offering to our members. We also expect to increase potential
match day revenues as a result of enhancing the gate entrance
procedures.”
Martin outlines the new electronic entry system: “Certain
categories of membership such as Gold, Silver and Bronze
include a season ticket. An allocation of entrances for
scheduled home matches next season will be uploaded onto
the member’s account on membership renewal. On match days
the members go to our gate that’s got a smartcard reader, hold
their card up to it and if they’ve paid, it recognises that and lets
them in. Likewise if they haven’t paid, it won’t! All the screens
at the gates are linked to the club’s server which is
shared by the EPoS system, hence delivering
the ability to check both access and
sales data for each member.”
“Paper match day tickets will
be retained each for our ticket
categories such as Adult Full,
Adult Concession etc. These
traditional tickets will now
have bar codes printed on
them. The bar codes are
recognised by a bar code
reader as being paid and
allows entry. This replaces
the ‘rip and click’ system
with something that’s going
to give us far more accurate
metrics in terms of numbers
and data. All entrances are
time and date stamped, so
we will also be able to track any
inappropriate use and of course
multiple entrances.”
More than just paperless tickets
As the club’s Commercial Manager, Alistair Beynon fully
appreciates of other potential benefits: “Potentially, this will
give us the ability to market more season tickets as well, and
enable them to be bought online through the Club’s website
by visiting fans. Even people who have been used to coming
along for single match days can download them on their
smartphone!”
“But crucially it enables us to get to know our members’
match day habits much better, as we can then match their
match visits with their spending habits on the same days at
the clubhouse.”
Alistair continues: “That will be valuable for our catering
partner, as they can then look at developing special offers to
encourage those coming to the matches to pop into the bars
and food stations as well. We can also look at ways of setting
up pre-paid orders to help reduce the crush at particular times.”
Trialling shortly
Martin explains: “We’re in the final stages of sorting out the
gates’ hardware, based on initially two and then three gate
entry points. Customised Epos till screens will quickly and
clearly indicate to the gate stewards whether a member’s card
is valid and has a season ticket allocation. Likewise the paper
tickets, previously checked visually and then ‘ripped’, will now
be scanned and any errors or misreads alerted.”
“Our final run through will be at a pre-season friendly
match against Ampthill RFC, a club that also happens to
use MHS Group’s EPoS software. However the real test will
be our first home match of the season, a local derby against
Redingensians where we’re hoping to see around 2,000
coming along.”
Further developments in mind
Martin’s always looking to the next step, and he’s already got
some plans: “Once we’re reassured the access system’s
bulletproof, it is a logical progression to integrate
the ticket office into the network.”
He explains: “Not only would this
‘tighten’ the whole ticketing process,
but potentially the costly pre-
printed tickets could be replaced
by tickets printed on demand
directly from the EPoS till
printer. MHS Group have
also shown us an exciting
mobile handheld device that
can read both barcodes and
smartcards – now that really
would be very useful and
could be readily integrated!
It’s all about building and
exploiting what we as a
club have got – and working
smarter not harder!”
“In the meanwhile, within a
few more weeks we’ll soon see
where things stand in terms of the
new EPoS system’s impact on the club’s
bar sales uplift, the impact on gross and
net margins, and the fuller appreciation of the
advantages we’re expecting to recoup with our paperless and
cashless approach to match tickets.”
Keeping Henley RFC up with the future
Martin’s excited by the way that inno