Is omni-channel still the destination?
Omnichannel has been around for some time. Could you give your interpretation of what the strategy means for sports betting in 2020?
Omnichannel is still a very important goal that sports betting should be striving towards and is a fundamental element to operators. It is a straightforward concept that has been somewhat overcomplicated by some of the approaches taken in recent times. Put simply, a customer should be able to place a bet across any channel with ease. It should be a single login, account and wallet where money can be withdrawn via an online bank account or through cash in shop.
How has the omnichannel concept been complicated by operators?
From a retail perspective, omnichannel was seen as being a one-way journey about how retail customers can become digital customers rather than a complete omni experience that means digital customers should have an incentive and reason to go into a branded retail estate.
mandatory, surely the community element you refer to has been somewhat lost?
Tat is a challenge for everyone. From my perspective, I do not necessarily buy the often- stated opinion of the younger generation being antisocial, but I understand the point that more time is spent interacting via social media with headphones on.
I think that is why shops having the things those customers like is important. Both currently and in the future, operators need to provide a safe, quick environment for customers to enter a shop, place a bet and collect their winnings.
If a customer feels safe to do that, they will continue to. It may be a smaller and shorter level of interaction but providing a trusted environment is crucial. Personally, I have stopped shopping in some locations for food because I have not felt comfortable with the approach they have taken and gone elsewhere.
Retail betting operators have done a good job thus far so I would say it is both a threat and an opportunity, so as long as we keep getting things right, we’ve got a bright future ahead.
For me, omnichannel was always about getting the timing right. I have sat in boardrooms where weekly targets have been set for recruiting digital customers from the retail shop estate because it is a cheaper acquisition approach and will achieve a positive lifetime value for a dual brand or multichannel customer. Te issue has always been doing it at a time when the offering is good enough to retain the customer once recruited across all channels. Recruiting with offers and incentives can be done by anyone but if the experience does not match the expectation or the promise then you have the potential of losing a loyal single channel customer due to the omni experience not being complete or perfect. It is a difficult thing to deliver but it is still an important goal.
What are the main challenges for delivering an effective omnichannel strategy in the UK?
Te approach of larger operators is always evolving and improving. Tey now accept that there is a journey you need to take customers on at the right time, which, aligned with loyalty programmes, enables operators to communicate in the right way across different channels. It is one of the things I have been very keen on developing with our terminals and having an omni version of that. Having a terminal that provides all the benefits of a digital sportsbook in a retail shop that is supported with a retail mobile app that allows customers to transfer their bet to a mobile device and track it when they are not in the retail environment. Our App also has a Bet Builder ability so a customer can build their bet at home, save it on their phone then seamlessly transfer it to the terminal when next in shop for a quick and easy betting experience. It is this type of journey that is slowly being embedded with a new demographic of sports betting terminal customers in retail shops.
What has been the uptake in this technology?
It grows monthly. Tere are various versions – we provide our Retail Mobile App to many customers including many larger independent customers or we can embed key features into operators’ existing loyalty card schemes and thereby enhance them. More people are starting to use the technology to cash out bets remotely to then collect cash in-store at a later date, which is likely going to fit perfectly into many customers’ post-lockdown routine.
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P29
@Mario Pampel Postproduction.
@Mario Pampel Postproduction.
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