Tappit offers the cashless solution 

Tappit is a global provider of cashless solutions that can help events, attractions, stadiums and venues to increase profit, gain insights and improve fan experiences. 

Founded in 2018, Tappit has quickly become the cashless experts, having already complied an impressive client list including Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Padres, Formula One and Jacksonville Jaguars. 

Tappit strives to enhance live event experiences for fans, providing technology and data to the organisers to get the best out of what they intend to do. All this links towards improving customer experiences, giving a greater return on profitability.

As more and more people make the switch towards cashless, they will find it easy, fast and convenient to use. It boosts profits for organisations and gives a safer environment for fans. 

The solutions provided by Tappit are suitable for sports clubs or any other similar organisers. 

Tappit Mobile Pay: Puts the app at the centre of all customer activities to set a new standard in fan experience. Through a seamless, single mobile ecosystem, there can be contactless payments, access control, loyalty and ticketing all in the one place, with benefits to match. 

  • Safe – Keeping guests and staff as safe as possible in relation to COVID-19 protocols. By eliminating the need for physical cash, this minimises human contact. Not only this, but secure QR technology will significantly reduce the risk of fraud and theft. 
  • Frictionless – Creating a seamless spending experience for events will maximise fan engagement. This means communication is integrated directly inside the app so customers have everything they require in one destination. Understanding fan’s end-to-end spending habits is highly rewarding. 
  • Simple – The easy-to-use Mobile Pay software is a straightforward upgrade to an existing POS system. There is minimal hardware investment or staff training involved, while the QR code technology creates a familiar customer experience for all fan demographics. 
  • Fully agnostic – Tappit do not compete with banking partners, so Mobile Pay can be integrated with loyalty schemes, reward initiatives and existing venue & financial partners. Tappit provides complementary solutions to enhance the work of an organisation’s partners.
  • Increase value for sponsors – A complete customer view ensures that sponsors can understand who their VIPs are and the best ways to target them. Selecting Tappit’s white label solution enables the creation of a new sponsorship category and provides the organisation with new assets to monetise. 
  • Completely understanding fans – Overseeing the customers’ spending journey and retaining the relevant data will introduce access to the most valuable business insights. This gives a better glimpse into how to attract and engage attendees and increase the event’s profitability simultaneously. 

Cashless RFID system: Improving fan experience, boost takings and gather 360 customer insights without the need of WiFi at the venue. Tappit’s cashless RFID technology delves deeper than just contactless payments. 

  • Boost profitability – The positives of eliminating cash are almost endless in their possibilities, with the trend growing towards making more transactions via credit card. Tappit has elaborated that going cashless will increase gate takings by 22% on average, while transactions are made 80% faster. 
  • Enhanced fan experience – The RFID system reduces queues, increase sales and gives fans more time to enjoy the event they paid for. Understanding every fan unlocks marketing opportunities through personalised offers based on previous behaviours and incentivises them by having rewards and digital vouchers. 
  • A completed view of every fan – Fans are served better when the organisation gets to know them better. The RFID system has the data to assess a fans’ spending – where and when. 
  • Keeping fans and staff safe – RFID’s one-tap payments keep attendees and the workforce safe, similar to how Mobile Pay operates. Importantly, the risk of fraud and theft is minimised and with Tappit’s innovative functionality there are plenty more features such as Yellow Card through to Safety Wristbands.
  • Tech-light integration – Tappit’s technology complements existing infrastructure. They work closely to get the ideal design happening quickly and efficiently. The system does not require an overhaul to existing infrastructure or need a complicated set up requiring a multitude of integrations.  

Tappit extends further to what just happens at an event, they also deliver Tappit Insights as part of their solution package. For each fan, the organisation gets a complete 360-degree view.  

Tappit is able to integrate data across an ecosystem, including ticket data through purchases, parking and loyalty schemes. They can then turn this into valuable insights with instant access to a holistic view about a visitor’s spending and behaviour trends to guide organisations in the right direction for profitable planning and decision making.  

Tappit changes the game from a typical POS report to a unique platform that connects purchases directly to a fan – unprecedented data and insights are achieved. 

To learn more about Tappit, including case studies and resources, you can find it here.  

Ticketchainer: A new look into sports ticketing management

Ticketchainer is a Paris-based tech company that is focusing on transforming the sports ticketing industry from a simple sales tool to a comprehensive e-commerce platform that is suited to the needs of its clients.

Founded in 2019, Ticketchainer has now worked with many sports clubs and organisations across France, including Ligue 2 side AC Ajaccio, offering a product that provides:

  • A personalised purchase journey with a customised user experience and interface, integrating the best e-commerce practices with a responsive design adapted to computers, tablets and smartphones.
  • A back office for ticketing management which configures events and subscriptions, while displaying real-time tracking of ticket sales and combined offers.
  • A fixed and mobile access control management through a dedicated mobile application, personal digital assistants (PDAs) with the Ticketchainer Application Programming Interface (API), or interfacing with existing fixed access control systems.

Co-founder and CEO of Ticketchainer, Sami Bouden, explains how the idea of Ticketchainer all came about in an article with ENSTA Paris:

“Sport, and football in particular, is the events sector where ticketing is the most complex to manage: numbered seats, annual or half-season subscriptions, security, there are many parameters to take into account,” he said.

“It seemed to me to be a challenge that was both captivating and within my reach. That’s how the idea of ​​Ticketchainer was born.”

In addition, Ticketchainer decided to branch out internationally becoming the ticketing platform for the 2023 African Cup of Nations, which was a massive achievement for the tech company.

“It was a huge satisfaction for the team because we won this competition ahead of all the big names in the sector, which is a strong signal for the future,” Bouden added via the article with ENSTA Paris.

During the build-up, Ticketchainer launched their online ticketing platform that covered the six stadiums used for the tournament which had a capacity ranging from 25,000 to 60,000 seats.

In addition, they also deployed 70 box offices across the Ivory Coast to sell physical tickets utilising their technology for digital payments.

In approximately three months, Ticketchainer sold over a million tickets for the 2023 African Cup of Nations. They also had to manage more than 350,000 connections per day, selling 25,000 tickets daily for several weeks.

However, the French tech company did come across some technical challenges along the way.

“Security was of course a crucial aspect, but we had anticipated the issue very well and all attempts at fraud were foiled. We worked enormously to adapt our technology to the scale of the event and make it safe and robust. And it worked perfectly,” Bouden said in an article with ENSTA Paris.

Although still relatively new in the sports ticketing industry already working with various sporting organisations in France, Ticketchainer is looking to continue to expand in Europe after the success of the African Cup of Nations.

“Our main objective remains to consolidate our expansion on the French and European market and to become the reference solution for the most prestigious competitions,” Bouden said in an article with ENSTA Paris.

“At the same time, the success of our performance at the African Cup of Nations naturally allows us to nurture ambitions on new markets, particularly in the Gulf countries, and emerging markets where the event industry is exploding. We have just proven that we have all the assets to achieve this.”

Ticketchainer could prove beneficial to most sports clubs and organisations to help them get a better grasp on handling and organising ticket purchases.

Although it may be a while to see this type of technology implemented in Australia, if Ticketchainer’s success in the sports ticketing scene continues we may see them expand into other continents as well as other big future sporting competitions.

Manchester City and Sony launch the ‘Virtual Etihad Stadium’

Manchester City has unveiled the ‘Virtual Etihad Stadium’ – an interactive fan experience powered by Sony for fans to enjoy.

The interactive experience makes City the first sports brand to use Sony’s new FavoriteSpace service. The two global giants have been developing this fan engagement proof of concept (PoC) since their collaboration was confirmed in November 2021.

For the first time, fans can access the newly launched app, which lets Cityzens from the UK, US, and Japan join a virtual fan community to connect and celebrate the club throughout the season. Users can create personalized avatars and engage in various activities like daily challenges, social events, minigames, and co-creation features. Digital merchandise can also be redeemed within a virtual City Store.

Using data tracking technology from Hawk-Eye Innovations, a Sony group company, fans can immerse themselves in 3DCG match highlights for City’s home games during the 24/25 men’s season and revisit key moments from the 23/24 season.

With the FavoriteSpace service, the club is offering new opportunities for partners like Etihad and Nissan to create innovative and engaging activations within the Manchester City experience. This includes reactive LED messaging in the Immersive Highlights for Premier League matches and tailored challenges within the interactive Stadium Tour.

Chief Marketing and Fan Experience Officer at City Football Group, Nuria Tarre expressed her excitement about the collaboration.

“We’re delighted to launch this new experience today alongside our long-term partner Sony as part of our wider strategy to embrace new technologies and continuously explore new ways to engage and entertain our audience.

“It’s exciting for us to be able to see the PoC partnership come to life with today’s launch and we’re grateful to Sony for collaborating with us to launch the Man City Virtual Etihad Stadium.

“This is the latest digital experience we have launched for our global fanbase – following success on other platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite in recent years – and we hope fans across the world will enjoy it.”

Head of New Business Development Division and Sony Group Corporation, Yuhei Yabe further elaborated how they will continue to make sports more engaging and innovative.

“We are pleased to bring this new sports experience to football fans by combining Sony’s new service, FavoriteSpace, with the attractive content provided by Manchester City.”

“Sony is committed to making the future of sports more engaging and innovative by utilising Sony’s technology and entertainment expertise. It’s been an incredible journey from the PoC phase with our partner Manchester City, and today, we are thrilled to announce the launch.

“At FavoriteSpace, we will continue to develop services that bring fans closer together, making the act of supporting their favourite teams and players even more enjoyable.”

To find out more about the Man City Virtual Etihad Stadium, click here.

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