How small business newsagents can push back on Lottoland misrepresentation

With Tatts not doing anything to counter the false and misleading portrayal of newsagents by Lottoland in their TV commercials, it falls to newsagents to act.

Newsagents selling lottery products need to actively engage and pitch that they are not the grumpy old white guy they see in the TVC. They need to embrace every opportunity to promote local personal service. They need to find ways to add value.

Lottoland and Tatts want lottery customers to migrate from in0-store purchases to online. Lottoland is a pure online play. I say Tatts wants people to migrate because of the extent of their investment in online and because of their failure to confront the Lottoland attack on the Tatts retail network.

While I no longer sell lotteries, I sold my newsagency with Tatts in 2011, I have some ideas on how newsagents can counter the Lottoland pitch. I have developed this list specifically to address the representation of newsagents by Lottoland:

1. Ensure your lottery customers receive excellent customer service every time. Excellent customer service is:
2. Always smile.
3. Never sit behind the counter.
4. Never charge a credit or debit card surcharge.
5. Always have the youngest person working at the lottery counter.
6. Provide free breath mints at the counter for staff.
7. Provide hand sanitiser for staff and customers to access at the counter.
8. If anyone behind the counter wears reading glasses, take them off when talking with customers – do not leave them on and look over them.
9. Blokes should not wear cardigans or jumpers such as what we see in the Lottoland ad.
10. Be cheerful when paying out a prize on tickets purchased elsewhere.
11. Be cheerful when people say the same thing over and over. The alternative is having no one in your shop at all.
12. If you sell candy of any sort, every so often offer a free tasting. Look for more ways to add value to the shopper visit.
13. In winter offer free soup at lunchtime.
14. In summer offer access to cups and filtered water.
15. If you are on the high street, have a bowl of water for dogs.
16. Celebrate all wins in-store on your noticeboard as well as on your business Facebook page.
17. Run a second chance draw and actively encourage every customer to engage with this. Be generous with the prize.
18. As an alternative for a second chance draw, host a BBQ event in the shop for the prize draw. Di this once a year, quarterly or six monthly with the prize commensurate with the frequency and business size. For example, in a shop with $250,000 in lottery commission, second chance draw prizes should value at least $10,000 a year. In fact, if it were my business, I’d be more likely to go with $24,000, $2,000 a month. Yes, you have to be that bold I think.
19. Establish a community noticeboard and welcome free notices. Somewhere on the board have a subtle sign: Your support of this business helps us support your community.
20. Share links to news reports about data security breaches by hackers with comments like: shopping in-store is safer or Our shop is a hacker free zone. Print the stories and place them on your community noticeboard.
21. List every local community group you support on the noticeboard with a certificate.
22. Thank community groups you support with a note on Facebook like: We are grateful for the opportunity to support the work of xxx community group.
23. Ensure your staff understand what Lottoland is and isn’t and are able to explain why purchasing lottery products from your business is better for them and the community.
24. From out the front of your shop make sure it looks appealing to passers-by.
25. As people step into the shop make sure the pitch is fresh and enjoyable. Get rid of anything that looks or feels like an old-style newsagency.

All newsagents selling lottery products need to urgently ensure their businesses look nothing like the Lottoland depiction. You have to distance yourselves from the Lottoland depiction.

This work is urgent. No one will do it for you. Tatts appears asleep at the wheel on Lottoland. Or, as I suspect, they like the idea of educating people to move online.

Take a careful look at our business today in the contact of the list I have published here. Then, act!

Hopefully, more ideas will flow from this post in comments from others.