I went to the movies yesterday. Normally, I wouldn't bore you with this stuff, however, here is an observation you should keep in mind as you revel in your "world changing," amazing [fill in the blank].
So, the pace is packed. Lines for the ticket counter is 25+ people deep. There are 6 ticket vending machines sitting there, happily waiting dispense tickets. Empty. No lines. No people. No usage.
I waited and watched for about 15 minutes. 3 people used the machines. Nobody came to the slow moving line and suggested they use a machine. People were in line complaining about how slow the line was moving. People were using credit/debit cards in the line so no excuse there.
As you think you will change people's habits with your stuff; go the movies.
I'm a little surprised that more didn't follow the example of the three "edglings" ... maybe because I would have been one of them?
Posted by: Ric | April 06, 2008 at 22:48
Some of the ticket vending machines charge you a ATM like handling fee (1.5 - 3.00 US $). The movies already cost enough not to add a nice Ticket Master like fee.
Posted by: geross | April 07, 2008 at 07:30
Here in Canada, I've never seen a fee attached to using the machines.
Posted by: rick segal | April 07, 2008 at 07:50
I've seen this funny bahavior too.
So I was mildly curious and looked up movie ticket kiosks. Radiant systems has a "solution" that they claim increases ticket sales by 3-5%. But, it appears the solution ends at the sale (not sure about that).
From a theater owner's perspective, I would think that the goal of having a few kiosks is to 1: reduce ticket selling head-count 2. Increase foot traffic (through "good word of mouth" based on how "easy and wonderful" the experience is) 3. Increase cross selling (ie: add concessions in the ticket sale process and have auto pick up).
So - a theater owner should want a decent ROI, which means they should have one of their $8/hr staff out there routing people to the ticket vending machines. Or - Radiant systems should offer that as part of the sale.
Rick - you highlighted the key to getting it up and running: customer handling. It seems to me that what you described is "build it and they will come", which, as we know, only works in the movies. Hey - wait - did I just say that?
But in the end - you have to seel "it" to your customer, and sell them again, again and again. Otherwise, your miss a chance to grow. For instance, when you go to the airport in Philly, and you're checking in on Southwest or Delta - there are agents there helping people use the self-service kiosks. If they weren't there, nobody would use them - just like in the movies.
Oh - and I've not yet seen a fee attached to the use of a kiosk here either (PA, USA).
Posted by: Braydon | April 07, 2008 at 07:55
I don't know whether there's a fee for using those self-service kiosks. However, I do know that they look like the "for fee" atms that are often found in retail establishments....
Posted by: Andy Freeman | April 07, 2008 at 09:43
The placement of automated ticket machines at movie theatres is really a marketing question. Where are those machines placed? The movie theaters I have been to, the machines are placed on the side behind the ticket windows.
If the owners were really serious about it they would put the machines out in front of the ticket windows right next to where the ticket windows lines would form.
Instead the machines are placed behind where people only see them after they have already made the purchase.
Stupid, stupid.
What's even stupider is that those machines are a perfect opportunity to get opt-in access to the theater's customers.
More on my blog post: http://www.sworddance.com/blog/2008/04/07/about-movie-theatres-and-bad-marketing/
Posted by: Pat Moore | April 07, 2008 at 11:38
I observed that on numerous occasions. The theaters in my town have the machine well placed but they are hardly used. It’s just like the self boarding for airlines. The machines have been there for years and hardly anyone was using them. Some time ago they had some staff pick people in the line and encouraging them to use the machines and showed them how it works. Now I have to wait… Registering luggage was also a driver for adoption.
Posted by: Jean-Francois Noel | April 07, 2008 at 11:50
hmm Rick, may be just the location you went to. The theatre (West Toronto, Queensway) near my house always has equal people using both the person-led ticket wickets and the electronic wickets. The electronic ones seem to be very well used - they are situated as soon as you walk in the front door and you have to pass them to get to the person-led wicket (perhaps, then placement is the key here). Mostly the younger folks (debit and credit impaired crowd?) who prefer the person-led wickets.
Posted by: RogerC | April 07, 2008 at 12:33
Perhaps people are skeptical. I am an early adopter, and as usual we get punished. I prefer to buy my tickets online but have had hassles when I bring my printed ticket to the box office. The kids taking tickets almost always have to get the manager to verify my printed ticket. I have even had the manager tell me "We don't have online ticket sales so stop trying to scam us!" I had to spend 10 mins arguing with her and finally she made a phone call and then said in her snotty voice "Oh, I guess we DO have online ticket sales. Fine then go ahead in."
Posted by: Keith Glover | April 07, 2008 at 14:30
I think the following questions were asked by various folks over the past few decades as well:
- Why would anyone need a PC ?
- Why would anyone need something called the "mouse" ?
- Search is just part of the portal (Altavista days). Why would anyone need a good, specialized search engine ?
- And recently, why would anyone need Facebook ? :)
...and likewise for all the other habit-changing stuff out there. Its good to think about and believe in world changing stuff. Of all the ideas that fail, a few stick around, and that's what drives human progress forward.
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Posted by: Penis Enlargement | April 14, 2008 at 08:06
Rick-
Looks like some spam got through your comments.
Anyways, I cannot for the life of me figure out why people don't use those ATM machine things for movie tickets. It's ridiculous - and the only way I buy tickets.
Posted by: Aaron Brazell | April 20, 2008 at 21:48