Pandemic drives cashless innovation for amusement and entertainment venues| Commentary | Vending Times
COVID-19 has seen many people go nearly a year without carrying cash, and the amusement and entertainment industry needs to reflect the new normal.
Street route and amusement operators have historically had an aversion to the widespread adoption of smart payment systems for various reasons. However, with the needs of the post-pandemic market, the adoption of online registration and cashless payment — beyond the love affair with “tokens and tickets” — has seen an uptake in the deployment of smart cards and other frictionless payment systems, no matter the original aversions to consideration. Frictionless (or “low-touch”) solutions are offering a perceived hygienic option in these days of concern.
It is important to note that it has been calculated by numerous sources that 82% of people view contactless and low-touch as the safest way to order and pay — this trend having fueled, over the last few months, a dramatic spike in mobile payment.
Technology players step forward
The need to address the move to a frictionless solution for entertainment venues has been illustrated by Sacoa Cashless System, a supplier of cashless revenue management systems for the amusement, entertainment and leisure industries. The company has been working recently in the Florida area, with venues embracing their new needs for limited-touch operations. Florida’s largest indoor e-karting track can be found at Dezerland Park Orlando, and the venue, also comprising 12-lane bowling, arcade and trampoline park, will be used as a showroom for the Sacoa Cashless System to display all the potential it can offer for the industry. Meanwhile, amusement venues Arcade City Game Room, with its unique hospitality offering, and Midway Arcade in Orlando also recently made the switch to Sacoa solutions.
Many new products have been developed to offer a combination of tools to help entertainment venue operators navigate the needs of the guest with the practicalities of business under the current restrictions. The Sacoa Spark RFID reader and the K4 self-service kiosk help to minimize direct contact among operators and guests.
Besides, “Online Sales Module” and “Sacoa Pay” functionality give access to special promotions and discounts directly via mobile devices.
South Carolina race park goes frictionless
Intercard, a recognized leader in cashless technology for amusement and attraction application, has been working closely with operators to achieve the best fit of frictionless deployment and guests’ needs. Most recently, the company installed its technology at Myrtle Beach’s Broadway Grand Prix Family Race Park resort. The venue’s entertainment offerings are broken up into go-kart track, mini-golf, rock climbing and a 75-amusement-machine arcade space. Venue owner Lazarus Entertainment Group marked its first venture into deploying a cashless system at the property, working with Intercard to create an ease-of-use solution for guests. The need to integrate a cashless system with the already existing facility POS architecture is a factor in this decision.
Intercard was able to deploy a system that blended the needs of Lazarus Entertainment with simple operation for users. It is this need to offer a simple but effective solution that has allowed Intercard to promote an increase of 30% in revenue across the 4,000 locations, worldwide, that operate the hardware. The company has continued to invest in development, having launched the new “iReader Impulse,” a first of its kind multi-support system, taking smart cards, but also incorporating a near field communication capability to accept credit card payment.
Leading entertainment facility chains such as Namco Entertainment and Main Event have depended on their deployment of the range.
Mobile wallets emerge
Embed, a provider of cashless business management systems and solutions for the amusement, entertainment and leisure industries, with some 3,000 installations, has invested heavily in its new mobile wallet in support of the current range of “smarttouch” debit game readers and facility services platforms. The back-of-house software package supporting this infrastructure is now incorporating guest booking.
A recent example of an Embed installation is with the facility Scary Strokes — a family-run, Maryland-based entertainment center, with a dedicated attraction such as an 18-hole mini-golf course, VR-based Omni Arena platform, along with video amusement and prize redemption machines.
Reopening after lockdown, the venue needed to address the concerns of a post-COVID audience and continue to offer an experience for the entire family at affordable prices. The venue went with deploying 39 of the Embed smarttouch readers, complemented by the mobile wallet, contact-free payment system. All this, including facility management software to better address the needs of offering effective price control and monitoring guest satisfaction, is available through the free marketing kit.
Looking at a safe, low-touch solution for operators to adopt, Embed has developed its new platform, which is the only Apple and Google certified mobile wallet solution in the industry. The mobile wallet offers minimal contact between staff and guests in the process of token-and currency-free payment. Along with being a free app, it also makes it possible for guests to book and pay online for their scheduled timeslot on attractions and venue services.
The system has also been made adaptive to conform with constantly changing customer behavior. These changes in acceptance also include the deployment of wearable wristbands under the PlayWave brand. The use of wearable payment items is a growing trend, seen with the customizable wearables deployed at Dave & Buster’s locations, based on the Embed platform.
Lasertag facility goes cashless
Another developer of platforms for the entertainment facility business is Magnetic Cash, with its cashless system. The company recently announced a new entertainment facility installation project, being approached by Laser Land, based in West Covina, California. This is an operator with two gigantic lasertag arenas, a laser maze and trampolines, all supporting a strong amusement placement with VR.
The move towards an e-payment infrastructure is needed by the company to support and protect its audience. Magnetic Cash has developed its own robust cashless software and hardware system, designed from the ground up, for a wide variety of FEC operation sizes.
The Magnetic Cash reader incorporates NFC support, along with a suite of hardware with the “Mcash Kiosk” for guests and the dual screen POS terminal. All this and the company’s “Go Green with E-Tickets,” along with wearables (wristbands) and access control. The company has announced the launch of a smart device (phone and tablet) app that allow the administration of the readers within a facility. This allows remote operator access to all the card readers within a location.
These are just a sampling of frictionless payment solutions that have found traction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to explore more offerings as they evolve to address a new consumer mindset.
(Editor’s note: Extracts from this blog are from recent coverage in The Stinger Report, published by KWP and its director, Kevin Williams, the leading interactive out-of-home entertainment news service covering the immersive frontier and beyond.)