Image credit:
Spark City by The Gronstedt Group
Spark City, developed by The Gronstedt
Group, was selected as a finalist in the 2018
Serious Games Showcase and Challenge in the Business
Category.
Spark City is a mobile
business game that gives players a “taste of” what perfecting the art of retail
customer service is about in the context of Walmart’s Sales Floor.
Unveiled last June by Mark Ibbotson, EVP of Central Operations for
Walmart U.S., the game is primarily intended for Walmart associates who receive
training to advance in their career. The game is delivered as both iOS and
Android apps for iPhones, iPads, and Android phones and tablets and will
eventually be available to the general public.
The simulation will be used to train associates of the world’s largest
private employer on new processes and special in-store events that can’t be
easily recreated, much like VR is used in Walmart Academies (please find also
VR
Serious Games Finding Their Way Into The Workplace). The
new $200 stand-alone Oculus Go VR headsets are rapidly breaking down barriers
to VR deployment.
Game Context
Spark City
challenges Walmart associates to manage various departments where they make
inventory, staffing, and customer service decisions, packing months of
business processes into hours of game play. The game challenges players to
level up through increasingly complex real-world tasks, motivating players to
put the concepts they learn in Walmart Academy into practice, performing
Walmart's "One Best Way" routine. It provides real time feedback,
including customer service, inventory and sales. Game mechanics keep the game
fun and engaging while focusing on learning tasks, including mission and
storyline, hint-system and feedback, level progression and freedom to fail.
Gameplay
Players
get to customize their avatar before heading to the backroom of the store,
where they scan products and load them to a cart.
They get
to solve discrepancies between how many products are in the inventory system
and on the shelf. When the
player has completed the backroom tasks, they bring their cart of products to
the sales floor, where they stock the products on shelves.
Image
credit: Spark City - Dry Grocery
Customers
who have trouble finding a product need to be walked to the shelf.
Further Additions
Additional levels are under development. In the next level to be
launched later this year, the Electronics Department, the team members have
their mood indicated with one, two or three sparks. Next, they will level up to
Customer Service, Electronics, Apparel, and Fresh Produce departments,
assistant store manager and store manager.
According to the developers, the game will afford an ongoing learning
experience in the future, with new expansion packs addressing cases like the
holiday season and new store formats, showing associates a career path to
management ranks.
About The Gronstedt
Group
Founded in 1997 and based in Denver, Colorado, The Gronstedt Group is a digital
training agency at the intersection of gaming, media and learning. Anders
Gronstedt, its President, is an advocate of using Next-Gen Learning tools to
advance real-world skills through virtual reality training, transmedia
storytelling and game-based learning. Anders holds a PhD and is a former
faculty member of the University of Colorado–Boulder School of Journalism. His
articles have appeared in the Harvard Business Review.
The Gronstedt Group has been instrumental in helping global companies
like Google, Walmart, Intuit, GE, United Healthcare, Dell, Avaya, Microsoft,
KPMG, DaVita, Kimberly-Clark and government clients like the U.S. Department of
Transportation and the City of New York improve performance with innovative
learning approaches.