Kirana Club
Designing a Reward System that Motivated Retailers to Participate
We redesigned community engagement from the ground up — turning a declining participation curve into a reward system retailers actually wanted to show off.
Gamification
Community
B2C
Team
Product Designer (Me)
Product Manager
Engineering
Community Team
My Role
Research analysis
Hypothesis Testing
Wireframing
UX Design
Certificate Design
Prototyping
Duration
2 Weeks ( Product & Design )
3-Week Pilot Test
Overview
From a quiet community to one people wanted to level up in
Kirana Club's community : The heart of the app for lakhs of retailers had gone quiet. We designed Poonji, a points-and-levels reward system, to turn passive scrollers back into active contributors, and gave retailers something worth showing off along the way.
The problem
Community participation was declining 📉
Community engagement had steadily declined over time. Fewer retailers were creating posts and comments, indicating that users lacked sufficient motivation to participate.
-18%
COMMUNITY POSTS
-23%
COMMENTS
-5%
ACTIVE CONTRIBUTORS
Key insights from user research (40 user calls)
Low motivation
Retailers lacked a compelling reason to create posts or engage in discussions.
Limited participation
A small group of recurring contributors dominated the community, making it difficult for new retailers to participate.
Discovery
Turning insights into goals 🎯
Research pointed to two goals that needed to move together — what the business needed, and what would actually motivate a retailer to keep coming back.
Business goals
●
Increase community participation
●
Grow user-generated content
●
Improve repeat engagement
●
Expand the active contributor base
User goals
●
Reward valuable contributions
●
Encourage first-time contributors
●
Encourage sustained participation
●
Create a sense of achievement
Brainstorming possible solutions
Before committing to any single mechanic, we mapped the full space of reward patterns worth considering.
🏆
Leaderboards
Top contributors
🎖️
Certificates & badges
Recognition
📈
Progress
Level system
💰
Rewards
Earn points
🎁
Milestones
Unlock rewards
👥
Referral
Invite friends
🎯
Challenges
Weekly tasks
⭐
Featured
Retailer stories
The experiment
Before building a reward system, we ran an experiment
Before investing engineering effort into a full-fledged reward system, we launched a lightweight contest to test whether incentives could encourage more retailers to contribute.
Hypothesis
If retailers are rewarded for participating, they will create more posts and comments and engage more consistently.
Post more content · Comment on discussions · Stay active daily → Top contributors received recognition & reward
The experiment validated our assumptions
The pilot confirmed that incentives and recognition could positively influence retailer participation. The contest ran for 3 weeks.
To give an example: one of the users named Aliasgar, who had never commented or posted before, started posting 10–15 comments daily.
Participation increased when retailers had something meaningful to work toward.
Recognition motivated users just as much as tangible rewards.
Competition encouraged repeat engagement and brought more activity to the community.
Final direction
A temporary contest proved incentives worked
we needed a system built to last
A sustainable system that rewarded users continuously rather than through one-off events.
Reward Points + Levels + Recognition
=
Poonji
Translating insights into product decisions
The contest revealed three behaviors that shaped the reward system. These pillars formed the MVP — additional ideas were intentionally postponed.
Designing for different stages of the journey
Level 0 — Educate before you motivate
Hypothesis
New retailers will be unfamiliar with Poonji and its benefits. Before encouraging participation, we needed to build understanding and confidence in the reward system.
Turning the first comment into positive reinforcement
The first reward was designed to create an immediate sense of achievement and encourage users to continue participating.
① Instant reward feedback (+10 Poonji)
② Visible level
progress
③ Clear next action
लेवल बढ़ाये, इनाम पाएं
0
1
200
पूँजी
आपका लेवल
20
2
1500
पूँजी
3
3000
पूँजी
आपकी पूँजी
0
153
अपनी पूँजी यहाँ से लें
इन्दर चाँद जी
जालोर , राजस्थान ने जीता
Weighing Machine
अली असग़र जी
रामपुरा, मध्य प्रदेश ने जीता
GST Calculator
सचिन जैन जी
झालावाड़, राजस्थान ने जीता
CCTV Camera
जीतें पूँजी
व्यापारियों का भला करें,
किराना क्लब पूँजी
2
20
पूँजी क्या होती है? समझा नहीं ?
अभी देखें
बधाई हो
आपको आपकी कॉमेंट के लिए 10 पूँजी दिए गए हैं।
ऐसे ही बाँकी दुकानदारों की मदत करते रहे
200
पॉइंट्स
0
पॉइंट्स
1
0
10
कमाने के सारे तरीके देखें
+10
Designing for different stages of the journey
Level 1+ — from learning to long-term engagement
Hypothesis
Once retailers understand how Poonji works, education became less important. Their motivation shifts toward progressing through levels, earning recognition, and maintaining their status in the community.
इन्दर चाँद जी
जालोर , राजस्थान ने जीता
Weighing Machine
अली असग़र जी
रामपुरा, मध्य प्रदेश ने जीता
GST Calculator
सचिन जैन जी
झालावाड़, राजस्थान ने जीता
CCTV Camera
कमाने के सारे तरीके देखें
पूँजी कमाने के तरीके
जानकारी पोस्ट करें
100
चर्चा में कमेंट करें
50
पूँजी क्या होती है? समझा नहीं ?
. . . .
और पढ़ें
यहाँ से लें
अगले लेवल पर मिलेगा
प्रमाणपत्र
किराना क्लब पूँजी
2
लेवल 2 से सिर्फ 700 पूँजी दूर हैं
800
1
2
किराना क्लब पूँजी
2
20
इन्दर चाँद जी
जालोर , राजस्थान ने जीता
Weighing Machine
अली असग़र जी
रामपुरा, मध्य प्रदेश ने जीता
GST Calculator
सचिन जैन जी
झालावाड़, राजस्थान ने जीता
CCTV Camera
पूँजी क्या होती है? समझा नहीं ?
. . . .
और पढ़ें
यहाँ से लें
आपकी पूँजी
800
अगले लेवल पर मिलेगा
प्रमाणपत्र
20
अभी ले
Claiming a reward
From checking your level to a reward on the way
Levelling up opens a clear, low-friction path to claim — address details, confirmation, and a shareable certificate at every milestone.
पूँजी कमाने के सारे तरीके देखें
Ravi Kumar Yadav
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
बता दें कि बीते दिन सोमवार को मशहूर डेरी कंपनी Amul ने अपने मुख्य उत्पाद "दूध" पर पूरे भारतवर्ष में 2 रुपये
#Tel
#Chana Dal
#Chana Dal
3 घंटे
जुड़ें
आज
प्रोडक्ट फीडबैक
प्रोडक्ट रेट & मार्जिन
प्रोडक्ट रेट & मार्जिन
कुछ भी खोजें . . .
2
जानकारी बताएं
डेली Bonus
आपकी पूँजी
0
आपकाे लेवल
लेवल 0
0
20
Research insight
Users wanted to share their achievements
During earlier quiz campaigns, we observed that retailers frequently shared their certificates on WhatsApp. Interviews revealed that public recognition made them feel proud and encouraged others to participate.
We reused a successful behavioral pattern from the quiz experience to design a stronger reward system for Poonji :
Extending recognition beyond the app by celebrating level milestones with shareable certificates.
Certificates
Designing certificates retailers were proud to share 😍
Each सम्मान-पत्र (certificate of honor) is personalized with the retailer's name, level badge, and formal certificate styling — built to feel earned, and to travel well on WhatsApp.
Impact / outcome
Impact after launch
Following the launch of Poonji, community engagement increased significantly across all key interaction metrics.
↑ 162%
COMMENTS
↑ 66%
LIKES
↑ 37%
COMMENT REPLIES
😊
Thank You for making it all the way !
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