Tickets Selling Model
It
is very important to consider an effective ticket selling model for tickets to
fly off the shelves with the speed of light. LOC for 2013 AFCON shocked many
soccer fans by deviating from the famous ticketing process of Checkers,
Shoprite and Computickets. Many Spar outlets selected are by LOC are
inconvenience to many fans due to geographical distance.
It
is not a rocket scientist that Shoprite is one of most accessible shop in the country
for many financial soccer fans. If tickets were sold in Shoprite we would have
been by now reached 500 000 target set by LOC. South Africa’s 2013 AFCON Local
Organising Committee (LOC) is worried that not all tickets for the soccer
spectacle will be sold before kick-off in January.
So
far, 40 000 of the available 500 000 tickets have been sold for the Africa Cup
of Nations according to report issued on the recently.
Marketing tool
AFCON
2013 has no firm marketing strategy. There is no sparks flying around nor vibe
associated with the tournament. I haven't seen any convincing tickets advert in
the TV nor read it on the newspaper or listening it on radio about ticketing
process. The Sports Portfolio Committee in the Parliament acknowledged that the
tournament is not receiving enough media coverage. The popularity of 2010 FIFA
World Cup Zakumi prior to the 2010 World Cup tournament is bigger than the
current AFCON 2013 popularity.
Proximity (Segment of
Distance from ticket purchasing to ticket collection)
It
is unfair for fans to purchase tickets in one area Spar outlet (purchasing
point) and then later collect them at another different area (collection
point). The fans will suffer financial by traveling long distance to purchase
ticket and also traveling another distance to collect tickets. The segmented
distance is another hurdle that needs to be removed.
The
current segmented ticketing process is not an economic viable for many soccer
fans. The transport cost will now exceed the ticket cost. The imbalance
equation need revised balance equation taking into cognizance externalities
cost associated with segmented destination of the ticketing process.
Brown Envelope
Brown
envelope tendency is the biggest syndrome affecting South Africans service
delivery. It was obvious that the selection limiting ticket selling points to
selected Spar Outlets ahead of Shoprite, Checkers and Computickets was based on
subjective and pathetic brown envelope tendency. I am not certain if the tender
process to award the ticket selling point took place but is unfair to soccer
fans to snub other famous and proven ticket selling retailers.
Poor Capacity
Building
Cashiers
selling tickets are poorly trained as they can't articulate any tickets related
matters. They don't give satisfactory and inspiring answers. Many fans have too
many questions without getting any sufficient answers
Recommendation
1.
LOC should expand ticket selling points by including Shoprite, Checkers and
Computicket to reach the set target than limiting it too few selected Spars
outlets to avoid last minutes embarrassing chaos of FIFA 2010 World Cup that
led to mortality in some ticket selling points
2.
Tickets should be printed out at selling point during purchasing following PSL
purchasing standard where you get ticket immediately after paying.
3.
LOC should come up with immediately turn around strategy to make sure that 460
000 tickets are sold in January to fulfill the target set as many soccer fans
are going to festive season and might spend their hard earned cash on festive
season. They must either increase ticket selling base or allocate more seats
for cheap tickets. FIFA LOC did that after realising that the tickets are
beyond reach of many soccer fans.
4.
Cashiers have to be well trained to handle queries to avoid further confusion.
By Owen Mundalamo
Football Food for
Thought
