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// Public Gaming International // March/April 2015
the forecasts are, it is clear that in addition to providing new ways for
companies and their customers to communicate, apps are reshaping
what games mean and how consumers expect to (and are willing to)
pay for much of their entertainment. With a cluttered market and
already high app abandonment rates, it isn’t enough to build an app
or two and hope the market will find them. Success means acquisi-
tion, retention and engagement strategies, user inspired design and
function, a continuous supply of new content, segmentation and
ongoing test and learn. Entertainment, whether it’s the website, app,
loyalty or other, digital is the most important component to deliver-
ing an integrated, customer-centric solution. How digital is planned
for, resourced and valued requires moving digital out of a communi-
cation channel and into its own newly defined space.
Gaining Retail Support is Beginning to
Look a Lot Different
Not only is digital the new foundation to customer-centered so-
lutions, it is also influencing what the retailer wants from lottery.
Whether for mobile communications and promotions or digital tools
to improve the shopper experience or any number of ways digital can
be leveraged, retailers are looking for ways this technology can yield
value for their business. While there is still same store sales growth to
be gained through traditional tactics such as distribution optimiza-
tion, digital jackpot signs, retail incentive programs, and corporate
account collaboration, retailers want more. More attention, more
value, more digital innovation, more analytics, more efficiency and
more customization. They too are faced with increasing competition
and the same shifting market preferences and are expecting their ven-
dors to help them better accomplish their objectives. That is, create
and deliver solutions unique to their needs that help retailers drive
traffic into their stores, sell bigger baskets, improve their shopper
experience, integrate offline and online activities, drive consistency
across the chain and streamline operations. Ensuring lotteries remain
a preferred and sought after retail partner, means expanding resources
and capabilities to create new ways of bringing the retail value.
Insights, Built on Data
Data, or the insights derived from it, is now a key part of every
facet of business. Data demonstrates to retailers the value of lottery
products, lottery customers and lottery programs. Data is the source
for inspiration and personalization of lottery customer experiences
and the products and services being offered to them. Data is the way
lotteries track their market and stay ahead of shifts in demand. Data
helps to support responsible practices including keeping efforts ef-
ficiently focused on casual and lapsed players. And data is the path to
optimizing lottery planning, operations, products and sales/market-
ing. With more sales and marketing tactics available than ever before,
data is a must to identify what lotteries should start doing, what they
should stop doing and what they need to do better.
Data-driven decision-making drives value. According to McKinsey,
$200B in marketing expenditures could be better spent and data is the
path to identifying how. Also according to McKinsey, organizations
using data-driven decision-making perform eight points better than
those that do not. The amount of data available to lottery is stunning
and the potential for impact is significant. That said, with legacy sys-
tems, disparate and rapidly growing data sets, tight staffing, growing
demands on privacy and security and an array of possible technology
solutions, the challenges are many. Far more than more reports and a
new BI solution, getting the most out of data requires change. Creat-
ing new ways to work, building new skills and competencies across
the organization and nurturing a culture around data is an ongoing
journey. A journey that is required as lotteries move into the future.
New Ways of Doing Business
The path to Saving Powerball isn’t about saving Powerball at all.
Instead it is about recognizing the larger shifts happening in every
industry and what those mean to business strategies, marketing and
sales tactics and organizational capabilities. While the traditional
paths and traditional tactics for driving responsible net income
growth have served the lottery industry well for more than thirty
years, market preferences and value expectations have changed. Lot-
teries and the companies that supply them must change in response.
How specifically? For each lottery it will look different. New ways of
working together will need to be created, with each other and with the
vendors with whom they do business. As the industry works together to
envision how lottery responsibly moves into the future, new technolo-
gies, new capabilities and new resources will likely be in order Some
lotteries are well on their way, others might be just getting started.
While there isn’t any one path, in upcoming publications, we will
review some of the how for navigating along the journey to “Saving
Powerball” and a future that looks quite different than today.
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