Reliability in a Changing Retail Landscape

In a typical week for many households around the world, some type of digital-shopping activity now serves occupants’ needs – from self-checkout in stores to groceries that were ordered via an app and delivered to the home. But the evolution of shopping is far from complete.

A cross-sector report issued last year by IGT’s longtime trend-research partner Foresight Factory affirmed that the coming five years will see advances in retail’s evolution to omnichannel, with shopper-led preferences driving further changes to the brick-and-mortar model:

“Brands will be expected to create a seamless experience whereby online and real-world channels complement one another.”

Lotteries are listening to their players and working to accommodate their evolving preferences. Yet building and running new digital capabilities on top of existing retail systems can be complex. The same is true when reimagining and updating retail environments to make the lottery-player experience meet consumers’ changing preferences.

IGT invested in developing OMNIATM to enable the omnichannel experiences that both players and retailers expect lotteries to provide. For example, OMNIA’s native integration of the retail and digital channels enables the same draw game at the core, regardless of the channel. Other components and tools within OMNIA anticipate how lottery will function within various potential new retail models, helping to ensure the lottery industry’s ongoing success in this channel.

These innovations are informed by IGT’s four decades of industry-proven traditional lottery sales solutions. “IGT has reimagined the lottery-consumer experience at retail using a player-centric, 360-degree approach,” said Melissa Pursley, IGT Senior Vice President Lottery Product and Sales Development. This approach accounts for the fact that all lotteries can benefit from the enhanced player connection that digital solutions enable, whether they offer iLottery or not. A prime example is IGT’s Connected Play functionality, an aspect of OMNIA that is focused on incorporating digital solutions into the retail-lottery journey.

By implementing OMNIA, lottery operators can see, for the first time, player-level retail lottery purchases, enabling in-depth data analysis and new ways to build player relationships and enhance player loyalty and retention.

Equipped for Retail Transformation

Another insight stressed by Foresight Factory is that the pandemic played no small part in driving changes to brick-and-mortar-retail because a great number of consumers – not just lottery players – began demanding contactless, cashless, and paperless transactions.

Retailers have also been dealing with labor shortages, a problem that self-service helps to ameliorate.

OMNIA encompasses specific touchpoints to solve for these needs and advance lottery’s evolution within changing brick-and-mortar spaces, including clerk terminals that enable contactless and paperless transac- tions, digital signage, self-service options, and solutions for In-Lane sales on retailers’ point-of-sales systems.

“We leveraged our learnings andIGT’s legacy of reliable retail solutions in developing these market-proven products, and continue to do so with a new line of solutions for retail that were previewed at the recent NASPL show,” _{said Pursley.}

Attendees got a firsthand look atIGT’s new In-Lane enabling LotteryLink product and the Retailer Pro S2terminal – plus other new retail lotterysales solutions – when the companyshowcased its latest innovations inMilwaukee.

Digitalizing Retail

As discussed, IGT’s Connected Play offering, enabled by OMNIA, isdesigned to help lotteries deliver newplayer experiences via engagementwith digital touchpoints. And, through its mobile app offerings,IGT already provides customers withsome of the means to digitalize the re-tail experience. The My Tickets featureallows retail players to scan their papertickets and store digital representa-tions of those tickets. This digitalizationlets lotteries track, organize, and notifyplayers about their wagers. Playerscan also choose to save digital playslips as favorites or generate codes forpurchasing again at retail.

“Our teams are motivated to applyleading-edge technologies and their expertise to serve customer, retailer,and player needs,” said Pursley. “WithOMNIA, we invested in developing a solution to create long-term valuefor these stakeholders and bring newopportunities for lottery growth viaaccess to digital services in the retailenvironment."