Automation: The Industrial Revolution of the Secondary Ticket Market

By Scott Barrows, CEO, Symbioticks

The secondary ticket market has entered its most competitive period in history. An increased number of brokers are listing more inventory than ever on the ticketing networks and primary sellers are aiming to capture secondary market profits via variable pricing.  It is clearly essential for brokers to embrace the tools that are available in order to maximize efficiency, reduce overhead, and increase their chances of success.

Automation is the key component to increasing the efficiency and cost effectiveness of a broker’s operation and thankfully third party vendors have brought automation tools to the secondary market.   These tools were previously enjoyed by large brokerages that invested large sums into in-house development teams and enjoyed a competitive advantage over “the little guys”.   Auto holds, auto processing, auto ticket download, auto pricing, and auto PO creation  have arrived and new iterations and improvements are being released to the broker public on a constant basis by a growing number of independent development companies.

When deciding which technologies are worth investing in, it is important for a broker to have a firm grasp on their current operating expenses. Questions worth knowing the answers to include “How much of your monthly overhead costs go to processing orders?”, “How much would additional profit would you gain if your net returns went up 1%?”, “How many man hours are consumed by pricing?  PO entering?”, and “What is preventing our company from growing?  Or being more efficient?”  Knowing your operations from both a human and analytical basis is crucial when considering investments in an automation tool.  $10,000 might seem too costly, until you frame it in the context of your current cost structure, it may very well be that a $10,000 investment creates $30,000 per year in overhead cost savings. 

 
Three individuals that are at the forefront of this revolution are Sam Sherman of Broker Genius, Billy Becher of 24/7 Broker, and Dominic Laico of Autoprocessor.com.  All three are continuously developing new automated software solutions for the broker community.  When asked, all three expressed similar views regarding the present and future of automation in our industry.

Sam Sherman of Broker Genius believes one key to the continued success of automation development are competitors working together to create more efficiency and to ultimately build better products for sellers.  Dominic Laico of Autoprocessor.com believes that adoptions of formal APIs by the POS providers and exchanges will help create more stable products for everyone.  Billy Becher of 24/7 Broker also feels that opening up APIs will be critical for the industry to evolve.  He also feels strongly that the exchanges need to continue to work together with developers to achieve true real-time systems.

When asked about their vision of what is to come, both Laico and Becher stated end-to-end automated solutions that encompass all aspects of an order's life cycle are what they see next. Whatever the future does end up providing, there is no question that there is an abundance of valuable tools available today for brokers to utilize and maximize their efficiency.

To learn more and stay up to date on all available technologies and tools in the secondary market, you can go to http://www.symbioticks.com for a free membership. There are currently 50 industry specific tools ranging from automation, marketing, exchanges, POS, credit card fraud protection, and more to learn about. In addition with your free Symbioticks membership you will also be notified of any new technology release, along with exclusive free trials and pricing.

How Mobile Has Changed Ticket Sales

By Mark Hunter, Senior VP of Sales and Business Development, Mobile Ticket App

Mobile devices and smartphones are everywhere.  People are reading emails, sharing their lives on social networks, staying connected, and buying products and services including tickets.

Facts:
ComScore data revealed that smartphone penetration ticked up in the three months prior to August 2013 to about 61%.  It is noted that people who carry smartphones also have higher disposable income and use their smartphones more frequently.

According to Google, tickets are the #2 product category purchased on smartphones, just below clothing and accessories.  Additionally, 66% of ticket purchasers used more than one device to research and buy their tickets. 

Sales Process:
When ticket apps where first released 3.5 years ago, many ticket brokers looked at apps and mobile sites as separate sales channels.  Traditional ideas about traffic and conversion rates were applied to apps and mobile sites to judge their success.

Today, the facts show, that the mobile device is an integral part of the ticket buying process, and that traditional conversion rates are hard to apply to measuring the success of the mobile app and mobile site.  Logic and observation need to apply here and the correct way to measure mobile success is through mobile activity and use. 

The mobile industry has two successful platforms that are measured by use- the Apple iPhone and the Google Android. 

A mobile site can be used by all smartphones including the iPhone and Android, which should be considered the bare minimum if you want to have a mobile presence.  Like your traditional website, a user must come to you to shop for tickets on your mobile site. 

Having an iPhone and Android app is a necessary product set for any ticket broker who proactively sells tickets to retail buyers.  The ticket app is a piece of software that sits on the mobile device and uses all features of the mobile device to make finding and buying tickets easier.  A correctly built app will be built using the same operating system code as the mobile device,  meaning an iPhone App should be built using iPhone software code and an Android app should be built using Android software code.  Some developers have cut costs and outsourced development to India using a standardized software code called HTML5, which Facebook and LinkedIn have dropped for numerous reasons.

When you decide to embrace ticket apps, it is prudent to have an individual iPhone app and a separate Android app. They are two different systems and each should have an app tailored to that specific platform.

Summary:
Information and facts have shown us that having a mobile presence isn’t just important for customers that wish to start and complete the entire purchase process on their smartphones, but is necessary for any ticket broker who sells tickets to retail buyers.  Having a mobile site is an entry point, and having an iPhone app and an Android app is the norm for any organization trying to sell their products and services to the community of retail buyers who use smartphones to research and purchase tickets, which is 61% of the United States population. 

For more information on out mobile ticket apps and mobile ticket websites, email Mobile Ticket App at info@mobileticketapp.com.

www.MobileTicketApp.com
888.206.6374, extension 1

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