CASE STUDY · EARLY MVP
What six Candy Universe stores taught us about gaming rewards and repeat customer behaviour.
From January to August 2024, an early version of the mechanic that later informed Project Codes was tested through six Candy Universe Pick & Mix stores. This page records the results we can substantiate, the limits of the data and the lessons that shaped the current pilot model.
THE RECORDED RESULTS
Four historical numbers from the MVP period.
The figures below come from internal operating records for January–August 2024.
Source: internal Candy Universe / Project Codes operating data for January–August 2024. The figures describe the historical MVP and are not presented as a controlled sales-uplift study.
REAL AUDIENCE RESPONSE
Original Candy Universe Shorts from the ecosystem in which the early concept was developed.
THE SETTING
A small retail network, not a national FMCG campaign.
The MVP ran through six Candy Universe Pick & Mix stores serving customers in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš and Kragujevac.
The objective at this stage was to see whether a physical purchase could be connected with digital gaming value strongly enough to attract users, create a returning customer base and support further product development.
WHAT USERS DID
Purchase, collect value, return for digital rewards.
- Installed the Android or iOS app
- Created a user account
- Collected value linked to purchases
- Returned to the retail experience
- Engaged with the project through organic social content
WHAT THE MVP SUPPORTED
Evidence strong enough to continue developing the model.
There was real user interest
A six-store footprint generated 15,000 app installs and more than 10,000 registrations. That was enough evidence to continue exploring the purchase-to-gaming-value proposition.
A returning customer base emerged
The project recorded 2,500 repeat customers. That made repeat behaviour a central question for later Project Codes mechanics and measurement.
Gaming-led content could travel organically
The TikTok account grew beyond 12,000 followers without paid advertising, supporting the relevance of the gaming/reward theme for the audience.
The next version needed better measurement
The MVP showed why future pilots must define the business hypothesis, purchase behaviour, KPIs and decision rules before launch.
WHAT THESE NUMBERS DO NOT PROVE
We do not turn historical traction into a sales guarantee.
The MVP did not use a control group and was not designed as a formal incremental-sales experiment. We therefore do not claim that the gaming mechanic alone caused a specific percentage increase in sales.
Price, assortment, store traffic, distribution, communication, seasonality and the Candy Universe retail experience could all have influenced the observed behaviour.
- No control group
- No isolated incremental-sales measurement
- No claim that every install became an active buyer
- No claim that repeat behaviour was caused only by the reward mechanic
- Historical MVP context differs from the current multi-brand Project Codes model
HOW IT SHAPED PROJECT CODES
From an early retail experiment to a controlled FMCG activation model.
The current Project Codes pilot framework is deliberately more rigorous: the business objective, target purchase behaviour, mechanic, scope, measurement and decision criteria are agreed before launch.
The lesson from the MVP was not “gaming rewards guarantee sales growth”. The useful lesson was that the combination of physical purchase and digital gaming value generated enough user adoption and repeat behaviour to justify building a more measurable, multi-brand platform around the idea.