In this blog, we dive into the integration of a cashless system when organising an event. We'll take you on a step by step journey through our vision, how we realised it, and the advantages a link with a cashless system has for you.
Imagine: It’s a warm Saturday afternoon. The sun is flourishing at its peak in a clear blue sky. You look about and see that your friends are littered around you. All is well. You listen as the music soothes your eardrums and you feel thirsty, as you lift the beer in your right hand to your lips, you notice that there are only a few drops of golden goodness left. Time for another. You rifle through your wallet and pockets, but to no avail; you’re out of tokens.
Does this situation sound all too familiar? We have the solution! When we entered into a partnership with WECANDANCE we focussed on the Custom Shop, the optional products and the integration of a cashless wristband. In this blog, we would like to take a deeper dive into ‘cashless’ payments; what the philosophy behind it is, how the integration of cashless works and what advantages it has for you as an organiser.
We think that transparency is incredibly important and would like to provide you with some insight into our methods and philosophies. We would like you to be a part of our mission, which is why we would like to show you the four steps for establishing the integration of cashless.
- First of all the Basics; the foundation that has been previously been laid.
- Secondly, the Philosophy; what is the vision behind the integration?
- Then the Operation how does the integration work for your visitors?
- And finally the Advantages; how do you benefit as an organiser?
The Basics
Well begun is half done
The foundations for everything that we are building now were laid about 2 years ago when we created the newest version of our dashboard. This version was built from an API, which allows our system to be flexible and adaptive. As such we are able to make use of our Scan App. The API is what allows you to be able to use our Scan App, for instance. The API provides you with the possibility of adding elements to your ticket shops - such as the integration of cashless - granted you have the necessary technical expertise.
The Philosophy
We think it’s important that you as an organiser are in control. We like to imagine organisers as directors and ourselves as producers. That's why we think flexibility is important and we can offer various ‘cashless’ parties within our service. Before we begin optimising our service we ask ourselves the following question:
How do we ensure that a part of our service is user-friendly and can be built as efficiently as possible?
When it came to cashless the answer was right there. Besides being hard-working professionals we are also festival enthusiasts. From the perspective of festival visitors, we only saw the advantages of cashless integrations. A cashless wristband is safer, ensures a higher conversion rate and is more user-friendly than coins or tokens which you can easily lose as a visitor.
The Operation
To explain how a cashless wristband works we will use the integration of the PlayPass as an example, which is a system that is already being used in the Custom Shop of WECANDANCE. However, keep in mind that any party that offers cashless payments can be integrated into the (Custom) shops.
This is how it works: During the shopping process, visitors purchase credit for the wristband, which will then be added to the scannable code on the ticket. In the GIF below you can see how this process takes place.
Once your visitors arrive at your event the code with the credit attached to it will be scanned and the credit will be activated and transferred to your wristband. As such, your visitors will have a safe method of payment available while they are at your event. All the codes which are scanned by PlayPass are sent directly to Eventix so you can follow everything that is being scanned in realtime in the check-in monitor. The synchronisation with the system persists throughout the event, so you are able to see what new purchases are being made or when they are topping up after running out of credit.
Carlo Waelens, Business Developer at PlayPass on the integration of cashless: “We are seeing that the events which are transitioning to cashless are slowly receiving more revenue coming from ‘online’ purchases. Some parties which use PlayPass are receiving 50 to 75% of their total revenue through online channels. (...) An organiser who makes use of a cashless integration can save expenses when it comes to hiring cashiers and receives an accurate overview of their ‘cashflow’ before the start of their event. Usually, an organiser only has this during or after their event.”
The Advantages
The pros outweigh the cons
● Increase your revenue: The integration of cashless ensures a higher revenue, which can be achieved by offering your visitors attractive deals and rewarding them for purchasing credit earlier. Think long and hard about what deals you would offer to increase your revenue. A viable deal for a festival that spans a number of days is 35 tokens + 1 free, or 70 tokens + 3 free. The deals you offer also depend on the size of your festival.
“We are seeing that offering the right package deals to visitors can provide up to 30% more revenue than when visitors can only buy coins on the festival grounds.” - Carlo Waelens
● Customer-friendly: You are catering to your visitors' wishes by allowing them to purchase credit beforehand. Visitors can easily have the leftover money on their wristband refunded, which is in stark contrast to trying to hand in coins you find in your pocket the day after a festival.
● User-friendly: Your visitors don’t need to go rummaging through their pockets or wallet at the bar in order to find that one coin that slipped away and is trying to hide from them. As the visitors each have the credit on their wristband, the thoroughfare at the bar will be more refined and your visitors will be helped more quickly.
● Counters fraud: The integration of cashless provides an extra level of security when it comes to fraud. The system automatically synchronises the orders of credit with the cash system which ensures no staff members can swindle away tokens on the job.