ICE365_EUROPEAN-LANDBASED-REPORT_JULY2021 | Page 24

] E LAND- STRY AD OUT

online product to land-based land-based customers helps generate customers and vice versa, working with revenue from both channels. a single pool of customers. The use of a“ Marketing our online proposition consolidated customer database is vital to our land-based customers has in supporting land-based locations via supported the growth of our digital online, Pettemerides says. business organically,” he says.
Alternatively, as online gambling
“ 44 % of net gaming revenue in the grows in popularity, operators are digital business in the last full financial reaching out to local land-based players year, pre-Covid, was coming from to advertise the benefits of their online multichannel customers. So venue counterparts. For Wolfgang Bliem, CEO customers, playing with us online, has of Casino Luzern, the location of the underpinned our digital growth in casino is also a benefit – the property in recent years.” itself is an advertising asset.
For Grosvenor Casinos, this unified“ It’ s how we take advantage when approach is at the basis of their we promote our offline business to the customer marketing, with all clients online world. One advantage is we are treated as one collective group. located in the middle of Switzerland,” Alternatively, Bliem emphasises the says Bliem. individuality of customer characteristics.
“ We reach out to those who are
“ There is a very famous machine, closer to provide them with events, only famous in Switzerland, it’ s the promotions, invitations to fine dining.” Super Cherry from 1995,” he explains.
According to Pettemerides,
“ And this machine was transformed to marketing Rank’ s online business to an online machine, and it is now one of the most successful online games in Switzerland. So it’ s important to understand that every market has its own peculiarities and specialities.”
However, Casino Luzern’ s customer characteristics do not influence the revenue streams through both channels, due to Switzerland’ s regulatory landscape.
“ We have very high tax rates in Switzerland and we have more or less the same tax rates offline and online,” Bliem says.“ So it doesn’ t make sense for us to shift revenue from one channel to the other.”
CROSS-SELLING TO LAND-BASED CLIENTS
Although it seems sensible to market to online customers when promoting a land-based casino, the marketing of Casino Luzern offers an alternative perspective.
“ Taking Switzerland, we have one operation and Switzerland has around 8.5 million residents,” says Bliem.“ We target our own land-based customers for our online customers.”
It’ s less a case of growing the audience by targeting new customers online for Casino Luzern, and more a way to engage existing patrons outside the property. Bliem argues there are inherent differences between landbased and online customers.
“ There are smaller overlays between the two channels, because there is a difference in behaviour from land-based to online,” he says.

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July 2021