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$110M up for grabs next week in lottery jackpots

Newsagents with lotteries will have their work cut out for them next week with Powerball jackpotting last night to $40M and OzLotto jackpotting Tuesday to $70 million. These business owners need to serve the significant influx in traffic, ensure existing shoppers and one-off Christmas shoppers are not turned off by the lottery traffic and they need to leverage the lottery traffic for more value than agency business.

If I had lotteries in my newsagencies I’d be taking time today to plan to make the most of the opportunity and to take steps to neuter any negative impact of the jackpot traffic.

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  1. CraigL

    A beautiful thing it is. A $100 Mill Oz Lotto X-mas eve would be even better.

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  2. allan wickham

    Not sure about that CraigL, our centre normally employs security guards at Xmas time to stop the punchups in the carpark………throw in $100 mill amongst an already crazy time and who knows what will happen. I`m not knocking back the extra commission it will bring but I am worried about the impact it may have on the Xmas dollar.

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  3. David @ Angle Vale Newsagency

    Rubs hands with glee hahahahaha.

    Yes, it is great, BUT it is also a huge challenge to get the lotto buyers to see anything else. They don’t even notice the Lotto promo signs as they approach the counter. 🙁 I have to tell them about the latest jackpots, free ticket promos, etc.

    The only bit working so far is to either engage in conversation if the queue isn’t long or to have product “in their face” when they have to move counters to pay EFT for lotto. Yes, I take cards for lotto and wear the loss on the commission, but would lose a lot more if I made lotto cash only.

    My goal is to make my POS terminal work as hard as my lotto terminal – and today we are pushing Black Friday with 13% discount on gifts, stationery, cards and confectionery. We are offering syndicates with 13 shares. We are dressing in black and have the sales message, in black, on our windows.

    Friday the 13th – Lucky for us.

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  4. Jenny

    I’m crossing my fingers Oz Lotto will go off this Tuesday, any other time of the year I would be thinking the opposite but not for Xmas eve.
    We are always crazily busy with lotto & scratchies right up to closing time and that’s enough for me.
    It’s not always about the money, by Xmas eve myself and the staff are totally buggered and are more interested in getting away to be with family and start our celebrations.

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  5. rick

    Will also start to have an impact on superdraws sales if it continues to jackpot, who wants a paltry $30million

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  6. rick

    Will also start to have an impact on superdraws sales if it continues to jackpot, who wants a paltry $30million

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  7. h

    Love it, drives foot traffic and we have a bunch of cute items to put right in front of the noses of the queueing folks to add to their “basket”. I use casual staff who mostly get LESS hours over the Public Holiday season, so they are PLEASED I can give them extra shifts to cope with busy lotto days.
    We all love the buzz.
    Great Friday 13th promo David !

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  8. June

    I agree with Mark that the huge lotteries for next week can have a detrimental effect on the “real” sales that we are trying to achieve at this time of the year, because, let’s face it, Xmas is our best period for the whole year.
    I find it worrying now that I am in a smaller shop because people still want to bring in their trollies from Coles and park it right in the front of the shop.
    I have signs on the windows but to no avail.
    People get very rude and impatient as well and if we don’t have time to serve them in the manner to which they’ve become accustomed I feel they might leave the shop,
    Some customer (don’t know who) put something like that on our FB page and I
    was quick to delete it because it was a negative comment about us “not having enough staff” and we had 3 on at the time so we really can’t do much better with a much smaller premises.

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  9. Jenny

    June, why do people bring trolleys into our small shops? Not very logical thinkers are they.
    Would be so much easier to pop into all the small shops first then go to the supermarket.
    And then they might buy all their magazines and cards from us rather than the supermarket. Brilliant!

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  10. Brett

    The big Jackpots give me the chance to “Candy Lane” the punters. Running a queue system that takes them right through the shop – smiling!

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  11. CraigL

    Hey Rick, pick me. True comment though. The $30 million syndicates are going to prove to be a problem to sell. Talk about confusing. We are advertising syndicates in 4 different draws. Normal Saturday, $30 Mill superdraw, $70 mill OZ and $40 Mill Powerball. The syndicate wall looks quite busy.

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  12. Peter

    Think in both Jackpots do not go off next week that will make the Christmas Week huge

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  13. Mark Fletcher

    The sales data I see for many newsagencies shows that massive jackpots lead to a sales decline in most other departments in newsagencies.

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  14. Jeff

    Worst time for a jackpot. Have to add staff to make sure gifts are not hurt and cards too. Net situation is no gain in GP.

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  15. allan wickham

    I have been thinking and planning…..

    I am really hopeful that the $70 million goes off this week. $2 million on a xmas eve will give us much better shop sales than a potential $100 million will. I know we can all do candy lanes etc but my opinion is a $100 million jackpot will just create a lotto only frenzy. $2 million will allow us to concentrate on what should be our best day of the year. I want to be able to put my time and efforts into the xmas customer, so I will be planning for that. If we do get a $100 million draw on xmas eve then it is going to be “throw the doors open” and see what happens. If it does happen to jackpot then the esky I normally pack on xmas day will probably get emptied when I get home xmas eve.

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  16. Alan Teh

    My eBuddha is working hard for the big jackpots. Please take a closer look of this gadget to increase lottery sales. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Willagee-Park-News/333075126797559
    Thanks

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  17. michelle

    God Bless the jackpots! Just finished my week and yes the “new bods” are definitely focused on lotto but whilst they wait (we only have 1 terminal) they have to look at the rest of whats in the shop. An extra card here, a small gift or toy there and the result is my best weeks takings for non lotto by far and all in 100% lines. I feel next week will be better again. I don’t want to get ahead of myself yet but I took a huge risk and went very very heavy on Toys, Puzzles, Games and Gifts this year and it seems to be paying off…… so far. Home now for a well deserved red or 2 ready for the insanity I hope next week will be.

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  18. Bruce

    I agree with you Michelle, the big jackpots bring in a lot of people and with a bit of merchandising skill and a bit of crazy talking as well we are having a great non lotto week!

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  19. Amanda

    Well done, Michelle.

    We have the opposite effect. Big Lotto’s are detrimental to the rest of the business during big seasonal events (i.e. christmas).

    Hoping jackpots go off this week so Lotto customers are not congesting the store.

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  20. shauns

    Who is sick of this line “70 million is way to much for one person why can’t they make they other divisions bigger” driving me NUTS , no matter how many times you explain that they money wouldn’t be there without a very large first division it is like talking to brick walls .

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  21. Jarryd Moore

    shauns,

    Its the same as trying to explain the concept of systems and how they are just x number of standard games made up from x number of numbers.

    Or “pick” games … same thing.

    Both are just consolidated ways of expressing x number of standard games.

    The number of people ask “is it better value to get” xxx number of games … no, you’re paying for the same statistical chance per game (rounded to the nearest 5 cents). This is apparently a very difficult concept to grasp.

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  22. shauns

    OH “can i have the winning ticket” yep havn’t heard that one all day ,

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  23. Mark Fletcher

    Back when I sold lotteries I loved the eighty-something lady who wanted to touch me for luck.

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  24. shauns

    yep some make you rub it on your shoulder or wherever some refuse to take it if you place it on the bench because it is bad luck to touch plastic or something like that its actually pretty funny most of the time

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  25. Jarryd Moore

    Yeah Mark … “for luck” 😉

    Now if I asked to touch the cute girl selling lotto … “for luck” of course … suddenly its called sexual harassment.

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  26. Allan Wickham

    Very sad to here about the winning outlet….. In my opinion should not have been allowed to open in this centre.

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  27. Allan Wickham

    Hear*

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  28. Jenny

    What a great story, 10 very lucky ladies.
    My family think I’m nuts but I honestly would not want to win $70 million.
    I thinks it’s great that there are 10 people to share that much money.

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  29. Shaun's

    I find it funny that those that don,t want to win the big ones will not play the 1 million draws I think in their head they think that if they say it enough old mate up stairs will let them win because they are not gready .

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  30. Shaun's

    Alan what do you mean about the winning outlet

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  31. Allan wickham

    Shaun’s,

    The winning outlet is a “kiosk” that has been in place for 2 weeks. This particular centre had two news agencies in it but one closed down because it was obviously run badly. The one news agency that remained has kicked goals. I have a group syndicate involvement with this owner and can tell you he is nothing short of amazing, proactive, dedicated to the growth of lottery products. Our group syndicates would not exist if it were not for this owner….full stop. He protested about this kiosk going in but I am guessing (knowing the man) he was far to polite. It’s just bullshit is all I can say, I wish I could be more articulate but I can’t……it’s f*#%ing bullshit. Tatts, landlords, mag distributors, some suppliers…….the writings on the wall people………this is one screwed up industry that is facing huge problems…..get lubed up or get ready to bite the pillow.

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  32. Mark Fletcher

    Allan Tatts has an inconsistent approach to appointing representatives / locations. This is evidenced in their move into 7-Eleven, Coles and a bunch of local situations.

    While any outlet should cheer such a win, I, like you, feel for the long-term newsagent this new outlet is competing with. I wish the luck had fallen a few metres the other way.

    On the suppliers who screw newsagents over, this will keep happening until more newsagents take a stand. Take the discussion on delayed billing. We should fight harder on this and stop our businesses being abused.

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  33. Amanda

    In our region, NSW Lotteries (Tatts) radio advertising consists of a statement “get into your NSW Lotteries outlet or your nearest 7-eleven”. No mention of newsagencies or the news agency chains.

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  34. h

    Just imagine how peeved we’d all be if the winning ticket was bought online !

    I think it is all still all about customer service. A kiosk with one machine and one staffer can only sell so much. People may queue at the “lucky” kiosk for a few weeks, but not for long, The other newsagent with lotto will not look back, it is all about relationships after all, knowing the customers name and habits helps.

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  35. David @ Angle Vale Newsagency

    I’m very new to this business, but am working hard to build my shop in to a destination. On either side of me are the second and 16th ranked outlets for the state. They perform well, partly due to hard work, partly due to he gambling instinct in the local clientèle.

    I am not bitching about their presence, I am working on attracting some of their business to me. They buy there because it is close to where they work, but I am closer to where they live.

    They insist on cash only for lotteries, I will take Eftpos and wear the small loss as I build my business.

    Last month I was 122nd in the state, but that was based on only 2 week’s trading. I expect to be within the top 100 in December. My aim from there is to be in the top 20% each month.

    My cash flow forecast is for lotteries commissions to cover all my overheads, leaving me to concentrate on all the other aspects of the business fro wages and profit.

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  36. Gary

    David, great attitude. Head down, bum up, proactive and no whinging. You will do great.
    Tatts may not be perfect but they provide me with a growing, low maintenance income.
    Choice between “high maintenance, high floor space, labour intensive, low grossing, decreasing sales, prone to theft, mags” and “press a button for cash, no stock, low maintenance, growing sales, low commission, lotto.
    Bloody hard choice.

    2 likes

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