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See the Tatts screens in action in a newsagency

For those who have not seen two Tatts screens in action being the counter in an outlet, here is a video I shot yesterday in a newsagency in Sydney.

It looks good, impressive. However, and it is a big however, the content I saw did not reflect the average shopper wait and counter time. In the time I was at the store, 20% of customers looked in the direction of the screen and no one appeared engaged with the content on the screen.

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Lotteries

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  1. Michael

    Exactly this Mark. You are spot on.
    We have had the screens for a fair few months now and have found it to be negative in the customers eyes. Its a simple fix in my mind really. Simply have one screen displaying all the jackpots while the other does the other advertising. I understand what they were going for here but it does not work.
    Customers will not wait to see the correct screen flash up and thus does not sell the way it is supposed to.

    4 likes

  2. Mark Fletcher

    If I was in a business with these screens I’d be looking at medical implications of being in front of the screens all day.

    4 likes

  3. BOB

    If you look at the stock ticket on the lucky lotteries slide, you’ll see DNK 1.337 and BLZ 0.420

    DNK and 1.337 are terms used by the gaming community to describe something being awesome or cool.

    BLZ 0.420 however, BLZ is blaze it, and 420 is a term used for use of marijuana.

    Does this mean ‘The Lott’ think the use of marijuana is awesome or cool?

    1 likes

  4. Paul

    Medical implications ?? Wouldn’t they be behind you

    2 likes

  5. Andrew T

    Paul, don’t be belligerent. You’ll get blocked

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  6. Mark Fletcher

    Paul I’m serious. What evidence is there about what emanates from the screens? Do they give off heat? The answers could be they are okay. I am suggesting information should be shared.

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  7. pat

    they throw off a hell of a lot of heat!
    Having half a dozen posters up told the customer what was on offer as soon as they entered the store
    The screens with a loop of four adds dont tell the same story

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  8. ERIC

    Mark, I felt uncomfortable standing inf ront of the screen serving customers all day , I can feel the radiation and something I can’t explain.By the way posters work better than these 2 screens to sell jackpot

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  9. Carl

    Our little drive black box gets red hot! We have asked our rep if they could scroll the jackpots continuously along the bottom to no avail!

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  10. Shauns

    I have googled the hell out of sitting next to a tv all day and have found nothing …. was worth a shot . Where we have to put ours will be less than half a meter gap between us and the tv I can see it getting very hot standing next to it all day .

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  11. Steve

    I’d be more concerned at the power cost of running 2 screens for 60,80+ plus hours a week (168 if you never turn them off) than the possible health consequence. I had 1 Digi POS screen installed a couple of months ago and my last power bill was noticeably higher.

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  12. Russell McDonnell

    ROI will not be forthcoming for installing, at a very unreasonable cost, the Tatts shopfit while Tatts continually drive sales away from our retail businesses by heavily marketing online sales and pushing this purchasing option to our customers. Online sales have increased significantly while retail sales have decreased since the last Golden Casket shopfit but we have had to incur a greater cost this time installing this shopfit for Tatts. A customer who understands the ramifications of pitching online sales to retail customers, expressed to us, when we told him that Tatts designed the new retail shopfit and left the bill with the Tatts retailers – ‘This would be the greatest act of Facism I have seen’. (I have no problem with Tatts driving their business online).

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  13. Mark R

    This is just another example where “marketing experts” have push for a modern image regardless.

    Did they sample the screen concept with a group of potential Tatts customers ,it appears not.

    In the past I have see a number of changes to the Lotto counter display area has any of the upgrades driven more sales well No .

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  14. Paul S

    @ Mark @2 . You are correct re medical implications. I actually have suffered from vestibular migraines and I brought this issue up with my neurologist and they said being that close to a screen with bright lights and changing messages could potentially cause an issue or worse in the cases of epilepsy sufferers. Looks like Tatts didn’t do a proper due diligence.

    I guess there could be a law suit coming up if it turns out this correct. Will find out soon enough myself.

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  15. Mark Fletcher

    Paul thanks for sharing this personal implications. If I was being forced to put i the screens I’d want from Tatts a statement re health and safety as well as a statement as to the commercial benefits of the demanded capital investment.

    Having seen the screens the heat and other emissions would concern me.

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  16. Ben

    I heard this great story the other day.

    A Dad went shopping with his son who needed a suit to go to his school formal. When they got to the store the son went straight for the $1000+ suits, but Dad said “son you realise you have to pay for this”. The son looked at suits more in his price range and ended up getting a great suit that he liked for $399. When they took it up to the counter Dad pulled out his wallet and paid. The son said thanks Dad but I thought that I was paying for the suit. The Dad said “This way you bought something you could afford not what you thought I could afford”.

    Perhaps the retail POS would look quite different and cost less if it was Tatts that was paying for it!

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  17. Katie

    Anyone else had the new ISI dispenser installed? Would love to hear other’s opinions on health and safety issues incurred by staring into that strip of LEDs all day. Serve one customer then look away and your vision is all dotty. I mentioned it to the RTM (and also that customers have complained about it) and she basically said everyone will just need to get over it

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  18. Chris

    I do not like the fact that if I have it operating I have no control over the content. Tatts has full control (unless I hit the power button). I had an agent who has it installed tell me that there is a yearly fee as well for the graphics of around $1k. #nojoyments

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  19. pat

    Katie ,
    I have the new dipenser and yes its blinding.
    Have tried to remove top strip of lights but its all sealed up.
    Customers point to which scratchie they want but have to inform them I cant see.

    1 likes

  20. Katie

    Pat,
    I had the LEDs switched off when the RTM visited, oops! Not happy.
    They say it was trialled.. would love to know who approved it to be rolled out. My list of complaints about it is extensive

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  21. Paul S

    @ Chris @ 18 . What state are you in and who told you that ?

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  22. Peter

    Chris @ 18, This lack of control over content I see as a big issue. Who says they will not confine content to just Lotto that is friendly to my business. My understanding is they can show what they want to. I gave also noticed something about a graphics charge for content which we do not control. More research needed.

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  23. Amanda

    Tatts have advertised for 41 new positions on seek.com.au over the past few weeks, with 21 of those positions earning over $100k.

    If you look at the positions advertised, there is a clear intention to grow their presence on the internet to the detriment of retailers.

    Wake up people!

    1 likes

  24. Shauns

    Amanda , I just had a look and yes that’s a hell of a lot of jobs . Looks to me that they are going all in with online .

    0 likes

  25. HENRY HENDERSON

    Amanda, what can we do?

    0 likes

  26. Billy B

    I see this development as a very big concern. Tatts have not communicated theie plans to me. Except to say reassure me without any evidence of what they say.

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  27. Mark Fletcher

    Henry, configure your business to not rely on Tatts. There is only ONE DIRECTION for in store purchases of lottery products.

    Billy this is not a new development. It’s been developing for years.

    The Seek ad is nothing when you look at their App and how easy it is to use and how you can do subscriptions.

    Your prime task as a retailer is to boost your business. Tatts products will not boost your business.

    Yes, I have been saying this for several years. I am right. But you are better off not realising that in a few years.

    3 likes

  28. Chris

    If newsagents stopped relying on Tatts to bring in customers they would work harder on their business and make the whole channel better. Too many are lazy and just rely on agent income which brings down the whole channel. Potential buyers of newsagency’s are now asking for figures that show the level of reliance on lottery products. The higher the reliance the lower the chance of the business being bought due to the fact lotteries is moving online.
    The stronger you are without Tatts makes your case against them even better. If you are reliant on Tatts to survive then you will not argue against any Tatts changes as you will be worried of losing your agency agreement. If you are strong without gambling then when Tatts come into your store demanding you upgrade you have the power to tell them where to go. No-one should come into YOUR business and tell you what to do!

    1 likes

  29. Chris

    Paul S. #21 I am in NSW Lotteries jurisdiction and sorry I am not releasing the name of a newsagent who spoke to me in confidence.

    0 likes

  30. Mark Fletcher

    100% Chris!

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  31. Mark R

    Those Newsagents who are not prepared to adapt their business from the traditional model ,will fail whether they have Tatts or not.

    If you have Tatts use it to your advantage the extra foot traffic Tatts generate gives you a great opportunity to try new products and transform you business ,this combined with a strong Face Book presence should give you growth in higher margin lines.

    Yes Tatts are trying to drive online sales but at the moment Tatts agency income is still reasonably stable .

    You have the time now to put effort into your shop whilst you still have the Tatts income .

    2 likes

  32. Pat

    There is an ongoing charge for the screens, assuming your franchise agreement has it. The excuse given is to cover the costs of creating the content which is BS, considering the amount they are saving with not sending so much promo material.

    “Plus an amount equivalent to 0.05% (excl. GST) of Subscriptions for all Entries in all Public
    Lotteries conducted by the Franchisor upon commencement of the operation of DigiPOS
    Equipment in the Outlet.” – NSWL Franchise Informaiton Kit 2016 pg 14

    Same for Qld.

    1 likes

  33. Michael

    Pat my main upset is that if i am the highest ranked agent and thus my turnover is highest of all then i pay the most for these screens. Why when i dont get anything additional from them compared to the person who has the smallest turnover.

    1 likes

  34. Mark Fletcher

    I agree with you Michael. There is no increased for Tatts in terms of content production os distribution. It is like a penalty tax on you.

    0 likes

  35. Billy B

    At seek.com there are 21 jobs advertised for Tatts Brisbane and 1 for tatts Sydney. All IT jobs for highly qualified ppl.

    0 likes

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