Sharon Anderson from The Lott | Checkout

[Voiceover]: Welcome to the Checkout. We catch up with previous guests of Add to Cart where we ask them five quick questions to understand more about them and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get through your Friday. Today's checkout episode features Sharon Anderson from the Lot. You would know the Lot as the leading national lottery group with brands including Powerball, Ozlotto and Instant Scratchers. Sharon is the head of digital Lotteries and shares with us a different type of retail experience.

Nathan Bush: Sharon Anderson from the Lot.

[Voiceover]: We welcome to the Checkout. We're going to ask you five quick

Nathan Bush: questions to learn a little bit more about yourself. All right, number one, what is the weirdest thing you've ever bought online?

Sharon Anderson: The weirdest thing I've ever bought, it's quite topical and timely was it's a toilet brush and it's actually of Donald Trump. So, yep, you could make your toilet great again.

Nathan Bush: Well done. So tell us more about that. What part of the Trump cleans the toilet?

Sharon Anderson: The hair. The really spiky, delicious yellow hair cleans the toilet bowl. Yes. And then has. It has his little body attached to a handle. So it, you know, it's coming soon to a secret Santa near me. So that's, Yeah, I picked that little gem up on the weekend.

Nathan Bush: Brilliant. Sounds like great daily therapy. Number two, who is your favorite retailer?

Sharon Anderson: It's, it's actually Country Road. I really love their, their products. They've had a real focus on, on sourcing things within Australia, which is great, but I also just love their supply chain. You can really order products if you're in store, you're online, have them delivered anywhere you want, don't need time. So, yeah, I, I really like what they're doing.

Nathan Bush: They've done such a fantastic job lately too, around sourcing and sustainability and sharing that story with other retailers. Really kind of setting the lead on it.

Sharon Anderson: Absolutely.

Nathan Bush: Nice pick. All right, number three, which retail fad do you wish was history?

Sharon Anderson: Well, it's QR codes and I blame Covid for making them a thing again.

Nathan Bush: Controversial.

Sharon Anderson: I know. I just, I used to just roll my eyes every time people like we could put a QR code on it and look, obviously now phones these days haven't. But as soon as I, you know, I mean, all jokes aside of not, not being serious about COVID but yeah, that was one of my more annoying things to see maker make a return. Personally, I could be absolutely. My words in like, you know, 12 months time as we finally find a place for that technology. But yeah, I think that's my thing. It's any piece of tech that's been developed without understanding how it's going to apply. You know, they sort of expect that society will work out what it's used for. And I'm like, that can get in the bin as far as I'm concerned.

Nathan Bush: Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I like, I love that they've returned because it's just old school and I think we call it, we call it tech, but really it's just a URL hidden in a black and white.

Sharon Anderson: That's right, yeah. In a pre barcode. Yeah, Yeah, I wish.

Nathan Bush: My beef with it is I wish that when you scanned it, it just opened up the link. You didn't have to like click the link.

[Voiceover]: I'm like, if I scan it, just

Nathan Bush: open up the link, Nathan.

Sharon Anderson: There's so many things wrong with them. Like there's just, just everything. I just don't want them. As I said, they can get in the bin.

[Voiceover]: All right, all right, we'll put them

Nathan Bush: in, we'll put them in the toilet with the Trump brush.

Sharon Anderson: Oh, yeah, that's right.

Nathan Bush: All right, number four, can you recommend

[Voiceover]: a book or a podcast that our

Nathan Bush: listeners should immediately get into?

Sharon Anderson: Well, I'm, I'm being cheeky because I'm going to say too. So a serious work version of a book for me is actually digital adaptation by Paul Bogue. Really great book for anyone who's a bit more of an established business and looking to bring forth digital transformation. But on a personal level, I've just finished Gentlemen in Moscow and absolutely loved it. I think if you read that book and imagine it as a Wes Anderson film, you'll have even more fun with it. So can highly recommend and reason I'm mentioning books is because despite being digital, I'm still very analog when it comes to the way I consume fiction. So that's my recommendations. Yeah. Okay, cool.

[Voiceover]: Perfect timing coming up to Christmas. All right, last question I've got for you.

Nathan Bush: Finish this sentence. The future of retail is already here. Ah, so there's nothing else. This is it?

Sharon Anderson: No, that's it. It's already here. Like, stop worrying about the future, just deal with the problems you've got today. I'm very, very sensible person but look

Nathan Bush: at the same things.

Sharon Anderson: Look, if I was to give a more, it would be experiential. It's not about the transaction anymore, it's about the actual experience you're giving people.

Nathan Bush: Yeah, brilliant. And I think that ties in perfectly with our longer form conversation. If anyone wants to go back and listen to that from a few weeks ago around how we turn that, that process of buying a lottery ticket online into more of an experience. So loved your insights there and some of the examples you gave. So, Sharon, thank you very much for joining us on Add to Cart.

Sharon Anderson: So thank you so much.

[Voiceover]: Add to Cart is hosted and distributed through acast, the home of podcasting. It wasn't until I started this podcast that I realized how powerful podcasts are in creating real connections with listeners. I love when listeners contact me and speak to me like we're lifelong friends, and I know this carries over to our advertising partners. My relationship becomes their relationship, and because I value my listeners above all, I only partner with brands I'd recommend as a friend. It's kind of like influencer marketing, but without having to see me in a swimsuit. So if you're looking to explore the power of podcast advertising for your brand, you should check out Acast. Acast hosts over 20,000 podcasts, a mix of amazing local and international content, and can deliver credible mentions to an engaged listener in an uncluttered environment. Check out Acast Advertising on Google Today. To hear more from Sharon, jump back into episode 37, where we speak with Sharon about how they transition older customers to online, how they handle the huge surges of demand one hour out from prize draws, and what the moment was that made her burst into tears at the end of a very long day. And no, it wasn't using her new toilet scrubber. Thanks for listening, and until next time, keep adding to Cart.