Online retail giant Amazon.com is perhaps the single biggest online success story of the past decade. While competitive prices and a huge product range are key factors in this success, the website’s worldwide popularity can also be attributed to the dynamic customer orientated features which it has seamlessly integrated into its website. One of the most useful and popular of these is the way in which Amazon recommends similar products to ones that the customer has already bought.

For venue operators and online ticket vendors, this strategy is one which could help boost sales and enhance repeat custom. For example, if a customer buys a ticket for a concert by their favourite band, the online ticketing front-end could then suggest other upcoming performances by the same artist, or by related performers in the same genre. This not only has the potential to generate additional sales, but would also provide customers with a far more personal experience tailored to their specific tastes.

In addition to suggesting similar products to the one that the customer has just bought, Amazon also uses the individual’s previous purchase history to generate ideas for products that they might enjoy each time they visit the website. In a ticketing situation this could be particularly effective, as when the user signs into their account to look for specific tickets, they will also be presented with a number of other events which might interest them.
Such dynamic and interactive content can provide a great service to customers, and a massive boost to the ticket company’s reputation and bottom line.

According to the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (Locog), approximately 150,000 ticket applicants who were previously unsuccessful in their attempts to secure seats for London 2012 have now received tickets in the second round of sales.

Locog says that in the ‘second chance sales window’, which expired on 3rd July 2011, 750,000 tickets to the games were sold, bringing the total number of tickets sold to in excess of 3.5 million.  In this second round of ticket sales, only those who had previously applied and been completely unsuccessful were able to buy tickets.

Most events are now sold out, with the exceptions being football, volleyball and freestyle wrestling.  There are still 1.5 million tickets left for the various football games of the Olympics, and although the sport does have the largest venues and most fixtures of virtually all Olympic sports, this has prompted many to speculate on the reason for the relative unpopularity of the national game.

It is possible that one reason may be that people are deterred by events taking place away from the main Olympic centre of London, with football matches taking place at stadiums throughout the country. However it might also be that, for a nation used to seeing top flight football played every weekend, the amateur football of the Olympics is not quite perceived as a spectacle fit for “the greatest show on earth”.

Those who have already purchased tickets in the initial ballot process will also get the chance to buy the remaining tickets, which began on 8th July 2011 and will stay open until 17th July 2011.

Whether it’s sports, theatre, music festivals or any other type of event, the bottom line is ticket sales. And when attempts are made to change a winning (and profitable) formula, there are bound to be those who are hostile to the changes.

Such is the case in Formula One motor racing at the moment, with one of the most outspoken voices against change being the F1 supremo himself, Bernie Ecclestone.

The issue in contention is the introduction of new engines for F1 cars in 2014, with the current V8’s (revving at 18,000 RPM) being replaced by V6 turbos (15,000 RPM). Ecclestone and, many grand prix organisers, are concerned that the change in regulations will drastically alter the distinctive sound and intense experience which fans buy tickets for.

Ecclestone has even gone as far as to suggest that he may sue the FIA, the governing body of motor sport which is initiating the new regulations, if the new engines result in a loss of appeal and a decline in ticket sales.

He told the Independent, “[race promoters] believe these [new] engines will take away what people want when they go to formula one races – the glamour and the noise – and therefore they won’t be able to sell the tickets and they won’t be able to pay us.”

Some race promoters have even suggested that if the engine change goes ahead they may desert F1 altogether in favour of the American-based IndyCar racing series.

Ecclestone added that if the race promoters at individual GP circuits couldn’t honour their contracts with him, he, “probably wouldn’t hold them to it,” instead suggesting his organisation “may have to sue the FIA.”

A UK-based company selling Olympics tickets to customers abroad was forced to shut down temporarily after experiencing a surge in demand from British consumers.

Oxfordshire based ticket agency, Sportsworld, is an authorised seller of tickets to the London 2012 Games, supplying tickets to sports fans in Europe and across the world. After a number of news reports suggested that British consumers could also purchase tickets through such channels, the website was inundated with interest from the UK and was unable to cope with the volume of traffic.

Millions of Brits are still desperately seeking tickets after being left empty-handed by the initial ticket ballot organised by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog).

Thousands of tickets are set to be re-allocated, after the original buyers’ payments were declined. Unsold tickets meanwhile will be offered to those who were unsuccessful in buying tickets, later this month. It is thought that there hundreds of thousands of tickets still available, and these will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis.

According to reports, only five sports have been sold out completely. Sports for which all tickets have been sold are equestrian (cross-country), rhythmic gymnastics, triathlon, modern pentathlon and track cycling.

Hundreds of fans of the popular boy-band JLS were left disappointed and angry recently after being unable to get in to see the band perform at a gig in Winchester with Olly Murs. As fans descended on the Matterly Bowl venue amidst heavy rain, traffic became increasingly chaotic and gridlocked.

According to some fans, they were stuck in the traffic for as long as four hours, consequently missing most of the open-air concert, which began at 6:30PM.

Many of those in attendance, amongst them a large number of families with children, blamed the organisers for the debacle. One angry mother told the BBC: “The transport infrastructure was a shambles, the organisation a disgrace.”

The agitated ticket holders may however be placated somewhat, after it was announced that they will be offered free tickets to other gigs held by organisers Coz We Can Ltd.
Along with the hundreds of inevitable complaints the company received, the management of JLS themselves had vowed that they would be pushing for refunds to be issued to fans who missed out.

The organisers had originally denied responsibility, and stated that ticketholders would have to take it up with ticket agencies they bought their tickets from. But fans reported being told by ticket sellers that the organisation of the event was nothing to do with them.

Local newspaper, the Daily Echo, revealed on Saturday that organisers had now made an offer of free tickets to all fans affected.

Chart-topping singer Adele is certainly causing a stir in the world of popular music now. So much so that some fans reportedly parted with as much as €1000 (£888) for tickets on eBay, in a bid to see her sold out gig in Dublin.

Tickets for the gig at the city’s Olympia theatre sold out within an hour of going on sale last November, even before the release of her current number one selling album, 21. Since its release in January the album has so far sold almost two million copies in the UK alone, and has remained at the top spot in the UK album chart, earning Adele the record for longest consecutive stay at number one for an album.

Last week meanwhile, Adele beat Britney Spears new album Femme Fatale to number one in the US Billboard 200 chart.

Tickets for the gig were unsurprisingly in high demand, and with a capacity of just 1600 at the theatre, many Irish fans of the singer were inevitably going to be disappointed.

Yet larger venues it seems are also not quite able to contain the legions of newly converted Adele fans. Her 2011 trans-Atlantic tour, which is set to continue until late September and will take the singer around the UK, US and Canada, is already virtually sold out.

A welsh music fan was outraged last week when she was asked to pay £20 extra per ticket after purchasing six tickets for a Take That concert in Cardiff.

According to a report by the BBC, even though Margaret Lovett had already paid £373 for the tickets, she received a phone call later that week informing her that if she wanted to keep her tickets she would have to pay an additional £20 fee for each ticket. The ticketing company involved claimed that this was because the tickets had been listed at an incorrect price on the website. As an alternative to paying the extra money she was given the option of a full refund.

Ms Lovett was less impressed however: “I had already paid £373 and it was more or less pay up or you won’t have your tickets. I feel like I’m being blackmailed,” she told the BBC.
After she complained, the ticket company agreed to waive the fee. A spokesman for the company said: “We do acknowledge that this customer bought her tickets at the price communicated at the time of purchase and whilst our terms and conditions of sale enable us to recover any excess costs attributable to incorrect pricing, upon review of this specific case as a gesture of goodwill we have decided to waive the additional cost to this customers”

Tickets for Take That’s first tour with Robbie Williams in 16 years are in high demand. When they first went on sale at the end of last year, an influx of eager fans crashed a number of ticketing websites.

Having a seating plan integrated into your ticketing system carries many benefits for both your customers and your staff.

Firstly, from a customer service perspective, people like to be able to visualise where they will be seated at an event before making a purchase. While some may prefer to be near the front at ground level to be as close to the action as possible, others might have a preference for sitting at a higher level to get a full panoramic view of what’s going on. By having a seating plan incorporated into your booking website, your customers can more easily select and purchase the tickets that are best suited to them with a minimum of fuss.

Secondly, when answering customer queries face to face or via telephone, your ticket staff will be able to reference quickly the information required in an intuitive form, enabling them to provide a prompt and professional service that sets your company above the competition.

Using an electronic integrated seating plan is particularly useful for large group bookings, as it allows the customer to see at a glance what options are available to them if the entire party wish to sit together for the event or performance. Furthermore, customers can quickly view the price ranges of their seating options prior to booking.

The Independent reported last week that many of the UK’s big summer music festivals currently face an uncertain future, amidst slow ticket sales and lacklustre line-ups.

George Pryor, a spokesman for ticket comparison website Tixdaq told the newspaper that weekend tickets for the Reading and Leeds festivals have been selling at up to £60 less than their face value. 

When compared to other high profile events, in which tickets are sold on the secondary resale market for much more than their face value, the problem is clear: rapid price inflation of music festival tickets over the last decade.

Using the Reading festival as an example, weekend ticket prices were a modest £32.50 in 1989. By 2000 they had more than doubled to £80, and today the face value of a weekend ticket stands at £192.50 (more price details through the ages at http://www.fatreg.com/timeline.html).

There is a clear correlation between the increase in ticket prices and the growing popularity of music festivals from the early nineties onwards. Festival organisers have sought to capitalise as far as possible on this popularity, but could it be that they have now finally reached the point where festival goers are unable to justify the price of a ticket?

Coupled with the arrival of countless smaller more affordable independent festivals on the music scene, is it any wonder that the big festivals are failing to draw the crowds they once did?

Paul Hanly

Running a venue or acting as a promoter naturally incurs an element of risk in your business. The trick is to negate or eliminate this risk as far as possible. Nowhere is this more important than in your approach to your box office, the main interface between you and your customers, and your main source of income.

While outsourcing such a vital part of your infrastructure as your box office solution can seem counter-intuitive, it can actually help greatly eliminate risk in your business, while helping ensure you stay up to date with ongoing technological advances.

Running an integrated box office solution means that you and your customers know your booking system is 100% secure. Solution developers are constantly working to upgrade online security measures as new threats emerge in an online environment.

These upgrades are offered automatically as part of your box office system, but the decision to implement remains in your hands – so you retain control over all elements of your box office and can tailor it to fit your needs.

As box office solutions are integrated into your own existing systems, they support archiving transaction information in a secure environment. In case of a query, this information is easily accessible to staff but in a fashion which does not compromise sensitive details.

If you are looking to upgrade your box office then an integrated system can eliminate risk. By making data migration and website integration a crucial part of the start-up process, you receive a smooth switch-over and the assurance that everything is where it should be.

Paul Hanly

Mobile ticketing, whereby customers can receive an SMS/MMS ticket rather than a paper or e-ticket, is a fast-growing area.

According to a new study by Juniper Research, more than 15 billion mobile tickets will have been issued by 2014. That’s a huge global market, and if your company isn’t offering mobile ticketing to its customers, you could be missing out on sales.

Here are 5 reasons why your events company needs to offer mobile ticketing.

1) More flexibility for customers
Allowing customers to receive their tickets via SMS/MMS is yet another way that your company can excel at customer service. It’s clearly a convenient, stress-free way for customers to receive their tickets.

2) Reduces printing costs

If the Juniper report is accurate, mobile ticketing is about to explode. Therefore, if your company is prepared for it, you will soon find your printing bill for paper tickets is reduced.

3) Improves efficiency at the event

Mobile ticketing could herald the end of customers leaving home without their tickets/ print-outs. People may leave tickets behind but they won’t often venture out without their phones, so your door staff will have fewer cases of ticket-less customers to deal with.

4) Eco-friendly

As well as reducing the amount of money spent on printing tickets, mobile ticketing will also help the events industry to become more green. Less paper will be used to print tickets, as well as less energy delivering them to customers’ homes.

5) Extra revenue stream

Receiving a ticket via SMS/MMS is usually a premium service, and one that customers are willing to pay extra for. Once you’ve negotiated the profit split with the mobile operator, you will have a regular stream of additional income from offering mobile tickets.

Oxfordshire based ticket agency, Sportsworld, is an authorised seller of tickets to the London 2012 Games, supplying tickets to sports fans in Europe and across the world. After a number of news reports suggested that British consumers could also purchase tickets through such channels, the website was inundated with interest from the UK and was unable to cope with the volume of traffic.

Millions of Brits are still desperately seeking tickets after being left empty-handed by the initial ticket ballot organised by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog).

Thousands of tickets are set to be re-allocated, after the original buyers’ payments were declined. Unsold tickets meanwhile will be offered to those who were unsuccessful in buying tickets, later this month. It is thought that there hundreds of thousands of tickets still available, and these will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis.

According to reports, only five sports have been sold out completely. Sports for which all tickets have been sold are equestrian (cross-country), rhythmic gymnastics, triathlon, modern pentathlon and track cycling.

The Summer of the ticketing scam

Internet security firm BitDefender has predicted a rise in ticketing scam activity this summer, targeting music and sports events, as well as holidaymakers.

BitDefender warned event-goers to be vigilant of, “rogue ticketing websites, a proportion of which look almost identical to legitimate sites.” Their advice to ticket buyers includes using a reputable ticketing website, researching other buyers’ experiences of using the website, checking their registration details at www.companieshouse.gov.uk, and contacting customer services to ask detailed questions.

Kasabian issue statement on fraudulent tickets

Rock band Kasabian, meanwhile, have released a statement after fans hoping to attend their upcoming summer tour were scammed by a fraudulent ticketing website known as Ticket Index. “This site is the subject of a criminal investigation and the police and Action Fraud ... are aware of it,” the band’s statement said. “Any customer affected should follow the instructions at Action Fraud” (http://www.actionfraud.org.uk/support_for_you).

Ticket fraud accused denies wrong doing

Terence Shepherd, one of the accused in a trial relating to the fraudulent sale of thousands of tickets for music events, the 2008 Beijing Olympics and other sporting events, has claimed that he was let down by suppliers. He told Southwark Crown Court: “It is well documented that I’ve not been able to do and supply everything ... I was involved with other companies. It was through no fault of my own and I’ve lost a fortune of my own money trying to make good.”

He and three others are accused of fraudulent trading and other charges relating to tickets for major sports and music events. The trial continues.