Village launches mobile ticketing system
Village Cinemas has become the first Australian exhibitor to offer a mobile ticketing system, allowing customers to purchase tickets on their smart phones and scan in a barcode on their phones for direct access into the cinema.
“Village Mobile was developed in response to a growing consumer shift to the smartphone. In many service industries, such as the airline industry, this has triggered increased integration of smartphones and mobile ticketing. This change in consumer demand influenced our decision to provide a mobile service that is user friendly, convenient and enables customers to see their favourite films faster,” CEO Kirk Edwards told Encore.
Edwards did not reveal the size of the financial investment the mobile system represents, but he described it as “an investment in our service delivery and the way we interact with our customers”.
“Our aim is to make it easier and more convenient for our existing customers to go to the movies especially during our busier blockbuster periods, in addition to attracting new audiences via a new ticketing platform. We believe it will strengthen our brand as being one that is innovative, embraces technology and provides a value add service to our customers,” he said.
Village Mobile is a web-based service, not an app, because the company wanted to create a universal services available across the entire smartphone market: “A large percentage of our target market users are using Nokia, Blackberry and Samsung as well as the iPhone, and therefore it was only natural to offer this service to all smartphone users”.
Customers will receive a faster service, but at this stage, there will be no special discounts to encourage them to use Village Mobile.
” The main incentive of purchasing movie tickets on your mobile is the benefit of a faster and more convenient service than our traditional ticketing processes. We will look at offering exclusive promotions for Village Mobile users in the future,” said Edwards.
The site will eventually track customer behaviour and integrate gift card and gift voucher redemption, as well as offer enhanced film information.
