Mobile E-Commerce and the Sports Ticketing Space

Even mobile e-commerce's biggest backers and enthusiasts must be surprised and pleased by the growth of this space. Whereas just a few years ago, most consumers were naturally uncertain about purchasing products and services via mobile apps and websites, nowadays such a process is exceedingly common and increasingly popular in a wide range of industries.

One sector that has seen significant growth, and which has the potential for much more, is the sports ticketing space. By building out, expanding and improving their mobile e-commerce projects, ticket sellers, venues and teams themselves can attract new fans and increase their bottom lines tremendously. To see such positive results, though, these mobile e-commerce efforts need to be carefully designed and fully integrated into the firms' infrastructure.

"Mobile e-commerce is particularly well-suited for sports ticketing companies."

Location matters
There are many reasons to believe that mobile e-commerce is particularly well-suited for sports ticketing companies. One of the most noteworthy is the role that geography can play in mobile outreach efforts.

As Practical Ecommerce pointed out, geolocation data is always important when it comes to mobile shopping. However, this resource can be particularly useful for ticket sellers. By combining this information with consumers' purchase history, sports ticketing firms can provide alerts directly to clients' mobile devices whenever their favorite teams are coming to town. Not only does this prompt ensure that the ideal customers are aware of the upcoming event, but it also makes it easier, and therefore more tempting, to buy tickets right then and there via the the mobile app.

Additionally, mobile e-commerce solutions could improve sales for sports ticketing firms by encouraging fans to make last-minute, spur-of-the-moment purchases. Any app user who happens to be within a reasonable distance of the stadium on the day of a game can receive a notification, complete with a ticket offer. Again, this prompt and the convenience of the mobile purchasing options will undoubtedly capture the attention of individuals who otherwise would have ignored or remained unaware of the nearby sporting event.

Social media's impact
Another key reason why the realm of sports ticketing is so well-suited for mobile e-commerce is the continued rise of social media. As Internet Retailer reported, ticketing agencies such as Ticketmaster and SeatGeek are now experimenting with leveraging Twitter to increase sales.

Social media and mobile e-commerce are a great match for sports ticketing firms.Social media and mobile e-commerce are a great match for sports ticketing firms.

These and other ticketing agencies have frequently utilized social media as a marketing platform to raise awareness of sports events, so it is not surprising that companies are eager to expand and advance these efforts. After all, sports is one of the most popular and perennial topics of discussion on Twitter and other social networks. As the source noted, ticketing agencies can track users' social media behavior to accurately gauge the most likely customers, and then make targeted offers to those individuals. Combined with mobile e-commerce capabilities, those consumers can then immediately purchase tickets, no matter where they are or what they're doing.

Further highlighting the promise here, Internet Retailer pointed out that 50 percent of Ticketmaster's website traffic comes from mobile users and the company sells approximately 18 percent of its tickets via mobile devices. In 2014, mobile performance was up 33 percent over 2013, and more growth in 2015 seems all but guaranteed.

Getting it right
Mobile e-commerce for sports ticketing will yield maximum benefits when the e-commerce side of operations is integrated fully with business intelligence, customer relationship management, loyalty rewards and other in-house systems.

Many sports ticketing companies are not technology companies, but they can and should aim to become such organizations. Custom software development companies with a track record of building out mobile push notifications and geolocation functionalities tied to legacy systems can be hired for large and small projects, be they long- or short-term. Developers sitting onsite in the sports ticketing office, in addition to multi-geographical testing and prior experience, are key points to look for when interviewing potential software development consultancies.