54 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2022 The Future is Now for Lottery Retail Modernizationcontinued from page 20 can help. “Whether you have a single store owner or a chain with dozens of stores, there are pressures faced by all lottery retailers,” he said. “You’ve got to be profitable, and you have to protect your market share. Your costs go up every year, and that’s why they are looking to increase sales and margins. The lottery industry can help here by providing technology which reduces the workload for retailers to sell our products. As in-lane grows in popularity, we’ll see more retailers use these programs to help overcome some of the issues they face. This will help make it a simpler customer experience and remove a large portion of the cost for retailers to sell lottery products. I believe that this is the way that lottery will be sold at retail in the very near future because it is a better business model than what we have now. It also creates a better customer experience which is the key to ever increasing sales in the future.” Of course, any discussion of modernizing and improving the retail experience should also include how you get players through the doors. That’s where Carmanah Signs excels, and Max Goldstein provided some guidance on this important piece of the retail puzzle. “Consumers expect a digital experience at retail - if lotteries don’t deliver this experience, they risk hiding in plain sight,” he said. “With consumers making fewer visits to retailers, lotteries need to engage consumers while they’re actually in-store. Dedicated lottery merchandising space must be optimized to maintain existing footprint or risk losing it. Carmanah provides the digital communication platform at retail, which enables lotteries to provide fresh, targeted content where and when they want it - be it Digital Menu Boards, Digital PlayStations, and/ or small footprint Interactive Tablets. “To accomplish this, lotteries need to plan and budget for these executions to compete with other fast-moving consumer products. Now is the time for lotteries to invest in retail modernization to ensure future growth after two years of record sales.” Matt Isaac of Pollard Banknote said that expanding the retail footprint is key to increasing sales, and technologies both big and small can help here. “We are testing Select 4™, our four-game instant ticket vending machine, in non-traditional locations such as bars, restaurants and fraternal organizations which might not currently have the foot traffic to support a larger type of product offering,” he said. “If we focus on expanding into these types of locations where people are spending time, and perhaps reaching people who aren’t as familiar with our products, we can start to incrementally expand our base. For a ticket printer like Pollard, working with technology companies helps us expand our footprint by reaching customers where they are spending their money. An example of this is the growth we’ve seen in dollar stores, and we’ve been very focused on different ways of selling product to reach that trade style. Retail solutions like ScanActiv™, Scratch and WINdow™ and introducing games that have a digital component are all examples of technology we can utilize to succeed adding players to our lottery base.” Sarah Taylor said that attracting customers to the lottery through different initiatives is critical given the increasing competition many states are facing. “iGaming and sports wagering have changed how customers, retailers and legislators perceive the gaming landscape,” she said. “But lottery is unique where most of the money goes to designated causes. So, when we look at initiatives that could deliver lottery products directly to customers, like Amazon, Door Dash, or grocery curbside along with their products, we need to consider working with our stakeholders so we can compete in the modern retail environment.” This need for flexibility is a driving force behind Abacus’ work. “We have invested enormous resources integrating with retail systems such as Toshiba, Fujitsu and NCR,” Terry said. “We want to make sure that no matter what system the retailer uses, we can work with it to bring lottery directly to where the customers are making their purchases. Initiatives like self-serve lottery have been happening in Europe for many years. The marketplace is changing fast, and lotteries should rely on their vendors to quickly and efficiently modernize their systems and make sure lottery is not left behind as the retail environment changes. Gary wrapped up the panel with comments similar to the adage “fish where the fish are.” “We need to blanket the market at this point, hit every possible retail and consumer touch-point we can,” he said. “We have to move from where we like to sell our products to where the consumers like to buy them. And there are so many locations where we’re just not in yet. I’m not yet measuring sales in revenue from in-lane because I don’t care about sales. I’m measuring the breadth of deployment. We just need to get our foot in the door, establish the business relationship with the retailers who will deploy this technology. The sales will come, and we’ll be a stronger industry for having deployed the technologies of retail modernization.” n “We have to move from where we like to sell our products to where the consumers like to buy them.”
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