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eTickets Business Plan 1
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e-Tickets – a ticketing website for small events
Group Members:
Peter Kelly
Tinu George
Micheál Glennon
Mark Coleman
eTickets Business Plan 2
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................5
The motivation behind eTickets............................................................................6
BACKGROUND SECTION..............................................................................7
Key Statistics: ............................................................................................................7 Small Events taking place in Ireland ....................................................................7 Credit Cards usage in Ireland ...............................................................................7 Internet Penetration in Ireland...............................................................................8
International Scope: .................................................................................................9
Competition: ...............................................................................................................9
Porter’s Five Forces:..............................................................................................10 Threat of substitute products or services ..........................................................10 Bargaining Power of End Users..........................................................................10 Bargaining Power of Suppliers............................................................................10 Rivalry among existing competitors ...................................................................11 Threat of New Entrants ........................................................................................11
Survey Analysis.......................................................................................................12
Personnel ..................................................................................................................12 Management Structure.........................................................................................12 Individual Roles .....................................................................................................13
THE MARKETING REPORT .........................................................................15
Marketing Mix...........................................................................................................15 Promotion ...............................................................................................................15
- Online Advertising and Promotion ...............................................................15 - Other Advertising ............................................................................................15 - Direct Marketing ..............................................................................................15
Product....................................................................................................................16 Price ........................................................................................................................16
Importance of a good pricing structure ..........................................................17 Place........................................................................................................................18
Value Chain...............................................................................................................19 Attract Customers: ................................................................................................19 Interact with Customers: ......................................................................................20 Act on Customer Instructions: .............................................................................20 React on Customer Inquiries:..............................................................................21
eTickets Business Plan 3
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Problems with existing process .........................................................................21
Future Development ...............................................................................................21
Target Market Channels ........................................................................................23
SWOT Analysis ........................................................................................................23 Strengths ................................................................................................................23 Weakness...............................................................................................................24 Opportunities..........................................................................................................25 Threats ....................................................................................................................25
Sustainable Competitive Advantage..................................................................27
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS ................................................................................28
Start –Up....................................................................................................................28 Source of Funding.................................................................................................28 Use of Funding ......................................................................................................28 Expenses ................................................................................................................28 Start Up Finances..................................................................................................29
Operational Finances.............................................................................................29 Income: ...................................................................................................................29
Sales....................................................................................................................29 Advertising..........................................................................................................30
Expenditure: ...........................................................................................................30 Payroll .................................................................................................................31 Advertising..........................................................................................................31 Office Expenses ................................................................................................31 Rent .....................................................................................................................31 Utilities.................................................................................................................31 Credit Card Services.........................................................................................32 Taxes...................................................................................................................32
Cash Flow A/C..........................................................................................................33 Total Income ..........................................................................................................33 Operating Expenses .............................................................................................33 Total Operating Expenses ...................................................................................33 Net Profit/Loss .......................................................................................................33
Break Even Analysis ..............................................................................................34
TECHNICAL REPORT ..................................................................................35
Introduction ..............................................................................................................35 Tickets.....................................................................................................................35
Web Site.....................................................................................................................35
eTickets Business Plan 4
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Client Side Technologies .....................................................................................35 Server Side Technologies....................................................................................36
Database Design...............................................................................................37 Barcode / Serial Number Generation.............................................................38
Site Map..................................................................................................................40 Sample Walkthrough ............................................................................................41 Credit Card Verification ........................................................................................44 Security ...................................................................................................................45
Verification Software..............................................................................................46 Architecture ............................................................................................................47 File Format .............................................................................................................48 Security ...................................................................................................................48
APPENDIX: ...................................................................................................49
Appendix I: Assumptions For Break-Even Analysis .....................................49
Appendix II: Survey and Analysis ......................................................................49
Appendix III: Database Structure........................................................................57
Appendix IV: Verification Software File Format..............................................59
Appendix V: Ticketmaster report........................................................................59
Appendix VI: Advertising rates and demographics.......................................60
Appendix VII: Financial Sources.........................................................................63
Appendix VIII: Correspondence with promoters ............................................63
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Executive Summary
Internet or 'online' ticketing is all about providing a useful and efficient service
to clients and customers. The aim is to make the purchase or reservation of
tickets easier. Naturally, this will encourage sales. The use of the Internet
makes buying a ticket more convenient since the service is available at any
geographical location, including home (or even remotely via a laptop and
cellular phone) and at any time of the day, any day of the year. Online ticket
services, particularly those based on the World Wide Web, have a further
advantage by providing relevant information alongside the service. This can
aid purchasing decisions and may encourage future usage.
Despite these advantages, many customers refrain from using these services
because they believe them to be unsafe. In reality, it is often a more secure
transaction than 'normal' credit card purchases. Giving your credit card to a
waiter or reading it over the phone are two examples of 'insecure' practices.
Fears are largely based on media hype resulting from isolated cases of
electronic fraud. These fears are often unfounded and should fade as Internet
commerce becomes more widely accepted. There are also benefits for those
providing the service. New markets are being created and ticket sales are
increased. Apart from maintenance and data updates, no manpower is
required to provide the service once it has been established. The process of
recording the transactions is more automated and overhead is reduced. An
important point is that ticket providers are also providing a convenient service
to customers and are thereby improving public image and encouraging return
customers.
The information gathered from surveys conducted showed that more than 95
million tickets valued at more than $4 billion were sold in 2002 (see appendix
V), through www.Ticketmaster.com, one of the largest e-commerce sites on
the Internet. However, much more events take place on a daily basis on a
much smaller scale that have no viable way of offering tickets for sale over the
eTickets Business Plan 6
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internet. Much of the promotion and discussion of events such as smaller
gigs, clubs, etc, takes place over the Internet, so it seems only natural that
there should be a realistic option for purchasing tickets there also.
The motivation behind eTickets
Currently, the most significant drawbacks for entertainment firms when selling
tickets offline are:
• Clogging - Queuing for tickets, which leads to customer frustration.
• Inadequacy – There are significant costs involved in selling tickets
offline. It requires large numbers of staff to process ticket transactions.
• Lack of knowledge about customers & personalized customer Service
- This is one of the main areas eTickets hopes to exploit. There is a
considerable marketing opportunity for entertainment firms to gain
valuable knowledge about who their customers are and what their
entertainment preferences are as well as other important customer
data which would increase advertising revenue through targeted
marketing.
The most important aspect of eTickets will be that a trustworthy, proficiency
and competitive service will be available to our customers, which will be a vast
improvement. We have the advantage over our competitors of being a
‘dotcom’ and are guaranteeing a professional service to the customer that will
meet and exceed their current demands, which are currently being unfulfilled.
We will be basing our service on the Ryanair style low cost service where
customers print their own tickets, saving on mailing costs.
eTickets Business Plan 7
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Background Section
Key Statistics:
Small Events taking place in Ireland
It is quite difficult to calculate the number of events taking place in Ireland
each year, as there are currently no national statistics for small gigs recorded.
Each organisation only keeps records of their own particular events (for
example, 250 in the Temple Bar Music Centre).
So the best way to get an approximation of the number of small events is to
use “The Event Guide” publication, which has listings for the vast majority of
small events held in Ireland. The official website of “The Event Guide” has
331 listings for 2 weeks (29th June-12th July 2005).
So taking this as an average for a fortnight, 331* 26 (52 weeks in the year) =
8606. Therefore approximately 8,500 small events take place in Ireland every
year.
Credit Cards usage in Ireland
Mintel, in the "Credit Cards- Ireland, October 2002 report”, last examined the
market for credit cards in Ireland. Since then, the market has continued to
grow considerably in terms of value and in terms of the number of consumers
with a credit card.
The number of credit cards in Ireland is increasing all the time. In the table
below, it shows that in 1999 there were 1.5 million credit cards in circulation,
which had increased to 2.4 million by 2002. This was an increase of almost a
million in 3 years.
This is good news for our service since the purchasing of tickets and payment
to organisers is all provided through the use of credit cards.
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1999 2000 2001
2002
Source: Central Statistics Office
http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/documents/statisticalyearbook/2003/fin
ance&banking.pdf
Internet Penetration in Ireland
“In June 2004, an estimated 649,400 households in Ireland had a home
computer, an increase of about 67,000 households since June 2003. This
means that 46.2% of households had a home computer in 2004, compared
with 42.2% in 2003. Internet access also increased over the same period,
with 537,000 households (or 38.2% of the total) having access to the Internet
in June 2004” (Information Society Statistics 2004).
Source: Central Statistics Office
http://www.cso.ie/newsevents/documents/ictireland2004.pdf
So the number of people with access to the Internet is increasing all the time.
This is important for our business since our service is only provided online.
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International Scope:
If our service is successful in Ireland then it could easily expanded to other
countries. Since the service is web based it would be possible to expand the
service as long as the country in question had relatively high Internet
penetration. Promoters would only be willing to put tickets on-line if there are
enough people with Internet access and credit cards willing to buy them.
Hence, countries in the European Union along with North America and
Australia would be suitable candidates for future international expansion.
Ticketmaster operates in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland,
Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom and United
States. So, our service could be expanded into many of these countries over
time, provided there are no existing companies already delivering the service
we are offering.
One point of consideration would be the language barrier. Dedicated
websites would be required in each of the specified counties. These websites
would need to be written in the main language spoken in that particular, and
would also take into account local preferences and culture.
Competition:
There are no known competitors in the Irish market. Ticket Master only deals
with large events and concerts. Tickets.ie also doesn’t deal with selling tickets
for smaller events on-line.
Tickets.ie is owned and operated by Push Promotion Limited, which is
registered in the Republic of Ireland. They charge for booking, which is the
commission charged to promoters for selling their tickets. Some promoters
choose to include this fee in the ticket price. In some ways this is a similar
service to the one we intend to supply. They have the same ethos but
tickets.ie is really the website of just one promoter. We intend to open up our
service to any and every promoter who wishes to sell tickets online.
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Obviously, if our service is successful then we may have to deal with a lot of
potential competitors in the future. These would include companies would
attempt to replicate our service and improve upon it in some way e.g. charge
Promoters less for listing events.
Porter’s Five Forces:
Threat of substitute products or services
Examples of substitutes are people deciding to go to the cinema, holiday and
weekends away instead of small events/concerts.
From a product perspective, music tends to create a unique emotional
attachment for an individual that cannot be replaced by other activities. For
example, if an individual really wants to see a band they are unlikely to spend
that money on the cinema instead.
From a services perspective, Promoters of the event/concert may decide to
continue to sell the tickets from the box-office at the event location instead of
using our service.
Bargaining Power of End Users
Initially this will be high, as it will be still be possible to buy tickets directly from
the box-office. However as more and more event Promoters start to use our
service instead of the traditional means, then the bargaining power of end
users will be weakened.
If the organiser decides to sell all the tickets for the event on-line then the end
user will have little bargaining power.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
When Promoters realise the advantages of using our service then their
bargaining power will be relatively weak.
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These advantages include our service dealing with much of the business and
marketing for the event. The event will be advertised on our website along
with a profile of each band. The only other way would be to advertise through
traditional media (e.g. an advertisement in Hot Press) which would be much
more expensive.
Moreover, it gives the event national coverage. For example, someone in
Cork could buy tickets for an event in Dublin, without having to
• Travel the long journey to collect the tickets
• Or travel the day of the event in the hope that there might still be tickets
available.
Rivalry among existing competitors
As discussed in the previous section, we currently have little rivalry in the Irish
market for the service that we are offering. Ticketmaster basically has a
monopoly on large events in Ireland but has stayed clear of smaller events.
We believe that we have found an untapped market and will benefit from first
mover advantage.
Threat of New Entrants
There is a high level of threat from new entrants particularly in the early
stages if our business is successful.
We aim to overcome this by creating a quality service that we prove is
trustworthy for both event Promoters and customers. Trust can only be built
up as a result of a series of actions over time. So we need to have
continuous communication and feedback with the users, in order to discover
what aspects of our service could be improved (“The price of freedom is
eternal vigilance” – Thomas Jefferson).
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By establishing a good reputation among Promoters and customers as soon
as possible, then we can lessen the threat of new entrants. New entrants will
only enter the market if they see some deficiency in our service that they can
improve upon.
Survey Analysis
As part of our research we created a survey that was distributed to friends,
family etc. as well as being posted on various message boards and websites.
We got a very good response that gave us a lot of positive feedback. We
found that most people surveyed (73%) attend at least one event a month.
We also found that people use Ticketmaster to buy tickets but are generally
not happy with their service (68%) and find them too expensive (92%). The
full survey and the results to each question can be found in appendix II.
The survey supported most of the assumptions we made when thinking of the
eTickets concept. These include the fact that people are comfortable and
confident when it comes to purchasing concert tickets online. They also
believe that booking fees are too high and worry about events getting sold out
(73%). With eTickets we intend to reduce booking fees to a much smaller rate
as we operate purely online and do not print out tickets. We also believe that
given the choice, most concertgoers would prefer to pre-buy their ticket so as
to avoid the disappointment of not getting in to an event.
Personnel
Management Structure
The management of eTickets comprise of two directors. The decisions with
respect to the development of the business will be undertaken in close co-
ordination and consultation between the members of management. All
directors are equally involved in the establishment, planning and operational
process of the company, while each specializes in his/her area of expertise.
eTickets Business Plan 13
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Individual Roles
There will be two main roles at the company. They are the Marketing manager
and the IT manager. The marketing manager will be in charge of attracting
customers and promoters, as well as promoting our business. He is also in
charge of all financial issues within the business. These involve keeping the
books up to date, and dealing with issues such as taxes, profits/losses, wages
etc.
The IT manager will be ensuring it is both usable and secure. Creating and
maintaining current and accurate web content items by systematic and timely
writing, reviewing and publishing ensuring it is both usable and secure.
It can be summarized as follows
• Specifying an online system, designing a web application to meet the
specifications, coding the application, testing the application
• Updating/maintaining web
Marketing Manager is one with full Marketing responsibility, with a good
understanding of the entire marketing mix. He/she is responsible for the
marketing plan and tactical marketing communications, managing the brand
and company website and supporting sales and new indirect channels.
He/she is the leading advocate for eTickets’ customers.
In a nutshell the main roles played by Marketing manager
• Define and deliver the Marketing Plan.
• Plan and manage Marketing programs (awareness, acquisition and
retention)
• Develop & implement the communication strategy to include printed
material,
• Exhibitions, advertising, direct marketing, public relations and e-
marketing.
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• Create demand for Eticket’s website through advertising and case
studies.
• Identify best opportunities for lead generation.
• Support to identify and establish indirect sales channels/ distributors
and provide marketing support for key distributors.
• Create company presentations and product demonstrations.
• Conduct competitive scanning and communicate the opportunities &
threats to the business.
• Communicate key internal marketing communications.
• Execute marketing research on a planned and ad-hoc basis.
• Developing campaigns to increase the customer size, frequency and
value of customer expenditure.
• Manage online marketing budget, including continuous improvement of
eTickets.
• Ensuring all marketing activities are in keeping with eTickets’ brand
values and guidelines.
eTickets Business Plan 15
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The Marketing Report
Marketing Mix
Promotion
- Online Advertising and Promotion
As our business is solely based online, this is where we would focus the
promotion of our product. We would spend the majority of our marketing
budget on online advertising and promotions. We would find sites that attract
our target audience and use them to promote our site through banner
advertising and potentially links that offer discounts on signing up to our site.
To initially attract customers we would forgo service charges on tickets
purchased by new customers, and offer discounts to customers who get a
friend(s) to sign up.
- Other Advertising
Our advertising will be aimed at attracting the interest of both customers and
promoters, as they are equally important to the success of our business. We
want to get our target audience to visit our site, browse available events and
potentially buy tickets. We intend to advertise in suitable media and locations,
such as print media e.g. music magazines like Hotpress, distributing flyers at
relevant locations e.g. large music events and festivals, as well as joint
advertising ventures with promoters.
An example of a joint venture with promoters is posters for the event with a
caption stating that you can buy tickets for that particular event at eTickets.ie
- Direct Marketing
Before we can start to sell tickets we need promoters to subscribe to our
service and place their events online. This means that attracting promoters is
a vital aspect of the business start-up. Although we intend to attract some
promoters through advertising and word of mouth, we also intend to directly
eTickets Business Plan 16
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approach them about using our service. We intend to find promoters by
attending events, contacting venues and cold calling.
Product
Electronic ticketing over the Internet is a good example of Internet commerce
at work.
The brand name chosen for our product is eTickets and was decided through
its meaning towards our service. The aim of eTickets is to facilitate the buying
or reservation of tickets online, thereby making the process more easily
accessible and convenient. Through these services tickets may be purchased
from any location and at any time, provided an Internet connection exists. The
tickets are ordered from web site http://magluby.com/eTickets/ that provides
both ticket information and the purchasing or reservation service. Being a
ticketless system the customer gets a confirmation number (ala Ryanair). The
event manager can log in and retrieve all confirmation numbers and customer
details for use at the door of their event.
The user creates their own account when they sign up to our website by
providing their personal information and credit card number. So each
customer will have their own unique identity when they login on our website.
Once they have logged in, they can simply purchase and reserve tickets as
they so wish, and we fulfil their requests. If they have not logged in then they
can still browse eTickets to view which events we are currently hosting tickets
for, but they will not be able to purchase them.
We want the customer to have a place where they can go to get the best
value for money for their inputs without spending hours of time ringing around
suppliers or waiting to get the ticket looking for different prices. Our service
will accomplish this for them. Also we will enable online ordering for
customers to increase convenience and efficiency.
Price
As we are the first company in Ireland to offer such a service for gigs, clubs
etc, we can set our sales price at a high profitable margin. However in the
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beginning we want to attract customers, so for new customers there will be no
service charge for their first few transactions. Nevertheless, after this initial
period customers will be charged a service charge based on the face value of
the ticket.
The promoter, venue, or artist determines the face value of a ticket. We do not
determine the face value of tickets. The pricing system that we propose is as
follows:
• 10% of the face value for tickets €30 or less
• 12.5% of the face value for tickets €31-€60
• 15% of the face value for tickets €61 or more
The price of tickets for small events will typically be less than €30, so in the
vast majority of cases we will be making 10% commission. Small events that
charge more than €60 for tickets will be few and far between.
Example:
An organiser/promoter registers an event with us, and offers tickets for €10. In
this case our service charge would be 10% of the face value (€10), so €1.
Therefore charge the customer €11, €10 of which goes to the promoter and
the remaining €1 goes to the account of eTickets.
Importance of a good pricing structure
- Pricing is obviously a very important consideration for both profitability
and popularity.
- We know there is a very negative attitude among the concert going
public towards Ticketmaster due to their large service charges and
booking fees. In fact, our survey showed (see survey section in
Appendices) that 68% of people were not happy with the service
offered by Ticketmaster. By charging lower service charges we hope
to avoid creating for ourselves the negative attitude many people have
towards Ticketmaster.
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- We aim to take a smaller percentage of ticket prices due to the fact we
are working on a smaller scale, and have fewer overheads as we do
not offer telephone bookings or have ticket offices.
- We limit the maximum we will take (15% for high price tickets)
Place
As eTickets’ major operation is online (there is no posting of tickets),
distribution channels are not a major aspect of our marketing strategy. We do
not need a system for delivery of merchandise to customers or wholesalers or
be concerned with decisions involving retailers, brokers, and shipping
companies.
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Value Chain
Attract Customers:
In order to draw customers to our web site we need to:
1. Advertise on other web sites, especially websites whose users are
regular concert goers. Examples of such websites include those with
forums for discussing bands and music (e.g. entertainment.ie) as well
as sites that allow the legal downloading of music.
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2. Advertise using the print media. This includes taking out ads that will
clearly be seen by our target market. Examples of this includes
• College newspapers and magazines
• Magazines that deal with music and concerts (e.g. Hot Press)
• Handing out information (leaflets, flyers) about our service at
concerts and gigs
3. E-mailing/phoning concert organisers to make them aware of our
service
4. Actually going to venues/promoters to tell them about our service and
the benefits that we are offering.
Interact with Customers:
When an event manager registers with the website, they can create and close
events.
A potential ticket buyer can browse and search the database through the
website in an attempt the find tickets for a specific event.
Our website is content oriented, with detailed information about the event in
question. Moreover, information is provided about the musician/artist
performing at the gig.
Act on Customer Instructions:
When the customer has finished browsing the site and decided what tickets
they want, then the customer’s order has to be dealt with.
The customer will be required to enter their credit card number and expiry
date, as well as their e-mail address. The amount for the tickets will be
debited from their account and credited to our account (the service charge on
the ticket) and that of the event organiser (the remainder).
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This is done in a secure manner, using encryption, so that there is practically
zero chance of anyone else gaining knowledge of this sensitive information.
The details of the event, including the all important confirmation number will
be e-mailed to the customer’s e-mail address. The events in question will
also be updated to indicate that there are now fewer tickets available.
React on Customer Inquiries:
A section of the website will be dedicated to frequently asked question (FAQ),
so that most of the users inquiries can be processed automatically. An e-mail
address is also provided so that a person can answer any questions that are
not dealt with in the FAQ page.
An event organiser can log in to check how many tickets have been sold for
the event(s) that they are promoting.
A feedback forum will be set up so that users can express their views on the
website/service and how it could be improved. Constant feedback from users
is very important so that we maintain our quality of service and stay ahead of
the competition.
Problems with existing process
Ticketmaster is the largest ticket distributor all over the world. They have
contracts with venues that allow them to be the original distributor of tickets.
But its main cons are
• Waiting in long lines for tickets
• Premium seats are difficult to find
• Popular events sell out quickly
• Only sells tickets for large concerts and events
Future Development
Online ticketing systems have several advantages including increased ticket
sales for the ticket provider and greater convenience for the customer. It also
eTickets Business Plan 22
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automates the selling process and allows for more efficient transaction
handling. Very often, using the Internet to buy tickets with your credit card is
also far safer than ordinary purchases. If done properly, there is no need for
anyone besides the customer and her bank to have access to the credit card
number.
Future advances in this field include the development of:
• Methods to store customer details that will still ensure their privacy.
Customers may want their purchases to remain private but still have
the option to review previous transactions.
• Technology that allows the downloading of ‘electronic tickets’ onto
smart cards. These smart cards can then be used to verify that a
customer has purchased the ticket.
• Methods to allow multiple tickets to be stored onto one smart card
• Inexpensive equipment that can be connected to a PC and
communicate with a smart card. This will ensure the viability of
‘electronic tickets’.
• Technical development of mobile commerce has now reached a
stage where merchants can easily widen their business to mobile
environment.
The growth of online ticketing is limited only by customer confidence. Once
potential customers begin to realise the convenience and safety of these
systems, there should be nothing holding back the explosive growth of this
industry. With these and many more advances to Internet commerce and
online ticketing, the public can look forward to improvements in existing
systems and the establishment of many more.
eTickets Business Plan 23
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Target Market Channels
eTickets’ primary market will be people are interested in going to clubs, gigs
etc. These will consist of people from different walks of life. Initially, we will
promote the eTickets service through advertising and demonstrating our
solution to some selected owners of the clubs, gigs and of course customers.
The first point of contact for the eTickets user will be our website. The aim of
the website is to give the public information about who we are and what we
do. It also illustrates that we have an easy to use, user-friendly interface,
have a prompt customer service help line and have a medium through which
users can air their views (feedback forum). In the long-term, eTickets would
hope to expand their service to bigger events like concerts, sporting events
etc. eTickets short-term view is to concentrate on a smaller market to begin
with. We want the user to become familiar with who we are and what our
service is.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
At present, there is only one company (tickets.ie) offering the online ticket
sales similar to that which eTickets offers. However tickets.ie only appears to
have an agreement with certain venues and only doesn’t deal with small
events. Therefore, currently we are enjoying first mover advantage in a
unique market, which as of yet has not been exploited.
eTickets’ user friendly and simplistic website ensures that all users from
novice to expert can navigate through our website with the greatest of ease.
Benefits
• Handling of inquiries and reservations is more efficient
• Reduced administration time for online registrations, as details are
entered by registrant
• Improved service to registrants
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• Real-time registration data is available to organizers
• Reports, badges etc. are produced more efficiently
• More reservations are paid in advance
• Additional, cost-effective marketing channels through the web and
• Reduced print advertising costs
• More opportunities for pre-event and post-event promotions
• Opportunity for feedback and post sales
• The email list is available for future related events
Weakness
• As with all companies who benefit from first mover advantage, there is
the imminent danger of ‘copy-cat’ companies or companies who are
already in the online ticket sale industry imitating eTickets’ product
offering. We need to ensure that our brand is synonymous with security
and reliability.
• eTickets’ team of workers is quite small at present. With demand
increasing, eTickets needs to ensure that they address any issues
regarding being under-staffed or in recruiting expert personnel. This
would obviously increase eTickets’ overheads and running costs in
future.
• Even though computer literacy is on the increase, there is still a large
proportion of the Irish population who are not computer literate.
Coupled with that there are also a proportion of computer users who do
not carry out any transactions online. Although eTickets website is
simple and easy to use, eTickets needs to address this ‘un-served’
portion of the population.
• As beginners/ new entrant to the market eTickets has no established
connection with customers (promoters and venues) and to achieve this
it will take time.
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Opportunities
• Growing trend towards online business transactions.
• eTickets is currently benefiting from first mover advantage. They need
to utilize this clearly beneficial opportunity to the maximum early on in
their product life cycle. eTickets must build a reputable and trusted
brand name that will give customers a sense of security and
confidence and hopefully loyalty.
• Currently, tickets for sale over the Internet are for large events such as
concerts, big sporting events etc. But eTickets is entirely dedicated to
events such as smaller gigs, clubs, etc. So it is crystal clear that it
attracts people who have interest in the events in gigs, clubs and so
on.
• After establishing a strong market position and good reputation within
Ireland, we will have the opportunity to exploit similar markets within
Europe.
Threats
• www.Ticketmaster.ie and www.tickets.ie are an impediment to a great
extend as they provide ticket sales for events in gigs, clubs. They
could decide to move into the arena of small events.
• Competition of course will be a huge threat for eTickets. eTickets
needs to be constantly improving and innovating its product offering
whilst offering a competitive rate for the customer.
• Existing competitors may imitate our additional service stealing our
market share.
• New technologies like the tickets are downloaded in electronic format
onto a smart card would make our technology obsolete
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• In most of the gigs and pubs, the tickets can be booked by credit card
or purchased in the respective organization where customer don’t have
to pay extra charges for Internet. (http://www.dolans-pub.ie/news.html)
Strengths - We will offer a service that is not already available - Completely web based, keeping costs to a minimum and appealing to a young, concert-going public. - Strong indication from market analysis that such a service would be popular with both customers and promoters
Weaknesses - We are dependant on promoters deciding to use our service. - Some people are still not comfortable purchasing online - Checking tickets at the door may be difficult.
Opportunities - We are the first business of this type in Ireland. First Entry - Hundreds of events occur each week that have no pre-purchasing service
Threats - Copycat companies - Ticketmaster are already very dominant in this market, and may see us as a potential threat. - Promoters may try to set up their own sites
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Sustainable Competitive Advantage
• Good market as the Internet is becoming the predominant way to buy
tickets. Online ticket sellers, for example, sold nearly $1 billion worth of
concert tickets in 2001, or about 14 percent of the total U.S. market,
according to Jupiter Media Metrix. The research company expects that
amount to grow to $2.48 billion in 2006, or about 29 percent of the total
market.
• It can generate additional opportunities revenue through advertising.
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Financial Analysis
Start –Up
The following section gives details of the financial assumptions, projections
and estimations we made for eTickets.ie for the first three years of operations.
We intend the company to be ready for business from 1st January 2006.
Source of Funding
The start-up costs associated with eTickets.ie are quite low. Our service is
100% web based so our funding is not very complicated. We have decided to
each invest €5,000 of personal finances. Therefore our target for personal
funding is €20,000. The option of acquiring further funds through borrowing
from a bank has been considered and decided upon as the best source of
additional funding. We predict that sales will start slowly as we try to promote
our service and acquire customers so we will need to borrow €20,000 to cover
costs for the initial period of operation. We intend to repay this loan over a
period of 4 years from operational profits.
Use of Funding
The Initial funds of €40,000 will be used to cover the start-up costs associated
with the set up of our offices and web site. It will also be used to cover
operational costs for the first few months of operations. We need to purchase
office furniture, equipment, computers etc as well as paying our rent, wages
and advertising costs for the period until sales can pay for these expenses.
We hope that after the initial three months, sales will be able to cover the
operational costs as well as the loan repayments to the bank.
Expenses
Our initial expenditure will be on items necessary for the start-up of
eTickets.ie. This will include office furniture such as desks, tables, filing
cabinets etc. It will also involve registering our domain name and paying a
hosting service. Other expenses are legal fees related with registering the
company, computer equipment; office supplies e.g. pens, paper etc as well as
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other unforeseeable ‘miscellaneous’ expenses. The cost of the computer
equipment, stationary, office furniture, legal fees, domain registry etc was all
calculated from sources listed in appendix VII
Start Up Finances
Start Up Expenses
Legal €60
Domain Registry/Hosting €162
Computer Equipment €4,500
Furnishing €2,500
Stationary, Office Supplies etc €500
Miscellaneous €500
Total Expenses €8,222
Funding
Investment
Mark €5,000
Micheál €5,000
Peter €5000
Tinu €5000
Bank Loan €20,000
Total Investment €40,000
Operational Finances
Income:
Sales
As stated in the key statistics we estimate that there are approximately 8,500
small events held in Ireland each year. Our aim is to get 3,500 events to sell
tickets through eTickets each year, about 40% of the market. This means that
we would have to deal with 10 events a day.
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We estimate that the average number of tickets available for a small event is
150. So, the total number of tickets for all the events would be 525,000
(3,500*150). If we can get 20% of customers to buy their tickets for the event
through our service, then that translates into 105,000 tickets sold using
eTickets.
By charging 10% of the face value of the ticket as our commission, we would
receive €1 for each ticket (assuming the average price of a ticket for a small
event is €10). Therefore we estimate that we can generate approximately
€110,000 through ticket sales. It is expected that sales will start slowly as we
try to promote our service to both customers and promoters. Optimistically we
hope for €60,150 in sales in our first year. There will hopefully increase in
2007 and 2008 by increasing awareness. We also hope that we can increase
our market share and popularity so that the total sales we can potentially
make will also increase.
Advertising
We can also generate revenue through charging promoters to advertise on
our website (depending on where on our website they want their ad placed).
For example, a banner ad on the home page would be more expensive than
an ad on any of the other pages of our website.
Each event will have its own personal page on eTickets, but this service is for
organisers who want their event to get more publicity by placing an ad, that
will clearly be seen by visitors to our website.
We estimate that we could generate in the region of €20,000 per annum by
charging for additional advertising.
Expenditure:
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Payroll
The main expenditure would be in the form of salaries to the 2 members of
the team. They would be working for the modest sum of €20,000 each for the
first year, which would increase to €25,000 each in year 2. So the total would
be €40,000 in 2006, €46,000 in 2007 and $50,000 in 2008.
Advertising
This is very important, especially in the initial stages in order to get our service
well known among our target market (promoters and ticket buying customers).
This will involve considerable expense, such as quarter page advertisements
in Hot Press. Moreover, we would need to advertise on Irish websites that
review and discuss music and events. A sample document of the costs of
advertising with Hotpress and Hotpress.ie is enclosed in the appendices
(appendix VI). It also includes demographics of their readers that closely
match those of our target audience.
So we estimate that we would need to spend approximately €20,000 in order
to establish and maintain our market presence.
Office Expenses
This heading includes mainly stationary and office equipment, as well as food,
tea, coffee etc for staff. Approximately €7,000 per annum.
Rent
The standard rate for occupying an incubation cell at the Invent Centre in
DCU is €301 per month (Appendix VII). Therefore rent is €3,600 per annum.
Utilities
This covers miscellaneous costs such as phone bills, electricity bills, Internet
connection etc. Approximately €1,000 per annum.
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Credit Card Services
To accept credit card payments online we need to use a merchant banking
service. Due to the fact that we will be making small commissions off each
sale, we had to carefully research these services, as some services would
take almost half of our commission. We found a company called Protx
(www.protx.com) that offer these services at a much more suitable rate. We
would subscribe to their corporate service as we hope to have more than
1,000 transactions per quarter. It would cost 14.3 cents (VAT exclusive) per
transaction with no additional costs. This amount will be taken out of our
service charge. So for example, if we receive €1 in a transaction, eTickets will
actually make 85 cents.
Taxes
We will be subject to the normal taxes such as PRSI, VAT and corporation
tax. Out of each ticket sale we are only taking a small amount of the total
transaction amount. VAT will be added to this amount at the time of purchase.
Corporation tax is currently 12.5% and will be paid annually. Employer PRSI
will also be paid in line with current regulations
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Cash Flow A/C Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Gross Sales €78,831.5 €108,900 €127,050 Less VAT @ 21% €13,681.5 €18,900 €22,050 Net Sales €65,150 €90,000 €105,000 Advertising €15,000 €16,000 €18,000 Total Income €80,150 €106,000 €123,000 Operating Expenses Wages €40,000 €46,000 €52,000 Advertising €15,000 €16,000 €16,000 Rent €3,600 €3,600 €3,600 Credit Card Services
€10,500 €13,500 €15,750
Utilities €1,500 €1,600 €1,700 Office Expenses €3,000 €3,200 €3,400 PRSI €4,200 €4,830 €5460 Loan Repayments €5,250 €5,250 €5,250 Total Operating Expenses €83,050
€93,980 €103,160
Gross Profit/Loss -€2,900 €12,020 €19,840 Less Corporation Tax @12.5%
- €1502.5 €2480
Net Profit/Loss -€2,900 €10,517.5 €17,360
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Break Even Analysis
We have calculated that we will reach our break-even point after 8 months of
business. At this point our sales revenue will cover our basic monthly costs.
As with any break-even point projection at this stage in a project’s
development, it is only an estimate. The figures will need to be closely
monitored and updated throughout the year. (For full assumptions see
appendix)
Break Even Analysis
0100020003000400050006000700080009000
10000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Months
Am
ount Expenses
Revenue
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Technical Report
Introduction
There are two aspects to the system; the web site, and the optional ticket
verification software. The web site includes the background database, which
stores all information about users and events, and the mechanism for adding,
retrieving and purchasing tickets for events. The ticket verification software
can be used at the door of an event to quickly and efficiently verify a ticket
purchased through the site.
Tickets
One of the primary ways of keeping our costs low is not mailing tickets to our
customers. We follow a Ryanair type ticketing system. When a user
purchases a ticket they will receive a confirmation number, and also a
printable ticket. The ticket will have a barcode, so if the organiser of an event
has access to a barcode scanner, the ticket verification software is designed
to work with it. The confirmation number is a unique identifying number tied to
the name of the person who bought the tickets. Security and integrity is vital to
the system to avoid counterfeit tickets being produced. At the door of the
event, the organiser will be charged with ensuring the same tickets aren’t
used twice to enter. This will mean using the barcodes, checking serial
numbers or using the ticket verification software to mark off tickets as they are
checked.
Web Site
Client Side Technologies
The web site is designed to be extremely easy to use and as such requires no
special client side software, plug-ins etc to be installed. All that is required is a
standard web browser.
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The site has been designed so that it is usable in all browsers, including text-
only browsers, and special accessibility browsers for users with disabilities.
This is achieved by complying strictly with XHTML and CSS specifications,
and accessibility guidelines set out by the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C).
Server Side Technologies
The server side scripting language, PHP, dynamically creates all pages on the
site. The backend also consists of a MySQL database, which is manipulated
using the PHP scripts.
The MySQL database stores all event, user and ticket information. PHP is
used to generate all customer-facing content on the web site.
The entire back-end has been written from the ground up specifically for the
purpose of this site. This ensures the site runs extremely quickly and
efficiently and its design means that both the front-end and back-end can be
modified and extended with ease.
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Database Design
The web site stores all of its information in a database consisting of the
following tables:
users
Contains information about each event manager, and registered user of the
site, such as their username, password and contact details.
events
Contains all details about each event listed on the site. This includes the
event manager of each event, along with the date, time, title, venue, category
and an associated image.
tickets
The site allows each event to sell up to 6 different types of ticket, with varying
prices and/or description. The details of these tickets, including the amount
available of each type, for each event are stored here.
tickets_sold
This table contains the details of all tickets sold. It includes the serial numbers
of each ticket, along with details of the purchaser.
A detailed overview of the database can be seen in Appendix III.
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Barcode / Serial Number Generation
Standard barcodes consist of 13 digit numbers encoded as a series of vertical
lines. This means that for any event there is technically a pool of 10 trillion
(10,000,000,000,000) different serial numbers to pick from for every event.
For an event with, say, 400 tickets, there would be a chance of 1 in 25 billion
of successfully guessing a valid serial number.
To make for easier manual verification of the numbers, not all 13 digits are
used, however. The composition of the 13 digits is shown in the following
diagram:
This means only 9 digits are effectively used, but for a 400 ticket event, this
means there is still only a chance of 1 in 2.5 million of successfully guessing a
valid serial number, but makes for a much easier to read number consisting of
three triplets.
Serial Number Composition
The serial number has the appearance of a randomly generated number, but
it is in fact a modified cryptographic hash of the ticket information and the
promoter’s password. The following process illustrates how the number is
generated. This adds extra security and integrity to each ticket created, which
would not be possible with a mere random number.
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A variable-length string is generated which contains various details about the
ticket. The following diagram shows an example string, with an explanation of
the information used to formulate it.
An MD5 hash of this string is then created. Despite the fact that the only the
ticket number portion of the string changes each time, the hash will be
completely different as a consequence of the strict avalanche effect exhibited
by the hash function.
The hash is converted to base10 and the first 9 digits are taken as the serial
number. By taking only the first 9 digits, there is an increased possibility of a
clash, however. In the unlikely event of a clash with an existing serial number
for the same event, the ticket number is incremented, and the process
repeated until a unique serial number is generated.
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Site Map
The layout of the site has been designed in such a way to make it easy both
for an event manager to submit an event, and for a customer to find an event
and book tickets. The following is an outline of the structure of the site.
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Sample Walkthrough
Purchasing online is convenient and simple. The following are step by step
the guidelines to purchase the ticket.
In order to experience eTickets to it’s full potential it is possible to create an
account with eTickets.
The User Experience
When the user looking to purchase tickets arrives at the home page of
eTickets, an interface similar to the one below is presented. The user is
presented with information about featured upcoming events and a list of event
categories that can be browsed.
STEP 1 - Log in to eTickets
While registration is not necessary to browse and purchase tickets, doing so
offers many benefits including personalised information and a much speedier
and simpler purchasing process.
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At all points throughout the site, a user can either log in
or register as a new user. This is achieved from the Login
area, which is displayed at the top left of every page.
STEP 2 - Find an Event
Browsing: Select the event's genre at the left of any page on the site. For
example, when searching for Limp Bizkit, click on Rock/Pop. This will display
a list of all upcoming events in that genre.
Searching: The ‘Quick Search’ form on the homepage can be used to quickly
find an event by keyword. More detailed searches, such as searching by
genre, venue, date etc, can be performed from the ‘Advanced Search’ page.
STEP 3 - Check Ticket Availability
The full details of an event can be displayed by clicking on the event title from
a list of events. This information will include all tickets on sale for the event,
along with their prices and availability. If a certain type of ticket is no longer on
sale, it will be marked with a ‘Sold Out’ message.
STEP 4 - Begin Ticket Request
If tickets are available for an event, they can be requested by clicking the ‘Get
Tickets’ link on the event details page. From here, the user selects the
quantities of each type of ticket required, and fills in their billing information.
If the user is an existing eTickets member, he/she will find that some of this
information will have been completed automatically (excluding the credit card
information).
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STEP 5 - Receive Confirmation
On successful verification of the credit card information, a page will be
presented with the details of the tickets purchased along with their serial
numbers and printable tickets with barcodes.
Within minutes of placing your ticket order on eTickets the customer will
receive a confirmation email with their event and billing information.
The Promoter Experience
Promoters have to register before he/she can start selling tickets. The
registration process also requires one to accept the terms and conditions for
selling tickets on-line. The registration process is the same as for a normal
user, with the exception that the event manager account type is selected.
STEP 1 – Create event
Promoters can post events on the website and they can set how many tickets
they want to sell online. Promoters can also set how many are sold at different
prices, such as for children, students or members seats as well as
differentiating between premium and normal seating. The promoter also has
the option of including it in the public listing on eTickets.ie. If they choose to
not have the event listed, they will receive a direct link to purchase tickets for
the event, which their potential customers can use if they wish to purchase
tickets. Initially, an event will have the status ‘Pending’ until eTickets
moderators approve it. This is to prevent against spam or bogus events being
posted.
STEP 2 – Modify event
Promoters can modify the details of an event posted at any time. When they
wish to put tickets off sale, they can do so and receive either a list of all tickets
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sold with the corresponding serial numbers and customer details, or a file with
all this information, which can be read by the ticket verification software.
Credit Card Verification
As mentioned earlier, eTickets services are based entirely on the Web. This
allows information to be presented alongside any functionality. Once the user
has browsed the eTickets page and has decided to purchase or reserve a
ticket, they go to the ticketing page. Here, there are usually a number of
options that have to be decided upon. Once the plethora of ticket options have
been decided, the customer's details need to be entered. These details will
often include things such as:
• Credit card number and expiry date,
• Cardholders name,
• Email address and
• Telephone number.
Not all the details are essential but some must be completed before the
transaction may take place. These critical details usually involve credit card
information. Now the authorization and confirmation process follows as shown
in figure below.
Figure 1. Online credit card transaction.
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1. The customer's details are securely submitted to the ticketing service
provider.
2. The transaction details are then sent to the ticket provider's acquiring
bank.
3. The credit card information along with the cost is forwarded to the
customer's card issuing bank for authorisation.
4. Once authorisation is received, the customer's account is debited.
5. The ticket provider's account is then credited.
6. Finally, the customer is informed that their ticket request has been
successfully processed and completed.
The ticket provider object represents both the ticket provider and the server (a
computer) associated with the process. The server handles communication
with the acquiring bank. This is done over the standard bankcard channels
that are used for 'normal' credit card transactions. The server also stores
information about the transaction including the customer and transaction
details.
Security
Without strong server authentication, users of your public Web server are not
able to determine if they have connected to an authentic Web server or a
bogus version operated by an intruder. In such cases, the user may receive
false information and act upon it based on the assumption that it originated
from our Web server. The user may also provide sensitive information such as
a credit card number.
Encryption can be used to protect information traversing the connection
between a Web browser client and a public Web server. Without encryption,
anyone with access to network traffic (accomplished via the use of a sniffer)
can determine, and possibly alter, the content of sensitive and restricted
information, even if the user accessing the information has been carefully
authenticated. This may violate the confidentiality and integrity of critical
information.
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All credit card transactions are undertaken on a third party server, as
described in the previous section. This server has security measures in place
to help protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under
our control. It uses secure socket layer (SSL) technology to help protect the
security of online transactions. All financial information is encrypted as it
travels over the Internet and is stored in encrypted form.
Verification Software
• The software is downloaded from the site by the event manager and can
be used on any computer.
• When the event manager closes the event, he/she can download a file
containing all the ticket information, which can be read by the software.
• If a barcode scanner is available, the software will simply allow the printout
of the barcode to be scanned, confirming the validity of the ticket.
• Otherwise, the software provides an easy-to-use interface to enter the
confirmation number.
• The software is, of course, optional. If the necessary resources aren’t
available, the site also generates a list of sold ticket information that can
be printed out.
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Architecture
An event manager can simply print off the details about the tickets sold for
events and use this printout for verification at the door of an event. However, if
he/she has access to a computer, even a basic laptop computer, the ticket
verification software can be used to make the process of checking tickets
much easier.
The ticket verification software is a standalone JAVA application designed to
be capable of running on any platform on any computer with a Java Virtual
Machine.
The software reads all the information about the tickets sold for a particular
event from an encrypted file, which is downloaded by the event manager from
the web site.
This file contains information about each ticket including the name and
address of the purchaser and when the ticket was purchased, if required for
extra verification.
If the event manager has access to a
barcode scanner, this can be used to verify
printed tickets. Alternatively, the software
can be queried for the confirmation number
received when a ticket is purchased.
The diagram to the right shows an overview
of the verification software usage.
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File Format
When an event manager closes an event, he/she can download an encrypted
file containing all the information about the tickets sold. The ticket verification
software reads this file.
When decrypted, the file begins one line containing information about the
event, which is followed by a line for each ticket sold, containing the details of
each ticket including the serial number. See Appendix IV for a detailed
description of the file format used.
Security
It is paramount that this file is not compromised as it contains all serial
numbers and corresponding customer details for every ticket sold. Thus, once
the information has been compiled in the file on the web server as above, it is
encrypted using a DES session key created from the event manager’s
password. The verification software requests this password from the customer
and can decrypt the file and store all the information in the program.
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Appendix:
Appendix I: Assumptions For Break-Even Analysis
Monthly expense = 6045.8 Including cr card –6920tickets! First month – 150 events, 3 tickets each, 750 Second month – 300 events, 3 tickets each 900 tickets Third month – 500 events , 4 tickets each, 2000 tickets Fourth month –1000events , 4 tickets each 4000 tickets Fifth month – 1200 events, 5 tickets each 6000 tickets. Six month - 1200 events, 5 tickets each 6000 tickets. Seventh month – 1200 events, 5 tickets 6,000 tickets Eight month – 1400 events, 5 tickets 7,000 tickets Ninth month – 1400 events, 5 tickets 7,000 tickets Tenth month – 1500 events, 5 tickets 7,500 tickets Eleventh month – 1800 events, 5 tickets 9,000 Twelfth month – 1800 events, 5 tickets 9,000 Appendix II: Survey and Analysis
Gathering Of Personal Details
1. Age: 2. Sex: 3. Occupation 4. Income (<€10K, €10K-€25K, €26K-€40K) 5. Do you Own Credit Card 6. How Often Do you Use Internet
(Daily, Every few days, Every Week, Rarely)
Gathering Of Customer Behaviour
1. How often do you attend concerts, gigs, comedians or similar events? (Never, 1-3 a month, 4-6 a month, 6+ a month)
2. When you attend these events, how often do you pre-purchase your tickets using a credit card? (Never, Some of the time, Most of the time, Always)
3. How often do you attend events where a ticket pre-purchasing option is not available? (Never, Sometimes, Often, Always)
4. How much money would you spend a week on event attendance/club admission? (< €5, €6-15, €16-30, €31-60, €61+)
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5. How do you mainly find out about upcoming events? (Friends, Online, Radio, Television, Newspapers) Other (Please Specify):
7. Do you use Ticket master?
(Yes, No)
8. If 'Yes' are you satisfied with their service?
(Yes, No)
Ranking Statements with options very true, true, Untrue, Very Untrue
1. I like to browse through upcoming events 2. I miss events because I do not hear about them 3. I feel purchasing tickets online reduces stress 4. I feel purchasing tickets online is safe 5. I often worry about events being sold out 6. I feel concert tickets are too expensive 7. I would like to receive an e-mail detailing upcoming events 8. Booking fees for tickets are too high
Personal Details Percentage of Responds by sex 72 % of the people responded were males and the rest were females. So it was a majority of males who took part in our survey.
Percentage of Responds by Sex
28%
72%
FemaleMale
Gathering Of Customer Behaviour 1.Attendance For Small Events This chart shows that two-thirds of people (68%) attend 1-3 small events a month, while ¼ never attend small events. So this chart would indicate that
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over 70% of the population attend small events on a regular basis (at least once a month). This is very good for eTickets as it shows that we have a large target market to aim at.
2. Credit Card Usage This chart is very evenly divided. 20% always use credit cards to pre-purchase their tickets for small events, 31% use credit cards most of the time, 30% some of the time and 19% never. What this indicates is that when attending events over 80% of people purchase tickets using their credit card. This is good news for eTickets as it shows that people are already familiar with and willing to use their credit card to pre-book tickets for events online.
Attendance for Small Events
68%2%
3%
27%1-3 a month 4-6 a month 6+ a month Never
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3.Attendance Where Pre-booking isn’t Available The main feature of this chart is that only 3% of those surveyed always attend events when there are is no pre-booking available, while 36% never attend. This indicates that people are reluctant to attend events when tickets can’t be pre-purchased. So venues and promoters are clearly missing out on a lot of potential paying customers by not having tickets available for purchase before the event takes place. This is where our service would come in very handy.
4. Money Spend a week on Event Attendance/ Club Admission
Credit Card Usage
20%
31%19%
30% Always Most of the timeNever Some of the time
Attendance where pre-book isn’t available
3%
36%
17%
44%
Always Never Often Sometimes
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Money spend a week on event attendance/club admission
18%
50%
26%
3%
3%
<5€06 to 15€16 to 30€31 to 60€61€+
This chart shows that 94% of people spend €30 or less on admission a week, with 68% spending €15 or less. 5. Source of Information About the events This chart shows that most people find out about upcoming events either through their friends (44%) or online (37%). Online appeared to be much more popular than through the traditional media such as newspapers, radio and television which together only accounted for 19%. So it seems that the best way to advertise small events is online.
6. Usage of Ticketmaster This chart shows that the vast majority of people (92%) use Ticketmaster, so they are familiar with purchasing tickets online.
Source Of Information
44%
8%
37%
8% 3%
Friends Newspapers Online Radio Television
Usage Of Ticketmaster
8%
92%
NoYes
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7. Satisfaction with Ticketmaster This chart illustrates that most people are not fully happy with Ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster Satisfaction
68%
32%
No Yes
Ranking Statements with options very true, true, Untrue, Very Untrue 1. Willingness to browse through upcoming events
This chart shows 39% of people have a great inclination towards browsing through upcoming events. On the contrary only a few people disagree with the above statement. 2.Missing Tickets being uniformed
Here in this chart 44% of the people responded that they missed events because they did not know about them. 3. Purchasing Online is Safe
Miss Tickets being Uninformed
14%
44%
34%
8%
Very true.True.Untrue.Very Untrue.
Willingness to browse through upcoming events
39%
33%
25%
3%
Very true.True.Untrue.Very Untrue.
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Majority of the people who took part in the survey believe that the purchase is secure. 4. Online Purchase Reduce Stress
Like what we saw in the previous chart, this chart also depicts how stress is reduced for people when they go for online purchases. 5. Worries About Events being sold out
This chart shows how much people are excited about the various events. About 73% of people are really bothered about the tickets being sold out. On the contrary only a few ¼ are not much concerned about them. In brief, the people are very much worried about events being sold out quickly. It will definitely benefit eTickets. 6. Concerts Tickets are expensive
Purchasing Online is Safe
33%
52%
13% 2%
Very true.True.Untrue.Very Untrue.
Online Purchase Reduce Stress
40%
36%
19%5%
Very true.True.Untrue.Very Untrue.
Worries About Events being sold out
25%
48%
19%
8%
Very true.True.Untrue.Very Untrue.
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The interesting feature of this graph is that more than 3/4 of the people agree that the concert tickets are very expensive. 92% of the people agree with the statement. 7. Willingness to Receive Upcoming events info.
About 52% of the people want to receive e-mail pertaining upcoming events information. The email provided by the customers while registering with eTickets is used to provide the latest information about the various events. 8. Booking fee for tickets are too high
Booking Fee for Tickets are High
73%
22%
5%
Very true.True.Untrue.
The above Pie Chart shows that majority of the people (73%) who took part in survey firmly agree that the booking fee for Tickets are very high. About 22% of the people agree that the booking fees are high where as a least number of people think that the fee is not much.
Concert Tickets Are Expensive
67%
25%
8%
Very true.True.Untrue.
Like to Recive Upcoming evnts info.
23%
29%28%
20%Very true.True.Untrue.Very Untrue.
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Appendix III: Database Structure
The database comprises the following four tables. Below is an overview of the fields in each table, with comments where necessary. eTickets_events - Field Name Field Type Comment eventID int(11) Unique identifier for each event username varchar(40) -
status int(11) 0=Pending, 1=On Sale, 2=Temporarily off sale, 4=Event closed
title varchar(200) - date date - time time - venue varchar(100) - category varchar(100) - description blob -
image varchar(100) Contains a link to an image uploaded by event manager
public char(1) y/n. Denotes whether event will be publicly listed on site
eTickets_tickets -
Field Name Field Type Comment eventID int(11) -
types int(11) How many different types of tickets are on sale for event
amountA int(11) Total number of tickets available for each type of ticket amountB int(11) - amountC int(11) - amountD int(11) - amountE int(11) - amountF int(11) - soldA int(11) Total number of tickets sold for each type of ticket soldB int(11) - soldC int(11) - soldD int(11) - soldE int(11) - soldF int(11) - priceA varchar(20) - priceB varchar(20) - priceC varchar(20) - priceD varchar(20) -
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priceE varchar(20) - priceF varchar(20) -
descriptionA varchar(100) Description of each type of ticket (e.g. Seated/Standing etc.)
descriptionB varchar(100) - descriptionC varchar(100) - descriptionD varchar(100) - descriptionE varchar(100) - descriptionF varchar(100) -
eTickets_tickets_sold -
Field Name Field Type Comment eventID int(11) - number int(11) - description varchar(100) - serial int(11) - date datetime - name varchar(20) - address1 varchar(20) - address2 varchar(20) - address3 varchar(20) - phone varchar(100) - email varchar(100) -
eTickets_users -
Field Name Field Type Comment
username varchar(40) - password varchar(50) - type varchar(10) - name varchar(100) - address1 varchar(100) - address2 varchar(100) - address3 varchar(100) - phone varchar(100) - email varchar(100) - sessionID varchar(100) Used when a user logs in to the site
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Appendix IV: Verification Software File Format
The file that contains all the information about the tickets sold for an event is a plaintext file, which has been encrypted using PKCS#5 with the algorithm pbeWithMD5AndDES. The event manager’s web site password is used to perform the encryption and decryption. The file has a TVS extension, denoting that the file is readable by the eTickets Ticket Verification Software. When the file is created on the web server, it is also encrypted on the server side before being made available to the event manager. Therefore, even if the file is intercepted as it is transferred, its contents remain private without the knowledge of the password. When opening the file with the ticket verification software, the user will be prompted for the password, and will proceed to attempt to decrypt the file, and store the information for the event in memory. When decrypted, the file consists of n+1 lines of text, where n is equal to the number of tickets sold. These lines take the following form: Line 1: Contains details specific to the event. All fields appear on one tab-delimited line as follows: eventID - username - event title - date - time - venue Lines 2 - end: Every other line in the file contains information about a ticket sold. These are also tab-delimited lines containing the following fields: ticket no. - description - serial no. - date/time purchased - name address line 1 - address line 2 - address line 3 - phone no. - e-mail address Appendix V: Ticketmaster report
Ticketmaster Announces Top Selling Day in History More Than 1 Million Tickets Sold in 24 Hours 53 Percent of All Sales Conducted Online at www.Ticketmaster.com LOS ANGELES, March 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Ticketmaster logged record ticket sales Saturday, March 1, selling more than 1 million tickets, 53 percent of which were sold online at www.Ticketmaster.com . Consumers logged on, dialed and walked-up to purchase tickets to superstar acts, including the Dixie Chicks and Bruce Springsteen. "Big on-sale weekends truly allow Ticketmaster to showcase the technology that makes these types of sales numbers possible," said Terry Barnes, chairman and CEO of Ticketmaster. "The incredible demand we experienced on Saturday validates the strength of Ticketmaster's state-of-the-art technology and gives us a good indication that we are off to a very strong summer season." Driving the top selling day company-wide: * Single Day Ticket Sales of 1.1 million tickets (excluding tickets sold through Venue box office) Single Day Ticket Sales of 1.7 million tickets (including tickets sold through Venue box office) 53 percent of all Ticketmaster tickets were sold online via www.Ticketmaster.com Driving the top selling day company-wide: * Single Day Ticket Sales of 1.1 million tickets (excluding tickets sold through Venue box office) * Single Day Ticket Sales of 1.7 million tickets (including tickets sold through Venue box office)
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* 53 percent of all Ticketmaster tickets were sold online via www.Ticketmaster.com * More than 1,500 IVR (voice recognition lines) ports sold a record 85,000 tickets * 750 call center representatives handling consumer requests * More than 3,500 retail ticket outlets to facilitate ticket orders * Top Selling Acts included the Dixie Chicks and Bruce Springsteen * 1,851 events performing at 1,741 venues were offered for sale on Saturday ranging from MLB, NHL and NBA games to the Circus, Broadway Theatre and a variety of leading rock, pop and country concerts These numbers broke Ticketmaster's previous one-day record established March 25, 2000. About Ticketmaster Ticketmaster, the world's leading ticketing company, sold more than 95 million tickets valued at more than $4 billion in 2002, through www.Ticketmaster.com , one of the largest e-commerce sites on the Internet, more than 3,500 retail Ticket Center outlets and 19 worldwide telephone call centers. Ticketmaster serves more than 8,000 clients worldwide and acts as the exclusive ticketing service for hundreds of leading arenas, stadiums, performing arts venues, and theaters and is the official ticketing provider and supporter of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Ticketmaster is headquartered in West Hollywood, California and is a division of USA Interactive (Nasdaq: USAI). Ticketmaster Source - http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=112145&p=irol-newsArticle_Print&ID=571653&highlight Appendix VI: Advertising rates and demographics
E-mail from Mark Gilleran of the Marketing Dept at Hotpress: Hi Mark, The media pack and my contact details are below. If you need any more specific information on Hot Press readers in any particular are, do not hesitate to contact me. This is the generic break down, but I have more in-depth figures if you need them. The rates are excluding VAT and are open to negotiation depending on frequency of advertising. We will always try to work within the confines of all advertiser's budgets. Yours sincerely, Mark -- Mark Gilleran Advertising Executive Tel: +353-1-2411540 Mob: +353-87-6622790 Fax: +353-1-2411538 HOT PRESS INFO. Hot Press - The Bigger Picture Hot Press is the leading & established publication of it’s genre. Now in its 29th year of publication, Hot Press is living proof that you don’t survive, much less move forward, by standing still. Always a magazine that has kept abreast and frequently ahead of the times, Hot Press has entered the new millennium with a whole new look and sense of purpose. This in turn has allowed the magazine to break ground - increasing its quota of fashion, gaming and much more! Readership Profile Hot Press has the highest 15-34 Years readership profile of any publication
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measured on JNRS. . Hot Press 79% - up 4% on JNRS 2003 . U 63% . The Star 52% . Evening Herald 44% . Sunday World 46% . U 63% 39,000 Adult Hot Press Readers every fortnight -(JNRS 2004) .80% under 35 years .56.4% Male following .71% High Earning potential ABC1 C2 .74% High Disposable income due to single status Our readership has increased 18.18% over the last year, an overall increase of 44.44% over last 18 months and an 88.99% increase in Women readers over last 18 months. We now have an extended monthly readership of 89,000 excluding Northern Ireland. The Addition of Hot Press is essential to any young adult-based advertising campaign, because it adds key ingredients to its effectiveness. Advertising in Hot Press provides: ? Exposure and branding in a market leading publication ? Specific targeting with no wastage ? Cash-rich, young readership audience with strong purchasing power ? A reader profile open to new product launches and concepts ? Tailored advertising/sponsorship packages to suit your budget and target requirements Since it’s launch in January 2002 membership of Hotpress.com has risen to 20,000 subscribed members. It is a perfect high value / low cost platform to complement the print medium to offer greater exposure. The Demographics for hotpress.com are as follows: Occupation: Sex: Age: AB-50% Male 62% 79% 18-35 C1-36% Female 38% 50% 18-25 C2-14% 50% 26-35 In All- Hot Press has a clear identity. It is leisurely committed reading. Its editorial environment is complementary in creating the ideal vehicle for advertisements O.T.S. and impact. Change may be vital but longevity can only be assured if certain principles are adhered to. Which is why Hot Press remains a byword for top quality writing on all aspects of popular culture-from music, cinema and comedy to politics, sport and lifestyle and it’s why the famous Hot Press Interview-home over the years to bishops, presidents. authors, actors and rock stars-is still the most quoted in the business. Hot copy, hot looks, hot attitude-Hot Press Play with fire. There is no escape. _____________________________________________________________ Colour .PRICES. Mono Double Page €6995 Double Page €4724 Full Page €4052 Full Page €2729 Half Page €2884 Half Page €1919 Quarter Page €1769 Quarter Page €1229 Eighth Page €1213 Eighth Page €860
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*10% premium for IFC, IBC & specially requested positions. 15% for OBC. PUBLICATION DATES & COPY DEADLINES 2005 Vol. No. Publication Date Deadline 29 01 13th Jan 6th Jan 29 02 27th Jan 20th Jan 29 03 10th Feb 3rd Feb 29 04 24th Feb 17th Feb 29 05 10th Mar 3rd Mar 29 06 24th Mar 18th Mar 29 07 7th Apr 31st Mar 29 08 21st Apr 14th Apr 29 09 5th May 28th Apr 29 10 19th May 12th May 29 11 2nd June 26th May 29 12 16th June 9th June 29 13 30th June 23rd June 29 14 14th July 7th July 29 15 28th July 21st July 29 16 11th Aug 4th Aug 29 17 25th Aug 18th Aug 29 18 8th Sept 1st Sept 29 19 22nd Sept 15th Sept 29 20 6th Oct 29th Sept 29 21 20th Oct 14th Oct 29 22 3rd Nov 27th Oct 29 23 17th Nov 10th Nov 29 24 1st Dec [Xmas Issue - subject to change] 29 25 tbc [Annual - 2006 round-up] __________________________________________________ .DIMENSIONS. DOUBLE PAGE: 310mm tall X 536mm plus 3mm of bleed on all sides. FULL PAGE: 310mm tall X 270mm wide plus 3mm of bleed on outside, top and bottom of ad. HALF PAGE HORIZONTAL (full bleed): 151mm tall X 270mm wide plus 3mm of bleed on outside and bottom of ad. HALF PAGE VERTICAL (full bleed): 310mm tall X 134mm wide plus 3mm of bleed on outside, top and bottom of ad. HALF PAGE HORIZONTAL (non-bleed): 137mm tall X 246mm wide. HALF PAGE VERTICAL (non-bleed): 282mm tall X 122mm wide. QUARTER PAGE STRIP: 282mm tall X 59mm wide. QUARTER PAGE: 137mm X 122mm wide. EIGHTH PAGE: 67mm tall X 121mm wide. ________________________________________________________________
See also http://www.hotpress.com/music/1279946.html for online rates
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Appendix VII: Financial Sources
Legal fees/ Start up regulations – www.cro.ie Domain Registry – www.iedr.ie Hosting services – www.letshost.ie Computer Equipment – www.dell.ie Stationary and office furniture – www.viking-direct.co.uk Office Furniture – www.argos.ie Rent in Invent - http://webpages.dcu.ie/~inventwm/59.html
Appendix VIII: Correspondence with promoters
Samuel Beckett Theatre: I am replying on behalf of the Samuel Beckett Theatre and not Players Theatre. We are a relatively small venue and our main function is the produce plays which form part of the coursework of the students of the School of Drama. Because of this, our main audience is made up of Trinity students and family/friends of participants. A high proportion of our sales are 'on the door' and we usually don't have full capacity audiences. Therefore, advance sales are not of huge importance and the expense and administration of online booking would not be cost-effective. Having said that, we would consider the sort of service that your project proposes. Outside term time, we hire the theatre to outside producers and they would sometimes have online booking (e.g. the Dublin Theatre Festival) or would utilise an outside booking service which has online booking (Central Ticket Bureau). Good luck with your project. Contact me again if further info would be useful. Francis At 13:33 19/07/2005, you wrote: >Dear Sir/Madam, >I am part of a group of Masters students studying in DCU. We are doing a >project on an alternative online ticket sales company to Ticketmaster in >Ireland. The focus of the project is the idea that promoters/venues like >yourselves can choose to advertise an event on our site, and the company >would facilitate selling tickets online. It would be a safe and flexible >system and we would take a small comission (8%-10%) on tickets sold. There >would be no service charge and displaying an event with us would be entirely >your own choice. > >We would appreciate it if you could help us in our studies. We would simply >like to know if you would envisage using such a service, and why you do not >currently sell tickets online. Any information you provide would be greatly >appreciated. > >Regards, > >Mark Coleman Francis Thackaberry, General Manager Samuel Beckett Theatre/School of Drama Trinity College, Dublin 2 Phone: +353 (0)1 608 1334 Fax: +353 (0)1 679 3488 e-mail: [email protected] Web: www.tcd.ie/Drama Tallaght Civic Theatre Mark, At this particular theatre we have a capacity of roughly 300 seats. Most nights when we have a show, we do not fill the theatre to
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capacity and therefore do not consider an online ticket sales system a viable option financially. We do, however, get frequent requests for such a service. The service you would be offering is one we would consider closely. Best of luck, Peter Cronin, General Manager Charlie Hodges – Dublin Event Promoter Alright Mark, Yeah your idea sounds pretty interesting. We put on roughly 6 events a month, mostly dj sets and club nights as well as the occasional larger event. Assuming the service is safe and easy enough for us to manage, we would use it alright. We often have people ask about advanced bookings so that they can turn up late. Anyway best of luck with it, hope to see you at our next night, Charlie