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// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // May/June 2015
interact with other people and to make and touch things. Therefore,
retailers are responding to the new challenge through innovation, and
the most prominent ones are investing heavily in developing digital
marketing and ecommerce capabilities: 9 of the top 12 ecommerce
retailers are companies with established brick-and-mortar operations
(source: Global ecommerce Research, Internet Top 500 Retailers in
2013) who are reacting to the evolving context.
As a result, the line between brick-and-mortar and online operations
is blurring; more and more corporations are focusing on the
omnichannel experience they can provide to create new sources of
value. A few examples:
›
Established retailers are pushing hard to develop their digital
capabilities; Walmart now operates ecommerce websites in 10
countries; its largest, Walmart.com, sees 45 million visits a month,
a number that is growing every year.
›
More and more retailers are offering their physical stores as point
of delivery for goods purchased online; on the other end it is
rumored that Amazon is considering building physical stores.
›
Apple appointed Angela Ahrendts, the former CEO of
luxury brand Burberry, SVP for online and retail stores, clearly
recognizing the opportunity to managing the two channels as a
single integrated means to reach out to customers.
Mobile is part of this trend, and it is increasing its market shares
among online sales:
›
According to Criteo, in Q1 2015, 34% of all global ecommerce
transactions, and 29% in the U.S., were via mobile.
›
A senior executive at Walmart declared that over the 2014
Holiday season, mobile represented “70% of the orders … taken
through [their] digital business.”
Lotteries are taking part in this transformation; since the 1990s, the
interactive channel has been a key international growth driver. Today
several European lotteries see more than 25% of their sales being
generated through digital channels (see Figure 1).
iLottery is also a key driver tomodernize the lottery brand and to enable
lotteries to be more relevant for consumers. The interactive channel:
›
Attracts the young adult demographic that traditionally has been
more difficult to serve effectively (see Figure 2 for an example
from a European jurisdiction of the demographics of different
games/channels).
›
Enables innovative content and innovative ways to promote, for
example through social spaces, traditional games.
These are all opportunities that need to be embraced by lotteries and
their most loyal evangelists, the retailers.
In lottery and the general retail industry, interactive does not
necessarily cannibalize retail sales, and can in fact be leveraged not
only to improve player convenience but also to make the retailers
a more attractive destination for consumers. The increased use
of personal devices and smartphones can accelerate in-store
innovations and improve the retail experience. New devices such as
digital mirrors, which take a 360-degree video, allowing clients to see
Age Distribution of Customer Base (percent)
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Internet Lottery
Retail Instant Tickets Retail Lotto Games
18-24
24-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
>64
7%
1%
10%
13%
50%
19%
19%
16%
20%
21%
9%
15%
26%
22%
14%
12%
7%
19%
Figure 2 – Player Demographics of Interactive Lottery vs. Retail Lottery
(example of a European lottery jurisdiction)
International Benchmark on Internet Sales Penetration over Total Lottery Sales (percent)
Finland
Denmark
Sweden
UK
Norway
New Zealand
Switzerland
Portugal
France
Luxembourg
3.6%
3.7%
3.7%
4.2%
7.9%
9.7%
17.9%
28.4%
34%
40.1%
Figure 1 – Top European Lotteries for Interactive Sales
