VANA News

The Victorian Association for Newsagents.

Dear Members,
The Chairman Chris Pecora and I met with Tabcorp (Tatts) new State Manager Tina D’Ettorre on Friday 12th April delivering the below 22 questions.
Tabcorp (Tatts) will come back to VANA on or before May 3, 2019
We can confirm a few points already:
Tabcorp will be conducting a physical roadshow late April /May and going through the New Retailer Remuneration program in detail with our VANA Members.
An appeals process/Independent body will be formed to handle issues/protests/objections independently via a Call Centre and independent body in relation in particular to Site Survey Results. Details to come.
The good news is 74% of our members are in Green Zone and it is VANA’S aim to have 100% in Green Zone asap to enjoy the financial benefits of the new program.
Please see below questions & queries our Members and Board have pertaining to the New Retailer Remuneration Program.
1. Training & Education: What is Tabcorp’s plan to educate and train Retailers to ensure all members get in the Green Zone?
2. Tabcorp Roadshow & Resources: Is there a timeline of a physical road show from Tabcorp pertaining to question 1?
3. Tabcorp Staff Training: Some staff at Tabcorp BDMs don’t seem 100% across the detail of the new program? Is internal training ongoing and or underway to ensure retail facing Tabcorp staff are across all detail of the new program?
4. Hard Copies: Can the package also be mailed out to Retailers? Not all of them have the hard copy.
5. FRANCHISE FEE: up by 1% – please explain? This point really has diluted the excitement of the new model. Clarity is required on the Franchise Fee proposal as outlet Fees and Charges are currently in excess of 1%. Can we please have a full summary of current and new fees please?
6. Measurement System Tabcorp New Program: Tabcorp have provided retailers with an opportunity to gain an additional 1% increase based on performance criteria managed by Tabcorp. Tabcorp have established 9 performance measures
If a retailer is green in all areas and red in one, no commission will be paid.
▪ Is it fair to take away the total commission on one issue?
▪ Rating areas should have weighting and commission paid accordingly.
▪ Ratings should be weighted over a twelve-month period (three cycles) to avoid significant financial retailer impacts from one-off issues.

Will Tabcorp consider annualising the ratings Green -Amber-Red
Can Tabcorp disclose the weighting on each area of the GBW process?
Need to weight the commission paid to retailers even if one area is red.
7. Site Surveys: Current data provided by Tabcorp indicates the following scores have been given to retailers for site surveys: National: Green 74%, Amber 17%, Red 9%, Vic / Tas: Green 71%, Amber 22%, Red 7%
Can you please confirm or validate the above data, the integrity of the data is critical? Once the data is confirmed then we know what we are dealing with in terms of members in Amber & Red.
8. Growth Opportunities: Strategy to grow retail traffic and retailer only games required
Strategy for more products, complementary products and global products required
Can retailers expand into online platforms?
Further training & development for our members (Retailers) from Tabcorp to physically fully engage with them to comprehend Green Zone and compliance to Site Surveys.
Growth essential for Retailers- Can the Tabcorp Retail Strategy be shared with Retailers? This could be very useful and eliminate some anxiety about what the future holds.
Updated and new products-What’s being released? Please advise. What’s on the radar and arriving in 2019 can this be shared?
Access to more products-What’s on the radar here for Tabcorp?
Ability to sell complementary products-We would like some feedback on this please.
9. Retail Equipment: Retail equipment in need of an upgrade. Retail equipment lacks some of the functionality of the on line tools and APP. Any steps from Tabcorp to improve this?
10. Ticket Validation: Retailers are unable to validate interstate tickets or sell cross border. Please give us some guidance and feedback on this please.
11. Tabcorp (Tatts Card): What do retailers do with customers signing up for Tatts Card from NOW until July 1, 2019. Will they get a rebate? A genuine area of confusion.
12. Syndicates: Tabcorp intentions regarding syndicates online: 10% of national sales at risk. Syndicate screens have increasing lag times-Any plans to improve this?
13. POS displays are inconsistent across games. Any plans to rectify this?
14. Instant scratchy bays not updated in some outlets. Still using IntraLot. Any plans to assist here?
15. No integration to EFTpos- thoughts on this please?
16. Is the commission on Instant Scratch tickets and LUCKY increasing to 10.3% (currently 8% on lower value tickets) please clarify?
17. Is the increase in the Franchise Fee going to be applied to Instant Scratch & Lucky?

18. Lott App Sign Up Bonus- Will the 1% be increased in the next 12 months ??…We don’t believe this is a big enough carrot to get BUY IN from retailers. We believe this should at least 2%-2.5% as stated in discussions leading into the release of the program. This is a clever initiative of how it dials into bricks & mortar, but the percentage is not exciting the audience.
19. REGISTERED PLAYERS (Suggested change to Green Zone) 1% increase each cycle & Up to 80% and not drop below. Each outlet needs to have a figure each Cycle so they KNOW what 1% growth is. The same with the 80% figure from the start so, they know what their target is!
20. MODELLING GREEN ZONE: Is it possible for Tabcorp to provide examples of how the New Retailer Remuneration Program affects different size outlets. IE. Newsagent at Mentone News-Old System v New Green Zone System and actual income results. Examples would be very powerful.
21. OMNI CHANNEL: Tabcorp have included in the measurement criteria a requirement for retailers to sign up an additional 1% of customers to OMNI Channel cards. We understand we are in a Digital Revolution & customers want choice. We would like some data on potential upside as there is still a strong fear and anxiety around on line sales growing.
22. DigiPos: Really well received and an absolute positive. This cash injection if applicable to a retailer makes a huge difference. $5900 on one terminal 0r $8000 on two terminals makes this a proactive initiative that assists our VANA members greatly. Tabcorp providing ongoing maintenance at no charge is also welcomed.