Dan Butcher
Mobile Marketer
Major League Baseball Advanced Media’s Tickets.com has incorporated the ProVenueMobile ticketing service for all 13 of its Major League Baseball clients.
The 13 MLB clubs on the Tickets.com client roster using ProVenueMobile include the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals.
ProVenueMobile powers client-branded ticket transactions to be made 24/7 from select Internet-enabled mobile phones through each club’s mobile Web site, offering fans the option to digitally receive unique bar-coded tickets directly to their mobile phones.
Mobile Commerce Daily’s Dan Butcher interviewed Sheri Fink, head of ecommerce and strategic alliances at Tickets.com, Costa Mesa, CA. Here is what she had to say:
What is the strategy behind the partnership between Tickets.com and the 13 MLB clubs?
Tickets.com is at the vanguard of mobile technologies and Web site mobilization in the ticketing and admissions service industry.
The MLB clubs are very sophisticated and have games that appeal to a mobile-savvy audience.
We are excited to offer these innovative services to 13 MLB clubs as well as a wide variety of other clients.
What challenges does ProVenueMobile address for these teams?
ProVenueMobile enables the teams to sell tickets up to the last minute. Fans want convenience when they are purchasing tickets and arriving at events.
ProVenueMobile provides the ultimate convenience—the ability to purchase tickets anytime, anywhere. It enables fans to buy tickets on the way to the ballpark using their mobile phones.
With Tickets@Phone mobile ticket delivery, fans can also have the tickets delivered directly to their mobile phones without ever having to wait in line at the box office or will call.
ProVenueMobile is open to all mobile phones without requiring fans to download an application.
This allows anyone with an Internet-enabled mobile phone to purchase the teams’ tickets quickly and conveniently just by going to their Web sites.
What demographic is this targeting?
Mobile ticketing appeals to a broad audience. We are currently working with the baseball teams to build a strong mobile fan base.
We have clients in the concert and performing arts industries who are using ProVenueMobile as well.
We are seeing mobile ticketing become especially popular with smartphone users.
How do baseball fans complete a ticket purchase via their mobile device?
Baseball fans simply go to their favorite team’s Web site using their mobile device and select the game for which they would like to buy tickets.
Then, they log into their MLB.com account where their customer information is stored or enter their payment information if they’re a first-time customer.
Fans select their preferred delivery option, make their purchase and then receive a confirmation of their transaction.
If Tickets@Phone mobile ticket delivery is chosen, the ticket bar codes are sent directly to their mobile phone via SMS or MMS.
The ProVenueMobile product contains all of the security features and added functionality available on the teams’ private-label Web sites.
This seamless compatibility with mobile phones enables fans to purchase tickets using promo codes, if applicable, on the teams’ mobile sites.
Mobile transactions are conducted in real time via the ticketing system, so reporting and ticket inventory display up-to-date numbers.
Why is mobile bar code ticketing better for fans and the teams?
Mobile bar code ticketing offers an improved fan experience by providing the ultimate convenience for ticket purchase and delivery. It saves fans time by enabling them to enter the ballpark without waiting in box office or will call lines.
And, because most people carry their mobile phones all the time, the potential for lost or misplaced tickets is greatly reduced.
From the teams’ perspective, mobile bar code ticketing improves the fan experience, enables the teams to sell tickets up to the last minute, reduces operational costs—due to having fewer people in will call and box office lines—and increases revenue by enabling fans to enter the ballpark earlier where they can begin purchasing food, beverages, and merchandise instead of waiting in line outside.
It is also better for the environment because it saves paper and reduces printing.
How are Tickets.com and the 13 teams getting the word out about this mobile ticketing platform?
Several of the teams are already advertising this new technology via in-stadium announcements, signage, Yearbook ads and programs.
MLBAM is working closely with the teams on messaging the mobile ticket purchase capabilities within the teams’ mobile Web sites.
Tickets.com is promoting it via PR and social media marketing on our company blog, Facebook, and Twitter.
Showing posts with label mobile barcode delivery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mobile barcode delivery. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Ticketing Industry News: Smartphone use drives mobile ticketing
Sports Business Journal
By ERIC FISHER
Staff writer
Ticketing thus far has been slower than many other industries to adapt to today’s lightning-quick, “there’s an app for that” digital world. But full end-to-end mobile ticketing is now rapidly becoming a widespread reality.
Tickets.com, which late last summer introduced its ProVenueMobile product with the Oakland A’s, has since expanded the program to all 13 of its regular-season MLB clients. The program builds in part off its prior Tickets@Phone effort in which bar codes good for entry into a facility are e-mailed to a ticket purchaser’s smartphone. ProVenueMobile goes significantly further by also providing real-time mobile search, seat selection and payment.
Ticketmaster provides similar functionality for BlackBerry devices, as the industry giant holds an official partnership with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Inc. StubHub, the dominant player in secondary ticketing, is putting the finishing touches on its own iPhone application. And a fast-growing collection of smaller primary and secondary ticket sellers, such as Arizona-based eSeats, similarly are embracing mobile-based ticket purchasing.
Providers of mobile ticketing systems earn their revenue from a variety of sources, such as convenience charges on purchases or revenue sharing with client teams.
“We love mobile and we’re huge believers in it,” said Derek Palmer, Tickets.com chief commercial officer. “By allowing fans to complete an entire transaction anywhere, we think this is going to spur a lot more last-minute purchasing. What’s basically happened is that we’ve opened up a major new retail sales channel, and one that people have constantly with them.”
The spike in mobile ticketing owes in part to surging smartphone sales, as well as consumers’ increasing comfort with making purchases over the devices. Market research firm Gartner recently estimated that 54.3 million smartphones were sold worldwide during the first quarter of 2010, a 49 percent increase over the first quarter a year ago. And smartphones are assuming a greater percentage of all mobile phone sales, with the devices representing 17.3 percent of all mobile unit purchases, up from 13.6 percent a year ago.
Within those rising numbers are particularly meteoric sales for iPhone and Android devices, each of which are posting triple-digit percentage sales increases compared with a year ago.
The Mobile Marketing Association earlier this month released similar research estimating that one in five U.S. mobile phone owners have used their device for a mobile-based purchase in the last month, a percentage certain to rise. And those figures are much higher for smartphone owners, as more than half of iPhone owners and 34 percent of BlackBerry owners have bought content through their devices, also suggesting greater user comfort with mobile as a purchasing platform.
Utilization of mobile ticketing thus far predictably has been small. In early tests of Tickets.com’s ProVenueMobile system, purchasing over the mobile platform has represented less than 1 percent of available single-game tickets. But a quick escalation to at least mid-single-digit percentages is anticipated.
Mobile ticketing also is not just a consumer-facing application, either. Veritix for several years has used mobile authentication units that ticket agents wear over their shoulder to swipe electronic fan identification such as credit cards or driver’s licenses to help enable their digital ticket platform.
“We as a culture are still a little slow to let go of our physical tickets, but we’re anticipating a very quick ramp-up into more all-digital events and all-digital venues,” said Sam Gerace, Veritix chief executive.
By ERIC FISHER
Staff writer
Ticketing thus far has been slower than many other industries to adapt to today’s lightning-quick, “there’s an app for that” digital world. But full end-to-end mobile ticketing is now rapidly becoming a widespread reality.
Tickets.com, which late last summer introduced its ProVenueMobile product with the Oakland A’s, has since expanded the program to all 13 of its regular-season MLB clients. The program builds in part off its prior Tickets@Phone effort in which bar codes good for entry into a facility are e-mailed to a ticket purchaser’s smartphone. ProVenueMobile goes significantly further by also providing real-time mobile search, seat selection and payment.
Ticketmaster provides similar functionality for BlackBerry devices, as the industry giant holds an official partnership with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Inc. StubHub, the dominant player in secondary ticketing, is putting the finishing touches on its own iPhone application. And a fast-growing collection of smaller primary and secondary ticket sellers, such as Arizona-based eSeats, similarly are embracing mobile-based ticket purchasing.
Providers of mobile ticketing systems earn their revenue from a variety of sources, such as convenience charges on purchases or revenue sharing with client teams.
“We love mobile and we’re huge believers in it,” said Derek Palmer, Tickets.com chief commercial officer. “By allowing fans to complete an entire transaction anywhere, we think this is going to spur a lot more last-minute purchasing. What’s basically happened is that we’ve opened up a major new retail sales channel, and one that people have constantly with them.”
The spike in mobile ticketing owes in part to surging smartphone sales, as well as consumers’ increasing comfort with making purchases over the devices. Market research firm Gartner recently estimated that 54.3 million smartphones were sold worldwide during the first quarter of 2010, a 49 percent increase over the first quarter a year ago. And smartphones are assuming a greater percentage of all mobile phone sales, with the devices representing 17.3 percent of all mobile unit purchases, up from 13.6 percent a year ago.
Within those rising numbers are particularly meteoric sales for iPhone and Android devices, each of which are posting triple-digit percentage sales increases compared with a year ago.
The Mobile Marketing Association earlier this month released similar research estimating that one in five U.S. mobile phone owners have used their device for a mobile-based purchase in the last month, a percentage certain to rise. And those figures are much higher for smartphone owners, as more than half of iPhone owners and 34 percent of BlackBerry owners have bought content through their devices, also suggesting greater user comfort with mobile as a purchasing platform.
Utilization of mobile ticketing thus far predictably has been small. In early tests of Tickets.com’s ProVenueMobile system, purchasing over the mobile platform has represented less than 1 percent of available single-game tickets. But a quick escalation to at least mid-single-digit percentages is anticipated.
Mobile ticketing also is not just a consumer-facing application, either. Veritix for several years has used mobile authentication units that ticket agents wear over their shoulder to swipe electronic fan identification such as credit cards or driver’s licenses to help enable their digital ticket platform.
“We as a culture are still a little slow to let go of our physical tickets, but we’re anticipating a very quick ramp-up into more all-digital events and all-digital venues,” said Sam Gerace, Veritix chief executive.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Tulsa Performing Arts Center site has tickets going mobile
Tulsa World
By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
For about a year now, patrons to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center have been able to have their tickets sent to their cell phones. They just haven't been able to order those tickets by using those cell phones.
Until now. The Tulsa PAC is one of the first performing arts center in the country to have a mobile-device access site, from which patrons can order tickets to any show available through the center's ticketing Web site.
"It was one of the odd instances where you would think one technology — the ability to buy the ticket — preceded the other — being able to receive the ticket," said John Scott, PAC director. "In fact, we were the first to approach our partner, Tickets.com, about creating the technology so people could order tickets from their cell phones."
The PAC's mobile access site (TulsaPAC.mobi) reformats the PAC's Web site so that it will be readable on a cell phone screen. Patrons can now order and pay for their tickets via the cell phone.
Tickets purchased through the .mobi site may be picked up at the theater, be mailed to the receipt, printed at home or received as a text message containing a bar code.
This bar code is scanned by a PAC usher, who carries a microprinter that produces a paper ticket. This service, called Tickets@Phone, costs $2 per ticket.
"We know there are people who more or less live through their cell phones," Scott said, "and we've been pleasantly surprised at how quickly some of our patrons have taken to the new technology."
He added that the convenience fees for all these various ways of obtaining tickets for PAC events are "are quite reasonable, especially when compared to some other venues."
For example, the convenience fees for two tickets purchased online for the play "August: Osage County," playing Jan. 26-31 at the PAC, are $9.50. Fees for two tickets to events at the BOK Center can range for $16.75 for a Tulsa Oilers hockey game, $19.05 for the Monster Jam, and $32.35 for the March concert by Eric Clapton.
"Our ticketing fees are true convenience fees," Scott said. "So if someone takes the trouble of coming downtown to our ticket office to buy their tickets, then the only fee they have to pay is the $1 facility fee that was recently instituted. All the other fees are waived."
By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
For about a year now, patrons to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center have been able to have their tickets sent to their cell phones. They just haven't been able to order those tickets by using those cell phones.
Until now. The Tulsa PAC is one of the first performing arts center in the country to have a mobile-device access site, from which patrons can order tickets to any show available through the center's ticketing Web site.
"It was one of the odd instances where you would think one technology — the ability to buy the ticket — preceded the other — being able to receive the ticket," said John Scott, PAC director. "In fact, we were the first to approach our partner, Tickets.com, about creating the technology so people could order tickets from their cell phones."
The PAC's mobile access site (TulsaPAC.mobi) reformats the PAC's Web site so that it will be readable on a cell phone screen. Patrons can now order and pay for their tickets via the cell phone.
Tickets purchased through the .mobi site may be picked up at the theater, be mailed to the receipt, printed at home or received as a text message containing a bar code.
This bar code is scanned by a PAC usher, who carries a microprinter that produces a paper ticket. This service, called Tickets@Phone, costs $2 per ticket.
"We know there are people who more or less live through their cell phones," Scott said, "and we've been pleasantly surprised at how quickly some of our patrons have taken to the new technology."
He added that the convenience fees for all these various ways of obtaining tickets for PAC events are "are quite reasonable, especially when compared to some other venues."
For example, the convenience fees for two tickets purchased online for the play "August: Osage County," playing Jan. 26-31 at the PAC, are $9.50. Fees for two tickets to events at the BOK Center can range for $16.75 for a Tulsa Oilers hockey game, $19.05 for the Monster Jam, and $32.35 for the March concert by Eric Clapton.
"Our ticketing fees are true convenience fees," Scott said. "So if someone takes the trouble of coming downtown to our ticket office to buy their tickets, then the only fee they have to pay is the $1 facility fee that was recently instituted. All the other fees are waived."
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Tickets@Phone® Mobile Ticketing Technology
Send paperless, barcoded tickets directly to your customers’ mobile phones. Tickets@Phone tickets are redeemed at your venue directly from their mobile phone display through the use of a barcode scanner.
Tickets@Phone is an innovative ticket delivery method that expands your options of how your customers receive their tickets. With Tickets@Phone, your customers’ tickets are delivered to their mobile phones.
If you would like to learn more about mobile ticketing technologies, please contact Tickets.com at sales@Tickets.com or 888-397-3400.
Tickets@Phone is an innovative ticket delivery method that expands your options of how your customers receive their tickets. With Tickets@Phone, your customers’ tickets are delivered to their mobile phones.
If you would like to learn more about mobile ticketing technologies, please contact Tickets.com at sales@Tickets.com or 888-397-3400.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tickets.com's Mobile Ticketing System Allows For Real-Time Search, Selection And Payment
SportsBusiness Daily
Eric Fisher
Tickets.com will deploy its ProVenueMobile wireless ticket solution for all of its MLB team clients for the '10 season following a successful test run with the A's at the end of this year's regular season. The mobile ticketing system -- building upon prior Tickets.com efforts delivering tickets to wireless devices through Tickets@Phone -- allows for real-time mobile search, selection and payment in addition to the barcode delivery.
The system, built in partnership with mobile services outfit Usablenet Inc., is accessible via any Internet-enabled cell phone. The system was also installed earlier this year at Daytona Int'l Speedway. Rival ticketing outlet Ticketmaster also has been active in mobile ticketing, similarly emboldened by the increasing power of smartphone devices, but Tickets.com is also offering client branding on its mobile ticketing sites. "The initial usage in Oakland, quite honestly, was minimal, which we expected since this is brand new," said Tickets.com CIO Brett Michalak.
The A's were among the league's weaker drawing teams in '09, and the mobile test came at the end of a last-place season. Michalak: "But the workflows and timing [of the mobile purchasing] worked really well, and we're convinced that mobile ticketing is going to be a big part of the industry going forward." The A's were also the first club to use the original Tickets@Phone. Tickets.com currently works with 16 MLB teams.
Eric Fisher
Tickets.com will deploy its ProVenueMobile wireless ticket solution for all of its MLB team clients for the '10 season following a successful test run with the A's at the end of this year's regular season. The mobile ticketing system -- building upon prior Tickets.com efforts delivering tickets to wireless devices through Tickets@Phone -- allows for real-time mobile search, selection and payment in addition to the barcode delivery.
The system, built in partnership with mobile services outfit Usablenet Inc., is accessible via any Internet-enabled cell phone. The system was also installed earlier this year at Daytona Int'l Speedway. Rival ticketing outlet Ticketmaster also has been active in mobile ticketing, similarly emboldened by the increasing power of smartphone devices, but Tickets.com is also offering client branding on its mobile ticketing sites. "The initial usage in Oakland, quite honestly, was minimal, which we expected since this is brand new," said Tickets.com CIO Brett Michalak.
The A's were among the league's weaker drawing teams in '09, and the mobile test came at the end of a last-place season. Michalak: "But the workflows and timing [of the mobile purchasing] worked really well, and we're convinced that mobile ticketing is going to be a big part of the industry going forward." The A's were also the first club to use the original Tickets@Phone. Tickets.com currently works with 16 MLB teams.
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