Objective The Stanislaus County Fair is a ten-day fair that celebrates summer activities for close to 220,000 visitors. Guests from 14 countries and 46 states visited the fair in 2007 to experience top notch entertainment, motor-sport events, carnival rides, and livestock auctions.
The success of their deeply-discounted advanced admission tickets and carnival passes had created hour-long lines at their on-site ticket windows. Stanislaus knew that online ticketing would be the best solution for alleviating the bottlenecks; however they were concerned they would not be able to validate online tickets due to the remote location of their grounds. With an expansive fairgrounds spanning over 33 acres and 4 gate admission locations it seemed costly to implement Internet ready validation points. Stanislaus needed a cost effective way to maximize gate entry speed and provide convenience to their patrons while ensuring a secure validation of online tickets.
Solution INTERACTIVE TICKETING's flexible purchase form options provided a way to sell advanced, deep-discounted tickets online that automatically switched to standard General Admission prices at the 7 p.m opening day deadline. Advanced ticket pricing was easily programmed to expire and regular pricing was programmed come online as scheduled.
INTERACTIVE TICKETING also shipped their cellular-based wireless broadband technology to the fairgrounds. After an easy setup, this enabled connections between all gate locations, providing real-time validation and tracking. Tim Cook, Director of Admissions at Stanislaus commented: "The hardware installation at each gate was a breeze and took less than 15 minutes to install. Keeping track of redemption rates and maintaining a tight level of security was also effortless.”
The Result Stanislaus was able to direct a large portion of their patrons to buy online, reduce the wait line for their advanced-discount tickets and allow their online purchasers to bypass the box office and go straight to any of their four gate locations to validate tickets.
In addition, the fair generated ticket revenue months before opening day, gained a valuable customer database, and provided a positive experience to their visitors.
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“This was our first year selling etickets via the Internet and I expect our online ticketing sales to significantly increase over the coming years. People are expecting this convenience just as they do with airline tickets. Electric Arrow’s customer service and implementation of this technology was outstanding and I am eager to get this system up and running for next year.”
Cathy Black Business Assistant Stanislaus County Fair Turlock, CA
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