What is it with people talking Intralot down? Several media outlets have been talking Intralot down this week and some newsagent suppliers are weighing in with their doom and gloom stories as well. My experience is that these commentators are ignorant. I would judge the introduction of Intralot as a success.
While it has was a bumpy start, each day has improved. To get a 700 retail point network running in a few weeks is a good effort. And, no, I have no deal, arrangement or anything else with Intralot!
At Forest Hill, where we have Tattersalls, Intralot scratch tickets sales are up 25% on Tattersalls scratch ticket sales for the same month a year earlier. Even after accounting for overall store growth, the Intralot scratch ticket result is excellent. The online games are well on the way to replacing the revenue from games Tattersalls lost.
At Frankston and Watergardens, locations where we did not have any soft gambling product, scratch ticket sales are very good and the online product slow. I am confident both will grow as our team in each store becomes more familiar with the gambling category, the games and we better fit the offer in the businesses.
I have taken the view that Itralot did not create this situation. The State Government did. As for Tattersalls…
Intralots figures are 72% BELOW EVEN THEIR OPTOMISTIC EXPECTATIONS Mark
,i used to think the comments on your blog were informed and credible AND WORTHY OF DEBATE,obviously when the turnover on intralots replacement games is down by more than 70% on the prior tatts games ,you must be using the numbers from your outlets that didnt previously have lotteries in them to base your assumptions on.
Normally you are all for comparison on a like for like basis,dont stray from that now……intralot is achieving LESS THAN 30% of their original sales expectations!!! and those expectations were optimistic anyway…long story short we as lotto agents are worse off!!
Helen,
My comments about Forest Hill are like for like. At that store, which has Tattersalls, we are dong better on Scratch ticket product and almost as good on the online product. I do not see the reported 70% drop.
I have not used any assumptions in my blog post.
mark
Sounded to me like Mark, from previous posts, has been doing what he always does, actively promoting products in his stores. If there is one thing that stands out from many things I have learnt from Mark is that activity results in sales.
He and his staff actively move stock around, set up displays, talk to customers, sell sell sell. I guess he thinks that is what retailing is about.
Some others think moaning and groaning and feeling sorry will make the money walk in the door.
It is a lot easier to moan and groan, but I think Mark probably has the better plan, and if his sales are up it is because he and the staff are selling, as usual.
Good on you Mark. I am sure there are some teething problems, and not all sites can be on line immediately. However you are right, it has been a government decision, and once it is past the point of protesting, and set in reality, then you might as well bring it into the store and sell the stuff.
Retailing can be tiring, and many retailers are tired. I take some inspiration from some of Mark’s blogs and it gets me thinking, and that is what most blogs are really basically about.
Clem,
We’ve certainly worked Intralot hard in each location but at Forest Hill the most since we were replacing existing business. Change is the key, as it always with retail. Intralot is forcing us to embrace change and we will look back on this as great for business.
I accept some may not be doing so well, they just need to keep trying until they find a way to make it work for them.
Mark
Sales of Scratchies are up 50% on prior with marketing at store level the key, Our original Intralot Scratchie sales were quite poor which was the motivation for kicking it along. Our games sales are 70% down and as such we are beginning game promotions this week to get them moving. film at 11.00 of our results.
I am new to gaming as tattslotto didn’t think we were worthy being a small town, sure it hasn’t been to expectations as yet but it is all about educating the public that there are alternatives to tattslotto.
Intralot have let us down a bit with point of sale and effective signage but if I want this thing to work, I will keep pushing along and feel that my 6 month plan on projected sales will come off.
Hi Mark,
it’s hard to see this initiative in a positive light for outlets that already had Tatts. $10K for something we already had is a bit rich. Based on sales, our breakeven is Aug next year. I especially feel for new agents who paid a % of turnover (1.5%?) as an accreditation fee to tatts. I see Brumby’s Intralot as big a financial hit as BE.
Mark, how many times have you had to personnally key in the 20 digits to check if a scratchie is a winner!! It’s embarassing.
For a customer who bowls up with tatts tickets to check and to play and wants to check a scratchie and play keno……..
.
Gerard,
I fought this when the Government was considering it and even ran a petition here which most newsagents ignored. Once the decision was made I moved on with a view to making the most of the decision.
I agree it has been a bumpy start. But the equipment is now running well now. As I said in my post, sales at Forest Hill are good, better than tatts. At my other outlets it is growing. I am confident we will break even in months, even in a very competitive environment.
Intralot is teaching us to be business people. The facts were very clear from the outset.
With Bill Express, the contracts were less clear. I see the two as quite different.
Mark
If I could turn back time…..
I would not have Intralot in my shop.
What?
“Intralot is teaching us to be business people?”
Dont know about you, but i dont want to learn how stuff up a launch,be ill prepared,have inadequate service levels,poorly researched games,staff that dont know their product,and then achieve
less than 25% of budget!
Where do i get one of these intralot MBA’s?
Helen,
Intralot has brought competition to lotteries. They have an open approach to territories. This is what I meant by my comment.
You and I have a different view and a different experience on Intralot. Nothing wrong with that.
Mark
Mark;
Gerard has hit the nail on the head with the % of turnover. When we purchased our outlet in April, the amount paid was calculated on the previous 12 months sales, which included scratchies, Keno, Tatts 2, and Wednesday Lotto. No discount was ever offered. It is a scam, and anyone purchasing a new outlet needs to be aware. Tatts need to make the adjustments for the products lost. We have lost $20K in commissions at our outlet when Tatts lost the licence on those products. To have to pay for the games they now don’t have is an insult; to pay a further $10K upfont to Intralot was a further insult.
To add insult to injury, the equipment, the customer service, the lack of knowledge of products from their staff etc, for a company the size of Intralot is far from acceptable.
We are pushing sales pretty hard, saying that, it is going to take a monumental effort to recoup the funds lost before we even start thinking about profit.
I don’t think Intralot have given us the guarantee that they will not pass on a further $10K after the licence expires either.
Vaughan,
I’ll leave Intralot to defend themselves. My blog post was about my own experiences across three locations.
Mark
Intralot has not done their research well in many fronts. People like big prizes. A lot of people do not like to win $1.10.
Intalot takes more timeto produce than Tattersalls.
I can not see that there is profit in selling Intralot games. Unless they change the prizes.
Has anyone tried to produce 100 games of Luckykeno spot 7? I got RSI trying to validate 15 scratchies in a row.
Mark says “What is it with people talking Intralot down? Several media outlets have been talking Intralot down this week and some newsagent suppliers are weighing in with their doom and gloom stories as well.”
It’s all well and good that you’re Intralot sales are going strong (and congratulations on that) but you’re in a very small minority? If you were like the rest of us who are well down on what we earned when Tatts had the product you’d know why there’s so much acrimony towards Intralot.
I must say that my scratchie sales are up slightly but that’s cold comfort when i’m around 25% down on sales overall when you factor in what i’ve lost since Keno, tatts 2 and Wednesday lotto was taken away. But whoopee doo, my scratchie sales are up slightly!
I’ve done everything i possibly can think of to boost sales but customers just aren’t coming to the party so to speak. For every success story like yours there’s 20 more that have seen this as a massive failure so get off your high horse asking what’s the deal with us bagging Intralot.
My scratchies are up 25% and the terminal games better than wednesday and keno. Maybe it is my area (out west). I am happy with Intralot.
Like Chris, Tattersalls thought our town was too small to bother with so I’m very happy to be able to sell Intralot products. Lucky Tix are doing really well and the online games are slow but getting stronger every day.
Although I’m somewhat annoyed with them about their lack of communication and slow roll out I think we’d be foolish to expect it to be running perfectly straight away.
Let’s face it, people just don’t like change and that includes newsagents as well as customers. We do need to be pro-active to educate our customers about any new product we get in store. We can’t rely on Intralot or any other company to do all our marketing for us.
I do however, believe Intralot has asked for a lot of the bad publicity themselves by not keepting newsagents happy and their very slow approach to advertising and marketing. There’s too many disgruntled newsagents out there who are publicly taking out their frustrations.
Ask yourselves, why is it we’ve never heard from newsagents about the ridiculously high charges that Tattersall’s applied, or there dictatorial rules about shop fittings, window displays, training requirements etc etc. Why? Because it’s always been that way and newsagents have simply accepted being treated like rubbish.
Just look at the pathetic way they’re treating Tatt’s agents now with all the fuss over not displaying Intralot products near their games. Grow up I say!!
im with mark as i explained on the last lotto blog, i am having great succses with intralot, with me already made more than the half of the money i outlaid. and ive also doubled my scratchie % compared to this time last year. I have also organized some x mas trees to be made up (because tatts wont be doing it and most likely either will intralot) which i will have ready to sell october. to retaliers aswell as customers.