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May/June 2016 // PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL //
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Retailer Network Improvements
Retailer Expansion
TS and IGT acted upon a “one size does not fit all” approach
to retailer expansion. It cultivated a wider range of traditional
retailer trade styles, including managing its own full service
retailer locations, supporting a network of standard full-service
retailers, and developing a network of instant-only retailers. This
broad range of retailer options helped TS give its players what
they wanted and added a new layer of diversity across the lottery
retailer landscape. As an illustration, today TS manages its own
network of 850 high-traffic retailer points of sales, which include
92 flagship stores across three different formats (shops, islands,
and kiosks).
Introduction of Lottery Vending Machines
Further TS worked with IGT to introduce lottery vending
machines to again give players more options and choices through
an additional Lottery point-of-sale channel. The lottery sought to
optimize location (high traffic and proper visibility) in additional to
personnel (personal engagement of agents, adequate training, and
high levels of machine service) to develop this network of vending
machines. Within two-and-a-half years of launching this initiative,
TS deployed 400 machines to take a non-existent distribution
channel and grow it to nearly 4% of all instant ticket sales.
Retailer Optimization
The third retailer strategy TS and IGT worked together on was
providing stronger retailer optimization by giving retailers better
tools. The shining example of this area was an online platform
that each regional lottery office could use to generate retailer
optimization strategies. The website included a common space for
the regions to share comments, ideas, best practices, designs, and
solutions with each other. It also provide the means for each region
to directly shop for various items (e.g. furniture, dispensers, signs,
and other POS materials) to act upon strategies seperated from
the idea exchange in real-time. This site allowed TS to efficiently
manage the process of POS modernization and optimization.
Rebranding and Redesign of Point of Sale Area
In conjunction with the retailer optimization effort, TS and IGT
collaborated to rebrand and redesign the point-of-sale areas in
the TS retail network and its flagship stores. This included making
the instant product line more visible, displaying a wider variety of
tickets, and setting aside dedicated space for winning ticket display.
The Results
As part of an overall strategy to grow instant tickets, the work done
across a range of the Six Pillars of Instant Success in Poland led to
dramatic results. The number of tickets TS sold, annually, grew by
nearly 80% from 2.9 billion in 2006 to 5.3 billion last year. Further,
ticket sales grew by more than twelve-fold (from 62 million zloty
to 772 million). Executing upon a number of the pillars helped TS
dramatically increase the number of tickets sold, sky-rocket total
sales revenue, and truly bring its instant ticket business to life.