I have trawled through sales data from my newsagency for the last year and can prove the value of Tuesday Oz Lotto jackpots to my business. Taking out Tuesdays in weeks of seasonal activity such as Christmas and Easter, the data shows that a jackpot of between $3 million and $8 million is worth at least 10% across all departments and a jackpot of $10 million to $15 million is worth in excess of 20% across all departments. This is for Tuesdays only. Tuesday is traditionally the quietest day in newsagencies. There are no new magazines released. It’s a day newsagents will take off if, indeed, they take a day off in the week.
I have a couple of points to make about this:
– Newsagents need to embrace the Oz Lotto and Powerball (Thursday) jackpots and leverage non lottery department sales from the increased lottery traffic. Some newsagents see this traffic as a chore. I reckon they are nuts. We jump on jackpots immediately. For example, this morning we have already made new syndicate product for the Powerball jackpot for next Thursday. The Syndicate promotional materials create a buzz and lead to the sale of other lottery product.
– Suppliers could do well to watch the jackpot opportunity and build an offer or some promotional activity around the traffic increase. For example, Powerball did not go off last night – this means that next Thursday there will be a jackpot. In my store I know that will deliver a around 10% sales kick on Thursday which some extra business on the days leading up. Thursday is a the day The Age has the green guide. Maybe there is an offer we could put with that or with TV Week which also sells well on a Thursday. I appreciate that responding to jackpots means micro management. However, the traffic boost shows that newsagents attract excellent bonus traffic on these days so why not leverage that?
Tattersalls is smart with their management of jackpots. They respond immediately with point of sale materials for use in store and on our LCD screen.