Evolution: Physical to Mobile Ticket Sales

Evolution of ticket sales - from physical outlets to mobile solutions

The Mojekarte brand keeps gaining recognition year after year, and the result is growing interest from partners who want a piece of the ticket distribution business. Given that the Croatian ticket market generates tens of millions of euros in annual turnover, it makes perfect sense that many distributors are looking for opportunities here. Some offer their services through traditional distribution channels with more or less extensive networks of physical points of sale - petrol stations, retail kiosks, travel agencies and the like - while a new wave of distributors is betting on modern digital channels such as web portals, social networks and others. Although this is not immediately obvious and the general public does not perceive it that way, a fierce battle for market dominance is being waged between the two camps.

"The time is surely not far off when only the last romantics will stand in line for tickets - those who already queue everywhere, at banks, post offices, utility counters and telecom shops..." I wrote about twenty years ago. "Because they are digitally illiterate and do not use the internet or modern tools, they do not see waiting in line as a necessary evil or a waste of time, but as a natural part of life. For many, however sad it sounds, standing in line is also a rare opportunity to maintain social contacts." The current state of the market leaves no doubt that this prediction has come true.

In the autumn of 2018, in an article titled Ticket Distribution: Traditional/Analog vs Modern/Digital, I reflected as follows: "A new generation of kids who are just growing up today and will start buying tickets in a few years will never even consider standing in line at a box office. For them the box office will simply not exist, even if there is no queue at all. Tomorrow's audience was born with a smartphone in hand and spends most of its time online. This is an audience that communicates digitally. The spectators and visitors of tomorrow carry the genome of the digital world, and this fundamentally changes the concepts, methods and models of event promotion, marketing and ticket sales as we knew them." Now, as the Millennial generation - Generation Y - enters its active phase of life, that prediction too is coming true.

Despite the fact that new partners join the ticket sales business every year and the number of physical points of sale at the market level keeps growing, the reality is that fewer and fewer tickets are sold through them year on year. The shift from analog to digital is taking its toll and it is clear that the era of physical outlet dominance is heading toward an unstoppable and certain end. While they still play a role as one of the sales channels for now, the arrival of mobile ticketing solutions will push physical outlets to the very margins, making them completely irrelevant to sales performance.

A marathon analogy comes to mind. At first all the runners are bunched together, and many in that pack hope for the final victory. Then at some point a stronger group breaks away, and those left in the majority can only hope to catch up. Perhaps that hope will flicker for a while longer, but once the breakaway group disappears from sight, everyone knows the race is lost. Physical points of sale, at least in the specific business of ticket distribution, are already in the position of those watching the backs of online channels. But in the background a new, tireless competitor is already emerging - one that will very quickly catch up with physical outlets, and soon after catch and overtake online stores as well. We are entering a new era in which mobile solutions will achieve absolute dominance.