality) game will be able to spread through as Pocketconomy (an economic effect of PokemonGo due to the combination of PokemonGO and Economy) by domestic distributors.

According to industry experts on February 27, the developer of PokemonGO-Niantic Co., LTD will cooperate with domestic convenience stores and hamburger sops to secure offline base.

Convenience store Seven-Eleven``s nationwide store turned into PockemonGo``s pocket stop and gymnasium on January 23, last month. Pocket stop is the place where you can get the items you need to catch Pokemon.

The gymnasium is the place where users can get in battle with each other. About 7700 are pocket stops out of more than 8,500 stores of the Seven-Eleven convenience store nationwide, and about 800 are pokemonGO gymnasiums. Lotteria became the first domestic eatery industry to establish a partnership with Niantic Co., LTD. Lotteria operated Lotteria, Angel-in-us Coffee, TGI Fridays, Crispy cream Donut, Natouro Pab, Villa De Charlotte, The Food House and 2459 stores of 7 brands are operated as pocket stops. Approximately 250 stores were designated as gymnasiums.

The partnership with PokemonGo seems to increase the profit of the store. Earlier, in Japan, PokemonGO and McDonald``s entered into a partnership, which recorder 26.6% revenue increase. Mobile carriers Sprint and Starbucks in the United States, have partnered with Niantic Co., LTD to create Pocketconomy strategy.



Some domestic stores also have seen the same special effects as formal partnership. According to Lotteria, Lotteria``s sales near the Pocket Stop before affiliation increased by about 20%. Sales of Coffee Bean Korea stores in Shindaebang-dong, Dongjak-dong, Seoul, which is considered to be the representative Pokemon hot spot increased its sales up to 24.5%. Lotteria``s explanation is that it will be able to increase the number of PokemonGo hot spot stores and promote various events through this formal alliance.

The expansion of PokemonGO affiliate stores is also a green light for users. PokemonGo has had pocket stops mainly in the metropolitan area. The number of users also reached 7 million in the first week (Jan. 23 ~ Jan. 29) but dropped to 5.62 million (Feb. 13 ~ Feb. 19). The alliance seems to be able to attract users, who lost their interest in PokemonGO, through convenience stores, hamburger shops, and cafes, which are going to be PokemonGo ``holy place``. An industry representative said that ‘Win-win strategy can be achieved through off-line shops as PokemonGO is popular reality game’.

By Jeen Hyun Jeen 2jinhj@




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