MLB teams step up to the mobile ticketing plate

13 major league baseball teams let fans purchase seats using mobile devices.

Internet Retailer
Brian Rogal

With m-commerce picking up steam, concert halls and sports teams want in on the action (and sales). Thirteen major league baseball teams including the Chicago Cubs, the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland A’s, recently began allowing fans to purchase seats using such hand-held devices as the BlackBerry or iPhone.

The teams, which all operate mobile sites on technology provided by Tickets.com Inc., decided to begin offering ticket purchasing on their sites within the past year to take advantage of strong growth in traffic, says Sheri Fink, head of e-commerce and strategic alliances at Tickets.com.

Steve Fanelli, executive director of ticket sales for the Oakland A’s, says his team sends about 1,000 bar-coded tickets for each game to fans’ mobile phones, though so far only a few hundred of those tickets are also purchased on a phone, with most of the rest bought through a PC. When a fan arrives at the ballpark with a mobile phone ticket, a gate keeper scans the bar code on his mobile phone screen.

Fanelli adds that, even though he expects mobile commerce ticket sales to grow slowly, it holds a lot of long-term promise. “It’s not huge right now, and it’s certainly not taking over as the dominant channel to purchase tickets,” he says. “Most people still prefer to go to a regular PC or use cash.”

However, he believes it’s important to offer the option, pointing out that when baseball clubs first began selling tickets over the web it took several years before customers got comfortable with that method.

Before the A’s and the other teams began offering mobile ticket sales, Tickets.com had already been providing each team with its own mobile web site through the company’s branded mobile web site technology, ProVenueMobile, developed in partnership with Usablenet Inc., an m-commerce technology vendor. Usablenet translates the information sent to and from the mobile devices.

Several years ago, the teams began offering game schedules, player statistics and other bits of information on their mobile sites, and many eventually added the more advanced features offered by Tickets.com, such as streaming video. But in the past year, traffic on the teams’ mobile sites doubled. That’s when the teams decided to let fans purchase tickets via the mobile sites, Fink says.

Baseball fans do not need to download an app onto their mobile device to buy tickets, Fink adds. They just get on their team’s mobile site, even if it’s a few minutes before game time, register an account, select the seats they want and pay with a credit card. They then receive a ticket on the mobile device in the form of a bar code.

All major league teams already used bar code scanners for traditional paper tickets, and making them usable for mobile devices required only minor upgrades, Fanelli says. He declined to provide costs related to developing the mobile sites, noting that each team has different contractual terms with Tickets.com to provide a variety of services, with the mobile option being just a small part.

Fanelli says the A’s have pushed mobile technology harder than most teams, and began experimenting with sending bar-coded tickets to mobile devices as early as 2006, although it was not until this April that customers could complete a purchase.

He adds that he believes as mobile devices like Apple Inc.’s iPhones and those that run on Google Inc.’s Android operating system get less cumbersome and more powerful, purchasing tickets via a mobile device will eventually become as standard as web-ticketing is now.

Tickets.com to Present at Internet Retailer's Mobile Commerce Conference

The American consumer's mindset is changing. Consumers are increasingly relying on mobile phones not only as phones but also as devices for obtaining information and conducting transactions—be that buying movie tickets, purchasing merchandise or checking flight times.

Internet Retailer's first annual Mobile Commerce Forum: Mobile Commerce Enters the Mainstream, will present a cross-industry view of how marketers are driving business results using the mobile channel. The conference agenda will bring together different industries so they can learn from each other and travel this fast-rising growth curve together. Featuring ticket sellers, travel and hospitality companies, retailers, and entertainment and digital service providers, it will present speakers who will share their experience in developing and executing successful mobile commerce initiatives.

Sheri Fink, eCommerce & Strategic Alliances, will be speaking on behalf of Tickets.com to share the experience of developing the Tickets.com mobile site and the unique challenges the team faced throughout the mobilization process. The conference will present a cross-industry view of how marketers are driving business results using the mobile channel.

Designing for mobile
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Two schools exist when it comes to web page presentation on mobile—design a mobile site separate from the e-commerce site or let the mobile device reflect the e-commerce design. Whichever approach a marketer adopts, the m-commerce and e-commerce teams need to know the pluses and minuses of each. This session will explore the strategies of two mobile players who will explain why they made the choices they did, and help attendees know which approach is right for their own products and services. It also will feature a usability expert who will look at how to test to make sure the site is displaying properly and how to test navigability and usability of a mobile design and of e-commerce designs adapted for mobile.

Learn more >

Tickets.com® Partners with Txtstation Global Mobile Marketing to Offer Clients Real-Time Mobile Interactivity with Fans

Tickets.com—a leading global provider of integrated, high-performance ticketing solutions—has announced a partnership with Txtstation Global Mobile Marketing, the recognized leader in mobile interactivity. The new alliance allows Tickets.com—the first and only ticketing company in the United States to offer both mobile ticket transactions and mobile barcode delivery—to expand and enhance the products and services it offers its clients in the explosively growing mobile realm.

By harnessing the power of mobile marketing from Txtstation, Tickets.com makes it possible for clients to dynamically interact with fans at games, concerts, events, and broadcasts in real-time. In addition to heightening the overall experience for consumers with interactive promotions and marketing, Txtstation capabilities will help Tickets.com clients strategically build brand identity with target markets with an engaged and captive audience in place. Custom programs and graphics will differentiate campaigns for each individual brand and client’s needs.

Additionally, real-time one-to-one dialogue with event attendees will allow Tickets.com clients to identify and capture data on potentially all audience members—not just ticket buyers—that can be used for opt-in, ongoing mobile marketing, cross promotions, and other revenue-building initiatives. Mobile marketing solutions from Txtstation also deliver incremental revenues from premium text messages (SMS), multi-media messages (MMS), and content downloads.

“Our alliance with Txtstation is in alignment with our strategy to partner with industry-leading companies who can provide exceptional technologies at competitive pricing,” said Sheri Fink, eCommerce and Strategic Alliances, Tickets.com. “We look forward to offering our clients real-time mobile interactivity with their fans.”

Txtstation Global Mobile Marketing (www.txtstation.com) has been providing mobile interactivity products and services to events, sports teams, music/entertainment properties, broadcasters, brands, and agencies since 2004. “We are excited about collaborating with Tickets.com to boost mobile interactivity for their clients,” said Michael Falato, Vice President of Sales & Business Development, Txtstation. “I think our companies are well matched in terms of commitment to technological innovation and customer service, and I see many opportunities for synergy in supporting Tickets.com and its broad range of clients.”

Tickets.com is at the vanguard of mobile technologies and website mobilization in the ticketing and admissions service industry. Its proprietary ProVenueMobile™ product is the first mobile ticketing technology allowing fans to browse listings and make real-time purchases from their mobile phones without the need to “click to call” to finalize the transaction. Its Tickets@Phone® technology is another pioneering product, offering consumers the option to digitally receive unique barcoded tickets directly and securely to their mobile phones for a 100% mobile—and green—ticket-buying experience.

Tickets.com Selects Yesmail’s Enterprise Platform to Power Cross-Channel Marketing Efforts

Extends market-leading email and social marketing services to Tickets.com’s client Network

Infogroup (NASDAQ: IUSA), the leading provider of data driven and interactive resources for targeted sales, marketing and research solutions today announced a reseller agreement with Tickets.com to resell it’s Enterprise 7 cross-channel marketing platform to Tickets.com clients. The Yesmail branded product line from Infogroup Interactive focuses on industry leading email and social marketing services for the large enterprise market.

Tickets.com provides a market-leading ticketing solution to live entertainment, sports, and arts clients worldwide. Working together with Infogroup Interactive to resell the Yesmail Enterprise 7 platform allows Tickets.com to extend award-winning email marketing, mobile messaging and social marketing services to the rapidly-growing sports and entertainment industry. The agreement also underscores Tickets.com’s focus on the development of strategic partnerships with technology leaders to deliver innovative solutions to support client growth and evolving needs.

“Adding the innovative technology behind the Enterprise 7 platform to our ProVenue® solutions suite was the next step to building out a comprehensive program that meets the needs of marketers in a rapidly changing buyer’s market,” said Sheri Fink, manager, eCommerce and strategic alliances at Tickets.com. “As Tickets.com clients’ retention programs have grown in complexity, they need a trusted multi-channel partner who can provide the expertise and technology to drive ticket sales through email and mobile channels. We are committed to offering our clients robust, and comprehensive solutions that are unmatched in the industry – and Enterprise 7 helps us achieve this goal,” said Fink.

“We are excited about working with Tickets.com to bring a powerful, integrated solution, and easy-to-use technology that allows them to reach their marketing objectives and deliver more value to their clients,” said John Harrison, president of Yesmail from infogroup interactive. “This is a great opportunity for us to extend our industry leading services to the sports and entertainment market which is a major market in the adoption of mobile and social marketing services.”

As part of the agreement, Infogroup Interactive and Tickets.com will work together to jointly sell Enterprise 7 to Tickets.com clients. Tickets.com clients will be able to take advantage of Yesmail’s Enterprise platform to help drive tickets sales based on consumer event preferences.

Tickets.com Presenting at Customer Experience Summit in Chicago

Tickets.com will be presenting at the Customer Experience Summit being held March 30 – April 2, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.

At the Customer Experience Summit, senior level practitioners will provide real world insights on what it takes to achieve a world-class customer experience with measurable bottom line results. Attendees will leave with immediate opportunities to enhance the cost effectiveness of customer experience programs and prove an increased ROI, act on complaint and Voice of the Customer feedback, and turn loyalty customers into advocated by spreading positive word of mouth.

Sheri Fink, Online Marketing Manager at Tickets.com will be presenting a session on Tuesday, March 31st titled Implementing Successful New Online Marketing Partnerships. This session will allow attendees to learn ways to drive additional revenue while enhancing the online customer experience. Strategic insights include:

• Cultivating innovative partnerships that add value to customers and the bottom line


• Leveraging mobile to provide a seamless customer experience


• Integrating new opportunities across your organization


• Measuring the success of your efforts

The audience for this event is anyone responsible for the overall experience and satisfaction of your customers, including Customer Engagement & Experience, Customer Care & Client Services, Retention & Loyalty Programs, Call & Contact Centers, Customer Insight & Satisfaction, Consumer Affairs, E-commerce & Retail, Marketing, Public Relations & Corporate Communications, Web Site Design & IT, Financial Analysis & Reporting, Operations & Planning.

For more information or to sign up, visit www.customerexperiencesummit.com or call 1-800-882-8684. Tickets.com clients get a 20% discount – provide code CESTC20 when registering for your discount.