Fan Safety And Fan Experience: How Payments Technology Will Help Stadiums Strike A Balance

Nick Corrigan, MD UK&I at Global Payments and Steve McArdle, Director of Stadia and Venues at Bleep UK (a Global Payments Company) discuss how a new era of holistic fan experiences has been triggered, enabled by next-generation payments technology.

How have stadiums been forced to change to ensure fans’ safety?

Steve: As the UK inches towards normality, the pathway for fans to return to stadiums for sports matches, music events and other performances is becoming clearer. With many events still operating at reduced capacities, and a high awareness of health and safety protocols likely to be long-standing, hosting venues are required to reconsider how they serve customers through their food and beverage and retail areas in the long term. Critical to ensuring fans and employees feel safe in these areas is the reduction of queues and face-to-face transactions.

Will this positively or negatively affect the fan experience?

Steve: This actually represents an opportunity to develop and enhance the fan experience. Fans’ safety is vital, but so is the quality of service that they receive. It is definitely possible to create an environment that does both. The short window where pubs and restaurants opened in the summer of 2020 proved that by quickly embracing the right technology, hospitality venues could still deliver a positive customer experience whilst ensuring the safety of their guests. The reopening of hospitality venues this spring has yet again shown how the introduction of simple mobile applications and installing next generation Point of Sale technologies can reduce queues dramatically and provide customers with a more seamless customer experience.

What role does a change in payment habits have to play in the evolution of these venues?

Nick: Amidst the pandemic, we saw the contactless limit raised and, later in the year, we’ll see it increased once more. We also saw the explosion of QR codes that replaced menus in many restaurants and bars when they were finally able to reopen. To add to that, many hospitality businesses capitalised on integrating SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions, such as Deliveroo, to reduce contact with customers and to reach them in their own homes during lockdowns. All of these trends were in existence prior to the pandemic, but they were taken up more dramatically by consumers due to sheer necessity over the past year. These habits will not simply disappear but will rather form part of our expectations in physical settings too – the assumption you will be able to pay with your mobile phone through a digital wallet, or order via an app, for example. As such, rather than looking at payments as the final step of the purchase, these venues should be continuing to look at how they complement the wider customer experience we’ve come to expect.

Do you think the pandemic will see venues go completely cashless?

Steve: The trend of stadiums and entertainment venues going cashless was already in motion before the pandemic, but it is true that this has dramatically accelerated and we’re edging closer to that reality. People were already leaning away from fumbling for the right change purely out of convenience, but the new public awareness of the volumes and varieties of bacteria found on banknotes has led to an increased reluctance to use cash - both by consumers and businesses. But this is not a bad thing for stadiums and entertainment venues. Cash also brings with it the risk of loss and potentially high levels of theft which can damage the customer experience. Plus, the costs to manage cash at a stadiums and venue operations is high, from the allocation and logging of floats to cash in transit and end of event banking.

What kinds of technology will we see appearing at stadiums?

Nick: An increase in options for contactless and mobile payments at Electronic Point of Sale till points will be perhaps the most widespread and immediate change, but the next level of efficiency and safety for the reopening of stadiums lies with adoption of Point of Sale technology that already exists in the general hospitality sector, such as mobile applications and self-service kiosks.

How will these technologies enhance the fan experience?

Steve: Self-service kiosks with integrated card payment devices, like the ones we are familiar with at fast food establishments, can reduce queues by allowing touchscreen self-service ordering for immediate collection or even pre-ordering for half-time or intervals.

Mobile apps mean customers can order food and drinks from where they are sitting and only have to visit a kiosk when their order is ready to collect. This not only enhances safety by reducing queues but also enhances the fan experience dramatically as they no longer need to spend a long period of the sports match or show waiting outside for an order.

In hospitality and VIP boxes, introducing scannable QR codes, like Nick previously mentioned, can make premium menus and deals available and notify the host of which box the fan is in. Mobile apps could offer merchandise ordering simultaneously, delivering club shop items to tables or boxes. Inclusive deals can even be triggered through recognition of season ticket holders or members at checkout and post-match invoicing if required.

How will these new opportunities increase revenues for stadiums?

Nick: The most immediate revenue increase through the introduction of these technologies in particular will be increasing spend per head. The same apps selling food and drink can sell merchandise relevant for the specific event that can be pre-ordered for collection – whether that is sports kit or concert t-shirts. This not only increases customer spend but also accessibility, reducing the need for customers to queue or visit merchandise stores in other parts of the stadium. Long queues can be very off-putting and technology such as pre-ordering kiosks that reduce queues will encourage visitors to order refreshments and merchandise when they otherwise might have decided to go without.

Digital payment technologies can also make back office procedures much more efficient, reduce complexity and save employees significant time. Self-service kiosks and apps can link to back offices for automatic real-time sales and stock reporting making end of event banking much more straightforward.

Mobile apps will change the game at stadiums by giving managers the ability to digitally recognise their customers. This means they can understand their demographics much better as well as their behaviour and preferences, enabling them to digitally push out personalised offers. By enhancing the digital relationship with their customers, stadiums can embrace new opportunities to drive customer retention and increase spend per head on every visit.