Spook will guide them round the store on a ‘haunted hunt’, with riddles to be solved and trapdoors to be found in order to tick off a virtual shopping list.

The app is free, and successful gamers will get a free gift in store as well as the chance to win £100. There’s also an augmented reality (AR) enabled edition of the Asda magazine. 

Asda are not newcomers to AR, having trialled a similar scheme over Easter

Steph Hughes, Head of Events Marketing at Asda commented: 

The feedback from shoppers following the Easter events was just fantastic. We’re excited to roll out more fun for parents and kids this Halloween with even more going on in stores.

This feels like another good use for augmented reality. The zappable magazine is one of the best use cases for AR – it’s static, designed for use at home and embellishes what could be a dry magazine, making it appeal to different demographics (children being key to Asda’s success). 

This is another good use of mobile in retail. While there is no obvious sales driver such as coupons here, the very act of making the in-stote experience more enjoyable for children and this easier parents has its own benefits. Parents are more likely to spend more time in store, perhaps increasing basket values as a result.