SISTIC and MasterCard take industry lead to provide innovative ticketing services for customersWith the popularity of mobile phones and smart phones, customers can now look forward to a new, paperless and efficient mobile ticketing experience. SISTIC and MasterCard has launched a new technology driven service - M-Ticket, for its customers.
By: Weber Shandwick 1 December 2010, Singapore – With the popularity of mobile phones and smart phones, customers can now look forward to a new, paperless and efficient mobile ticketing experience. SISTIC, one of Singapore’s major ticket services provider, together with MasterCard Worldwide, has launched a new technology driven service, M-Ticket, for its customers. From 2nd to 19th December 2010, M-Ticket is available for the first time at Drama Centre for the “Crazy Christmas 2010” show, applicable from Tuesday to Thursday. Singapore has one of the largest mobile phone usages in the world. According to latest data, there are over 4.3 million subscribers on 3G in Singapore with a close to 50% growth in subscriber base from 3Q 2009 to 3Q 2010. With the positive growth in mobile phone usage, M-Ticket comes as a timely option. A recent global study has also shown that mobile ticketing transaction is forecast to grow to US$100billion in year 2012. This would double the existing 2010 market size of US$50billion. With the rapid global adoption of mobile devices for various ticketing modes, SISTIC is positioning itself for a new era of ticketing services. Mr Kenneth Tan, CEO of SISTIC, said, “We constantly listen to our customers’ needs and one key feedback is convenience. Two years ago, we introduced Ticket Protector, a ticket insurance scheme in response to customers’ feedback about how they sometimes end up missing a show because of unforeseen circumstances. Today, moving on to mobile services provides yet another mode of convenience for our customers”. M-Ticket is an option available to SISTIC’s customers when they purchase tickets online or through SISTIC hotline. Customers who choose M-Ticket as their choice of ticket delivery method will receive a link, via SMS on their mobile phones, to download their M-Ticket seven days before the show. This also serves as a reminder for the show. One unique feature of M-Ticket is that it allows partial entry of a group of friends or family members should they arrive at different times M-Ticket is configured in industry standard 2-D barcodes and delivered via WIFI or existing telecommunications GPRS and 3G services. The 2-D barcode allows venue operators to use industry standard scanners that are widely available to read the M-tickets. “As consumers become more mobile, technology plays a big part in their busy lifestyles. MasterCard is proud to be leading the charge in providing a cashless and paperless ticketing experience for our cardholders” Each year, about 1.2 million tickets are sold via SISTIC’s ticketing system. SISTIC’ “M-Ticket marks a new direction for research and development at SISTIC. Our pipeline of future mobile services and applications include full-fledged mobile ticketing and location based marketing services where a consumer may be informed of special deals if they are near the venue where the show is happening. We have also recently provided our ticketing engine to iNETS for their implementation of a mobile ticketing service to their customers. Most of SISTIC’s shows can be bought through this mobile service and payment is currently via MasterCard. Partnerships such as this where SISTIC provides our engine for our partners will be part of our mobile strategy to reach out to the mobile community. This enables a completely seamless and paperless ticket buying and fulfilling experience from such mobile devices”, said Mr Kenneth Tan, CEO of SISTIC. About SISTIC SISTIC is a major ticketing service provider in Singapore, selling tickets for a wide variety of arts, entertainment and sports events through a ticket distribution network that extends beyond Singapore to countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. SISTIC has been providing innovative ticketing services since December 1991. SISTIC also offers STiX, a web-based and customer-oriented ticketing solution to ticketing companies, event promoters and venues under a licensing arrangement. STiX has been used for events in Singapore, Macau, Australia and Hong Kong. For the latest news on SISTIC, please visit www.sistic.com.sg About MasterCard Worldwide As a leading global payments company, MasterCard Worldwide prides itself on being at the heart of commerce, helping to make life easier and more efficient for everyone, everywhere. MasterCard serves as a franchisor, processor and advisor to the payments industry, and makes commerce happen by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, governments, businesses, merchants, and cardholders worldwide. In 2009, $2.5 trillion in gross dollar volume was generated on its products by consumers around the world. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network – the fastest payment processing network in the world – MasterCard processes over 22 billion transactions each year, has the capacity to handle 140 million transactions per hour, with an average network response time of 140 milliseconds and with 99.99 percent reliability. MasterCard advances global commerce through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro®, and Cirrus®; its suite of core products such as credit, debit, and prepaid; and its innovative platforms and functionalities, such as MasterCard PayPass™ and MasterCard inControl™. MasterCard serves consumers, governments, and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information, please visit us at www.mastercard.com. Follow us on Twitter: @mastercardnews. Contacts: For SISTIC, please contact Golin/Harris International Pte Limited Evelyn Quek Tel: +65 65515 449 Email: equek@golinharris.com For MasterCard, please contact Weber Shandwick Ashwin Seshadri Tel: +65 68258021 Email: aseshadri@webershandwick.com End
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