At The Superficial (a US based gossip / celebrity blog) on the weekend I noticed an ad for Golden Casket online sales. This is interesting from two perspectives – their pursuit of the demographic likely to be accessing the blog (young) and their promotion of online sales – as opposed to their retail network. While it is sensible for Tatts, owners of the Golden casket, to advertise their online business, I am sure it will frustrate newsagents.
Our channel ought to be looking at how we can promote over the counter sales of lottery products. We have a value proposition which better connects with the lottery consumer. We need to develop a strategy for competing with the online businesses for lottery sales.
It frustrates me.
Other newsagents in my area are actively competing with online sales by refusing to process the ID application forms to enable customers to go online.
I’m personally sad with this situation, we have to jump through hoops of fire to comply with all of the lotto regulations, having to get insurance now and what nots to be able to sell lotto.
I’ve lost a lot of big regular spenders in my store that spend $100 to $500 per week on lotto and magazines etc.
But at least I get to earn $1.20 of them a week now. That helps pay the rent for the dedicated lotto area.
We have had some customers come back to us after trying online sales. They said they missed the thrill and excitment of being able to collect the cash personally. Maybe the personal thrill of sharing the win and receiving the cash is something we can promote over the counter.
Also, remind customers of the cost. A megapick (in NSW) is about $7.00 more expensive online than in store.
Tattslotto are advertising on facebook:
[IMG]http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p223/thegeorgebush/screen%20caps%20and%20forum%20stuff/tatts.jpg[/IMG]
At least they’re saying you can buy instore, but targetting poeple who are computer savvy and more likely to buy online is a calculated move for them.
Their link to you to this website:
https://www2.lotto.com.au/General/CachedHome.aspx
For lottery to be a viable department for us into the future,especially now we have to compete with convenience stores as well,we need either a share of online sales somehow or a branded product we can compete and market up against these online sales by the lottery companies product ,i think i mentioned last month there is a group coming with such a product but i havent heard much more about it recently,i hope they are still coming as it sounded great to have a common brand,minimal or no participation fees and big online presence
Tatts wants a monopoly on online games.
We are not allowed to sell syndicates on line. We are talking about syndicates that we already paid for. In theory, syndicates should be ours after we bought and paid for them but Tatts dictates how we sell them. NOT ONLINE.