SPAR has hailed its latest Winter Wins campaign as its most successful gamification drive yet, with 60,000 customers across the north of England taking part.

Run by James Hall & Co, the 42-day campaign delivered the highest participation levels and redemption rates seen so far, with 32 per cent of all instant rewards issued redeemed in participating SPAR stores.

The performance was supported by record backing from SPAR independent retailers, alongside the company’s G&E Murgatroyd SPAR stores division.

Free to play, the Winter Wins mechanic invited shoppers to tap and win by breaking a virtual ice block to reveal whether they had secured an instant reward. Across the campaign, customers racked up 750,000 daily plays of the ice-breaker game, while a bonus spin-to-win feature, available every three days, was played 210,000 times.

The campaign’s £10,000 grand prize was won by 26-year-old Aisha Bo, an employment advisor at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. She was presented with her cheque by Donna Nightingale-Smith, store manager at SPAR Oxford Road, and store owner Paul Stone.

Bo said: “It has not sunk in yet that I won the grand prize. It still feels like a dream.

“The daily chance of winning prizes kept me motivated to keep playing. The extra spin after three days was a great feature, and I also loved the variety of prizes. I had the chance to try a range of different products and brands that were new to me.”

She added that she planned to use the money towards a holiday in Scotland and to help pay off some student debt.

Among the strongest-performing rewards was a £3 off a SPAR shop voucher, which achieved a redemption rate of 67 per cent among customers who received it. All 26 voucher types issued during the campaign posted redemption rates of 11 per cent or more, well above the equivalent rate typically seen for paper coupons.

As with previous SPAR gamification campaigns, the technology behind Winter Wins was developed through a partnership between James Hall & Co and Abraxas Marketing.

Philippa Harrington, marketing manager at James Hall & Co, said: “We anticipated incremental growth again with SPAR Winter Wins but the campaign’s performance really has been tremendous.

“A huge thank you goes to our valued suppliers for backing SPAR Winter Wins with their generous support at a traditionally tough trading period for convenience retail. I think the campaign’s success highlights that we were on the money with our range of products and money off coupons in Winter Wins.”

She added that customer participation was 20 per cent higher than in the Jet Set Jackpot campaign run in summer 2025, with average total voucher redemptions reaching 32 per cent.

James Hall & Co is now preparing to launch its next summer campaign, Win With Every Goal.

Suppliers supporting Winter Wins included AG Barr, Birdseye, Carlsberg Britvic, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Kellogg’s, KIND, Nestlé Confectionery, Mars Wrigley, Moju, Mondelez, Müller, Premier Foods, Red Bull, Vimto and Walkers.

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning