Are you a small business that sells merchandise at events? Maybe even looking at putting together or streamlining your own event planning/organizing business? You should take a look at Billfold’s wireless point-of-sale system.
Billfold POS
This technology allows customers to buy food, drinks, and other merchandise with a wristband linked to their credit cards. It uses customer-facing touch screens and dual screens to order and complete transactions. Statistics supplied by the company report revenue boosts of 20% to 67% per event.
Small Business Trends talked with Stas Chijik of Billfold to understand how this innovation can benefit small businesses.
The veteran operator specializing in large-scale events talked about one of the issues he found with POS systems. This is the digital technology that processes credit card payments.
“We saw these transactions were actually slowing the business we had before Billfold down.”
His team saw RFID (radio frequency identification) technology as one solution to speed things up.
Technology Solution
“This technology puts the payment source on everyone’s wrists so they weren’t losing time fumbling with their purses and wallets,” he said.
These systems are nothing new to small businesses generally. SMBs are using them to track products in supply chains. The radio frequency tags that are part of these systems can be used for inventory and in a variety of other ways.
Like payment processing.
While Chijik saw promise using RFID technology for these bracelets, there were some obvious drawbacks. Like the fact many of them needed to be topped up continually. Chijik put a team together and set out to improve RFID wristband technology. They wanted to put a model together for event venues.
When they designed the prototype of the Billfold POS and started to use it, there was a big increase in per person spend.
“We realized that we had built a solution that made sense for us as well as a lot of other event organizers,” Chijik said.
Small businesses that either work in the event organizing space or place kiosks/stores in them should take note. The latest version of Billfold looks after merchandise as well as beverages. That means you can sell goods and services inside an event quickly and easily.
How Billfold POS Works
Patrons get a wristband and then head over to an activation kiosk. There they link their credit card directly to the wristband. It’s a simple process.
“The whole thing takes thirty seconds to a minute,” Chijik says. Patrons can also load cash through the same kiosks. Each one gets a four digit PIN to use as well.
“After that they’re free to go into the event and start spending.”
Other Advantages
There are some other advantages for event planners and small businesses hawking their wares inside events. Namely great analytics that can give you sales and other important metrics. It makes for a great marketing advantage.
“We provide a very detailed understanding of customers and their journey through the event.”
He says one festival used the data to offer merchandise to people who didn’t purchase it during the event.
There’s another big advantage if you’re selling food or even t-shirts and other keepsakes at events that use Billfold.
“We’re able to direct the funds straight to them,” Chijik says.
It’s a big difference from the status quo when the money usually goes to the organizer first. This system offers kiosks and venders working under the event umbrella more financial stability. They have better control over their cask flow.
“This makes a small businesses’ arrangement with the event organizer a lot less stressful,” he says. “Billfold allows them to be their own merchants and get the money directly into their own pockets.”
You can schedule a demo by clicking this link.
Image: Billfold