Zozi, the software provider for the experiences market, thinks that bringing its reservation and distribution tools to events, museums, attractions, and festivals may be the ticket to both expansion and higher repeat-usage rates.
The San Francisco-based startup has added ticketing functionality to its cloud-based platform for bookings, payments, and reservations, Zozi Advance. The functionality for ticket generation and printing is available via its Android and iOS mobile apps.
T.J. Sassani, the company’s founder and CEO, says that he expects his business will tap into an estimated $200 billion "experience economy." He says his company proved that the model can be a success in a test run when it managed registrations for Zappos.com Bay to Breakers, an annual event with more than 50,000 joggers and walkers.
Zozi is not the only company offering mobile ticket and voucher redemption tools that let events and attractions sell, scan, change visitor redemptions. Just one example is the Dutch startup Tiqets, which connects to an attractions’ ticketing system or else lists the supplier’s tickets using its own inventory system.
Tiqets says it sees "a very, steep demand" for last-minute tickets (that need to be fullfilled instantly, and with mobile entrance, of course) to attractions like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Italy-based startup Musement has seen traction by helping venues adapt to the mobile, last-minute booking and fulfillment era, too.
Zozi, Tiqets, Musement, and other companies may be on to something in blending tours-and-activities -- which typically are only purchased during occasional leisure trips -- with mobile ticketing for events and attractions -- which is something that local and regional in-destination people might use, say, monthly.
The potential is for dramatically increased repeat usage of a mobile app. The peril is that is more complex to on-board venues than, say, offering a payment system gadget like Square. Integration with a vendor's workflow or other software could be a sticking point.
Since its founding in 2008, Zozi says its software has enabled nearly six million customers to book tours and activities. It says it connects travelers with "thousands" of suppliers "every several seconds."
In other news, Zozi's iOS and Android apps now accept EMVcompliant mobile payments.
The company has raised $51.3 million from investors including Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, and Pritzker Vlock Ventures.