Lottery app downloads are an indicator of interest in the purchase of lottery tickets online rather than over the counter, in-store.
I am grateful to have received this graph via Taylor Collison. It plots app downloads for The Lott, OZ Lotteries, LotteryWest, Lottoland and The Lottery Office.
Almost all achieved significant growth on downloads with The Lott and OzLotteries being the big winners. The Lott accounts for 66% of the 290,000 downloads in the month of October.
It will be interesting to see the percentage of online versus in-store revenue once The Lott publishes those figures. As we have seen, the growth in online far outstrips anything achieved in-store. I would also like to see the volume of returning business from online customers. In fact, that information would be fascinating and useful.
It makes sense that people choose convenience. When you turn on the news and see lines on people snaking out of retail businesses under the pump to deal with jackpot sales it makes sense that people look for an easier way to purchase. And while video and images of lines of people make for stories, the reality is people were served quickly and efficiently, and helpfully with so many first-time and infrequent Powerball shoppers asking questions.
I know many newsagents thrilled with the revenue boost from the recent Powerball $160M jackpot. The boost in commission this far out from Christmas was welcome, and appreciated. Plus, I;’m tole, there was a boost in other sales because of the increase in foot traffic. Of course, the smart retailers with a good in-store configuration and tactical placement of impulse purchase opportunities did best from this.
I remain frustrated that The Lott continues to require so much of retailers in the knowledge of on-going migration from in-store purchase. A fairer approach would provide retailers with more freedom and less requirement to be a billboard for what is a growing online business. This freedom could strengthen these lottery agent businesses and thereby make them more valuable to The Lott into the future.
This is such an easy thing for The Lott to fix. A discrete trial would, I suspect, reveal to them that offering retailers more freedom to use currently The Lott designated space would have no negative impact on lottery ticket sales.
The #1 thing to remember is that someone who buys on the app makes The Lott more profit than someone who buys in a store.