40 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2023 be more confident that investing in these assets is going to generate a positive return. Easley: Successful retailers base their decisions on data, particularly consistent data they can use across states. RMI pulls that together and gives them that consolidated view, so they can operationalize it. It’s in a format they’re looking for and can use. Over the past few years, Steve and I have consistently received more questions from both retailers and lotteries. We can estimate what we think a retailer wants to see, but to hear from the retailer how they're looking at their business, especially in this evolving landscape of retail, has provided a lot of insight into how we move forward with the data that we provide, what questions they want answered, and how we can be that voice for the lottery industry. Desautels: I'll just add to Gina's point that “space to sales” for all retailers is really important, and they don't make a decision today — whether a C-store or supermarket — they don't put anything on their shelves if it's not rating high on Nielsen or IRI data. All planograms at retail chains today are based on sales from those two types of reports. And the one thing that's not included to this day is lottery sales. Retailers who have stores in multiple jurisdictions have always had to reach out to the different jurisdictions for their lottery sales in each one. Lotteries have great reports, but every single lottery jurisdiction puts that information together differently. If you're a retailer in 32 states, you have to figure out how to take those 32 different retail reports and come to a single answer that can speak to your lottery category. That's where RMI comes in. What does joining RMI entail? Kriger: It entails setting up the initial feeds for basic retailer, sales, and product data — normally about 20 to 30 hours of technical work for a lottery, and we have technical resources that work with new sites to help them get that data into the required format. Then it’s hands off for the lottery going forward. Once you've established it and add retailers or add products, which lotteries are constantly doing, it rolls in. And as it gets larger, there's just more value that comes out of it. Riley: As more jurisdictions onboard, everybody benefits from the more comprehensive view. Lotteries, retailers— everyone can perform better analysis. Worley: One of the positive outcomes of having a network of people dedicated to this RMI capability is that we can respond to more questions, as Gina mentioned, and even generate questions that in the past haven't been answered. The tools and the data-visualization keep improving, the human intelligence about what can be done with this information keeps expanding, the population of RMI participants is expanding. The turnaround of that information is much quicker as well – often within the same day. The tool is reaching critical mass for being able to identify and solve business problems. n To learn how one lottery is successfully applying RMI to drive, validate, and defend its business, watch a short video at vimeo.com/igtvideo/rmi. Contact RMInsights@IGT.com for information on joining the program.
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