Moscow, 2 June 2026 – Х5 announces the results of its three-year-long effort to advance gamification in the mobile apps of its Pyaterochka and Perekrestok retail chains, which are both part of the X5 Club loyalty programme. Leveraging X5’s in-house gamification platform as the key driver of growth, the Company transformed gaming from an experimental tool into a scalable business model that is integrated into key customer scenarios.
Gamified campaigns offer customers additional bonuses, discounts, personal offers, and other benefits during the shopping process. In 2025 alone, some nine million people took part in such campaigns. According to research, around 30 million Russians play games via mobile apps, which means that every third gamer is an X5 app user.
Over the last three years, the number of mobile game launches, including nationwide campaigns, increased 8.5-fold. Gaming techniques have become a systematic driver of customer engagement, purchase frequency and loyalty programme effectiveness. Users of X5 mobile apps have demonstrated strong engagement, with an average 22 game sessions played per month and a steady increase in the number of customers who spend loyalty points on X5’s mobile games.
X5’s in-house gamification platform features a combination of analytics, segmentation, personalisation and campaign management tools to expedite the launch of new projects and roll out the best solutions across Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Х5 Club. Integrated with online and phygital services, the platform adds game tries for some campaigns after customers make offline purchases or order deliveries, while also supporting several concurrent game activations in X5 Club and retail chains.
X5 uses a variety of gaming mechanisms to award customers additional bonuses and personal benefits across different shopping scenarios – from in-game tasks to participation in prize draws and special activations. This approach boosts engagement and increases the accessibility of X5 services.
“At X5, gamification is no longer a standalone marketing tool – it is now a full-fledged part of the customer journey and a component of our business model. Our aim is to make our services more convenient and more valuable to the customer by granting additional perks, making tailored offers and ensuring a positive customer experience. Over the course of three years, we have created a scalable model that simultaneously increases engagement, enhances the value of our loyalty programme, and builds sustainable consumer behavior.” – said Mikhail Yartsev, Managing Director at X5 Customer Experience.
In 2025, Pyaterochka launched a flagship Om Nom game played by more than 4.2 million app users in over 74 million sessions. Game projects gain traction as they offer loyalty programme participants entertainment combined with rewards in the form of bonuses, prizes and extra benefits. In addition to its own initiatives, X5 is developing partnerships with large gaming projects, such as Atomic Heart and Lizards Must Die 2.
Going forward, X5 will continue to scale its gamification efforts and expand its customer engagement channels.
¹ According to the research study “Gaming in Russia – 2026,” carried out by the Video Game Industry Development Organisation, IFSI and NAFI Research Centre.