Australian Newsagency Blog

The Powerball jackpot of $20 million is timely for us.  While it is nowhere near this week’s Oz Lotto jackpot, experience shows $20 million as a trigger point for bringing casual players to the Powerball game.
We are engaging some of the successful tactics from the last few weeks of Oz Lotto jackpots to drive good […]

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Okay, so the Oz Lotto Million Jackpot went off last night.  That first division reached $106 million says something about Australians and their love of gambling.
Today, we turn out attention to several fronts to leverage the ticket checking and minor prize traffic which will flow from the Oz Lotto draw.
Powerball is $15 million - we […]

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Today is better than if it were a Tuesday before Christmas thanks of the Oz Lotto $90 Million Jackpot.  I say better because this is about more than being busy.  The customers are cheerful about the shared experience.  They are enjoying being part of this.  We are too, it’s busy and fun.  Other products are […]

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Syndicates for the Oz Lotto $90 million jackpot are very popular.  I put this down to the coverage syndicates have received in the media and to the size of the first division prize - people are happy to share.  They also like to be part of something.  Our customers are buying syndicate shares in addition […]

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While researching how others have merchandised major lottery jackpots overseas, I also found these terms offered to lottery retailers in New Mexico:

6% Sales commission earned on every ticket sold.
1% Cashing commission earned on all winning tickets paid at your store up to $600.
Sales incentives for meeting quarterly sales goals, based on the Lottery’s Annual Retailer […]

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This is the poster our creative team has put together to promote the $90 million Oz Lotto jackpot as our Tattersalls collateral will not arrive until Friday.
We have created A4, A3 and A6 sizes.  The A6 are flyers with our store details to be given to non lottery customers.
We are dressing the store cleverly at […]

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A new record has been set with the announcement that first division in OzLotto is worth $90 million next Tuesday.  Our newsagency already has syndicates up and selling.  Our in-house creative people are developing collateral we can use to promote the unexpected $90 million prize.
Suppliers to newsagents need to understand that this next week will […]

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Nothing else will matter for newsgaents with lotteries over the next seven days with OzLotto not going off last night.  The first division prize pool has officially jackpotted to $60 million.  However, given that the first division pot for last night reached $59 million, I would not be surprised to see the pot reach $80 […]

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As a result of discussion here I have reviewed the financial benefit measured in my newsagency from last night’s $20 million lotto superdraw. I only looked at yesterday because this is when we saw the biggest increase in traffic driven by the $20 million on offer.
We prepared our business for the traffic with good-value […]

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In response to queries here and privately, here is a quick overview of how we do Syndicates.  The photo (click for a larger version) shows the syndicate wall for tonight’s $20 million draw.  It is deliberately not too slick.  My view is that if it is too slick it loses the value of being fresh […]

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I was talking to a colleague about the OzLotto $50 million jackpto earlier this week who said that his experience was that in weeks with major lottery jackpots, sales were significantly down in other departments of newspapers, magazines, stationery and cards. This has not been my my experience.  I see growth in key departments as […]

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Like many newsagents we are promoting the OzLotto $50 million jackpot in-store at every opportunity.  From the front of the shop into our Tattersalls area we have gone all out.  At our counters, too, we pitch the offer in writing and through our service.  In addition to the lottery marketing ideas I published yesterday, we […]

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With OzLotto jackpotting last night to $50 million, we have an excellent opportunity to leverage the bonus traffic.  Here are some initial thoughts:

Set a goal.  Decide now the growth you want on last week’s OzLotto sales.  Track this daily.  The growth target ought to be at least 50% up on last week.  Offer a reward […]

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OzLotto jackpotting to $30 million is most welcome.  We are making the most of this with fresh promotion in-store and a bonus offer to team members if we reach a self-imposed sales stretch.  We have configured our store to leverage the trafffic boost opportunity.  We will derive greater benefit from this than the stimulus package.

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We have gone out early with increased promotion for the OzLotto jackpot and it is paying off - we would usually wait for the jackpot to reach $25 million.  It has been a considerable time since Oz or Powerball jackpotted and we figured a $20 million division one prize was worth promoting as since lottery […]

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Crikey today published a story by Alex Mitchell about newsagent interest in purchasing a stake in NSW Lotteries.  I mentioned this on May 1 when NANA, the NSW Newsagent’s Association wrote to members announcing its intention. The Crikey story has some interesting points:
Newsagencies in NSW have been complaining loudly about the forthcoming privatization of […]

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Our Tattslotto syndicate sales have been strong for the $20 million superdraw tonight.  Regulars and newcomers to syndicates have delivered excellent sales.  I felt we needed a larger prize to entice people. I was wrong.  Our team has done a great job promoting syndicate sales.
newsXpress in partnership with Golden Casket ran two large syndicates through […]

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The ACCC announced today that it is proposes to allow Victorian lottery agents to collectively negotiate the terms and conditions of their contracts with the two companies licensed to operate lotteries in Victoria, Tattersall’s and Intralot.

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I first heard four weeks ago that sales of Tattersalls lottery products in 7-eleven convenience stores were not as good as expected.  Since then I have heard it from several more people, some of whom I would expect to have good market intelligence.  Maybe my concerns and those of others have not been realised by […]

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I have been working through business data for a newsagent and noticed a change in scratch ticket denominations sold over the last year. Customers are buying more of the lower value tickets in their store. That is, more $1 and $2 tickets and fewer $5 and $10 tickets. They are buying cheaper […]

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I was at the announcement at Crown Casino today where Intralot was announced as a sponsor of Melbourne Victory.  This sponsorship will raise the Intralot profile.  Leo Watling, head of Intralot in Australia, drew a good analogy between the Victory’s launch in AFL crazy Melbourne and Intralot’s launch eight months ago in the face of […]

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NANA, the Association representing newsagents in NSW and the ACT has announced its intent to participate in the sale of NSW Lotteries.  While short on details, the plan appears to be that NANA will join with other parties to bid.  It will be interesting to see if newsagents stump up the cash to be a […]

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We are using the empty space below one of our Tattersalls screens to promote the new Mince cookbook from ACP this week.  I picked up the idea from one of the comments made by another newsagent here a week back - they sold out.  The greater value we extract from high traffic areas like Tattersalls […]

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The Age published a good report from Michael Bachelard yesterday about how Tattersalls has blocked Intralot from accessing the best real estate for lottery product and the possibility of a class action.  Michael contacted me on Thursday, after he had been working on the story for some time - I was happy to answer his […]

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The Tattersalls network in Victoria is up and down again today.  Retailers cannot get through to Tattersalls on the phone. Being the last day before the Easter break, customers are understandably angry.

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