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What is a web shop?

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A web shop is a direct-to-consumer (D2C) channel that sells a game’s products and offers on the web. It lives on a game website and can encourage higher revenue, engagement, and retention. Unlike the overall game site, though, the shop is a dedicated channel for selling in-game items outside of the game environment (and/or for selling the game itself, if it’s a premium title). Some webshop providers like Stash expand the engagement capabilities of the channel with additional content, like lore, blog posts, social systems, and web series.

Why web shops are on the rise

Since Apple deprecated the IDFA in 2021, overall mobile revenue took a hit and the mobile games market experienced a decline for the first time in over a decade. 

The thing is, some studios continued to generate a profit despite the crash. And they did that with D2C channels, like a web shop. 

Studios like Playtika and Huuuge drove enough revenue from their web shops to not just offset the losses post-IDFA, but also earn a profit. For example, Playtika experienced a loss of $65 million in third-party revenue (aka the major app stores) YoY in 2022 - but they reported an overall revenue increase from $2.58 billion to $2.62 billion over that same period. It was the growth of their D2C channel that drove this revenue. And it’s continuing to increase: Playtika’s D2C revenue has grown 14X, from 2017 to 2023. 

Huuuge experienced a similar phenomenon. They’ve remained profitable through the crash by growing their web shop. From 2022-2023, their webshops experienced 3X revenue growth.

We call this the D2C iceberg because much of the revenue derived from these channels is hidden below the surface, aka unreported by app store intelligence platforms. But this year, a lot of factors combined to bring this hidden revenue to the surface and expose more of the iceberg, making it the perfect time to launch a web store for games:

  • Factor #1: Antitrust regulations and decisions are targeting major platforms. For the first time, regulators and lawsuits targeting Apple and Google are opening up the app ecosystem, allowing developers to direct users to web shops. From the Digital Markets Act in the EU to Apple v Epic in the US, these unprecedented regulations and cases are forcing gatekeepers like Apple and Google to adjust their approach to sideloading, direct payments, and communicating with users.
  • Factor #2: UA is harder than ever. The end of the IDFA made it far more difficult to identify users, which made reaching and monetizing your target user base pretty much impossible. The only way to adjust is finding ways to increase LTV from existing users - one of which is web shops.
  • Factor #3: Users are expecting seamless cross progression.  Cross progression is a trend we’re watching this year as cloud gaming becomes more popular and more games are launched with this capability. Cross progression lets users continue where they left off in a game, on multiple devices. So if a player reaches Level 3 of your game on mobile, they can pick right back up and continue from Level 3 on PC, too. The thing is, cross progression and webshops go hand in hand. That’s because players need to use their player ID/account to log into the game on each device so they can continue playing - and they can also use that ID to log into a web shop and get personalized offers.  

What are the benefits of a web shop?

A few of the key advantages of a webshop include:

  1. Save on costly platform fees. Apple and Google charge 30% commission fees on each in-app purchase (which actually adds up to over 30% once you do the math). But a web shop lets you bypass these fees to increase your profit margins and keep more revenue in your pocket
  2. Access first-party data. In a post-IDFA world, user acquisition is more challenging and expensive than ever before. But a webshop is a D2C channel, meaning you get access to first-party player data - like email addresses - so you can run more effective user acquisition campaigns and finally own the relationship with your player
  3. Boost LTV and retention. A web shop encourages your highest spenders to spend more through a combination of commerce incentives (e.g. deals and discounts) and non-commerce content (e.g. loyalty programs and lore). Incorporating non-commerce features boosts LTV, retention, and engagement because it enhances and expands your game’s universe - players feel more immersed, connected, and loyal to your IP.
  4. Get more control over IAPs. A web-based mobile game store gives you greater flexibility over your offers and incentives than in-app, like dynamic pricing, personalized bundles, higher price points, and volume-based discounts

Who are web shops for?

Players: The most successful web shops are built for whales - or high spenders - not the average player. Don’t expect your average user to leave the game and head to a website; it’s your most motivated players that will go out of their way to do this. Plus, since these are your highest spenders, you can offer more expensive deals (which you want to do, since taxes on $0.99 aren’t worth it for you). 

Developers: The developers that experience the most success with web shops have a strong cohort of high spenders. And this is true regardless of your genre as long as you have a certain minimum total spend threshold - which these high IAP spenders help you achieve. Whether you have a casual game or a strategy game, ideally, you have a revenue per download (RPD) of $5.  

How do you design a web store for games?

The game landing page for your web shop should include a few key elements, like:

  • A tutorial to welcome players, highlight the value of the web shop, and show them why they should keep coming back
  • Appealing offers and incentives that are a mix of web-exclusive deals, liveops bundles from in-game, resource packs, and recurring offers
  • An engagement hub of non-commerce content - like a web series, lore, and blog posts - that expand your game’s IP universe to boost engagement and loyalty
  • Finishing details like a loyalty progress bar, notifications from in-app, a customer service chatbot, and “play now” feature that create a personalized experience for webshop visitors

How do you get people to use your webshop?

A web shop is a new concept for many players. So getting people to your game shop website, then encouraging them to keep returning requires a mix of incentives and UA strategies. The incentives should highlight the value of your shop and the UA techniques are how you’ll spread the word about this value to your community. 

A few ideas for these incentivizes:

  • Web-exclusive offers: these offers are available only on your web shop. They can be locked until players log in or include a timer to encourage urgency
  • Free gifts: give players a free gift for their purchase or for logging into your web shop on a regular basis (e.g. a daily free gift)
  • BOGO: when users complete a full-price purchase, they earn a free product/resource of lesser value
  • Volume-based incentives: offer a discount on a player’s total purchase if they reach a specified spend threshold (e.g. 10% off a purchase of $50 or more)
  • Discount codes: users can apply a code at checkout for a discount on the entire purchase, either as a fixed dollar amount or percentage
  • Bonuses: give players a bonus of resources or points with each purchase
  • Site-wide discounts: mark down all items on your mobile game store for a limited time 

Getting the word out about your web shop and these incentives comes down to UA strategies, like:

  • Organic posts: post on your social media channels about the store, available offers, and the value players can get when they make purchases here, rather than in-game
  • Paid campaigns: run paid UA campaigns on channels like TikTok and Facebook that target existing players and highlight incentives, like site-wide discounts
  • Email marketing: take advantage of the first-party player data - like email - you get with D2C channels, and send an email to users about your web shop and the latest offers
  • Influencer/creator campaigns: partner with an influencer or creator that’s a part of a gaming community relevant for your game or genre. Then give them a unique offer code they can share with their followers who can then redeem this for a discount on your web shop
  • In-game notifications: serve a notification or popup in-game that alludes to your game shop website. You need to comply with Apple and Google’s ant-steering policies here, so your messaging should be pretty vague. The CTA should lead them to a place to collect their emails - don’t direct them straight to your shop, as you need to be 3 clicks away

* Note: Apple recently extended their 30% commission fees to ads running on the Facebook or Instagram app. However, this fee does not apply to the desktop versions of these platforms (i.e. facebook.com or instagram.com)

List of the best web shops today

Browse the top webshops today for inspiration when building your own: 

Launch a web shop with the experts in the biz

If you want a D2C platform provider that can build a web shop tailored for your game, reach out to us at Stash. We’re experts at building custom solutions that help developers maximize revenue, retention, and engagement. 

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