How to Keep Your Associates Focused During Busy Season

Intelligent strategy isn’t confined to the field. Today’s stadiums and entertainment venues rely on a cleverly orchestrated technology system to deliver a memorable fan experience. Admission systems combine speed and ease of use to process tickets faster and limit queues. Seating maps are connected to e-commerce platforms for accurate space availability and crowd control. Concessions navigate demands for fast service while managing inventory levels to avoid sudden stockouts and overwhelmed teams. Faster checkout experiences can translate into happier fans but also enable a host of hidden errors since associates must make countless split-second decisions to avoid increasing wait times. While checking out purchases, associates must also:

• Update stock counts – Food and beverage sales play a key role in delivering a positive fan experience and have been ranked third in importance by fans across the world. Consequently, inventory levels must be accurately tracked to avoid ingredient shortages, which can drastically impact product availability for multiple stadium staples. 
• Replenish concession and back-room shelves – As with traditional retail stores, if customers cannot find their desired product, they are more likely to turn to a competitor to fulfill their needs. While merchandise and food are not the stars of the stadium experience, positive concession transactions can help boost customer loyalty and the fan experience simultaneously.
• Input loyalty credits when applicable – Any additional scanning, no matter how small, will add more time in line for those not yet served. While 65% of fans will impulsively buy something at a concession stand, a little under half will abandon a purchase if the line is too long, which means every small second counts when processing loyalty tags and membership cards. 
• Communicate with other team members assembling an order – Small concession stands can actually be busy centers of communication, especially when food is involved. Ingredient inventory must be accurately tracked to avoid shortages, orders must be correctly relayed to prevent wasted resources and angry customers. 

The 2020 health outbreak spurred the development of additional concession services such as in-seat ordering, and personalized recommendations delivered via a mobile device. While these innovations are set to increase fan loyalty, they may enable various blind spots for your associates who already manage multiple workflows. Fortunately, automated solutions can help streamline cyclical workflows by accomplishing the following actions:

Gathering Data in One Place

Concession teams must make several decisions at any given moment. Therefore, by equipping them with accurate data at their fingertips, businesses can encourage faster operations without compromising accuracy. Digitized data capture supported by handheld scanners and mobile computers capture barcodes to update stock levels as products move out of the storefront. Consolidated data empowers:

• Fewer stockouts as systems can be set up to alert teams when stock dips below a threshold level. Systems leveraging Android for Enterprise can customize inventory management applications without much IT involvement while also providing an intuitive platform for new users.   
• Faster cycle counting to free up associates to focus on other more important matters. New stock just needs to be scanned into your database to start tracking incoming shipments, virtually eliminating manual data processing which steals time and revenue due to prevalent errors.  
• Smart demand forecasting based on previously collected data stored digitally. Depending on how a system is set up, captured data can later be used for personalized recommendations for patrons, further optimizing the fan experience. 

Mobilizing Point of Sale

Past research found that 59% of fans admitted to being willing to pay more at concessions if wait times were cut in half. Moreover, about 5 in 10 people are currently using contactless payment forms such as tap-and-go cards and mobile wallets. In other words, fans have little patience devoted to waiting for checkout. Therefore, modern stadiums are mobilizing point-of-sale terminals to bust lines and process orders from in-seat transactions. While a mobile POS solution may look different between stadiums, leading systems typically integrate:

• A handheld terminal– Zebra’s touchscreen handhelds and tablets serve as a prime example of how modern technology can streamline payment processing through a secured mobile terminal, connected to your inventory management system to update stock in real-time. This can ultimately contribute to 98% more accurate inventory counts.
• A mobile printer – Lightweight and compact, mobile printers empower associates to deliver receipts on the go, ensuring transparency from anywhere in the stadium. Next-generation models such as the ZQ630 are also equipped with rugged durability standards to prevent breakdowns in case of a fall or heat exposure. 
• Dependable connectivity – Lastly, an efficient system will require reliable wireless connectivity across the stadium to accommodate more devices in the network. This is why leading solution providers recommend evaluating your connectivity system to pair new systems with your current infrastructure. For example, newer enterprise handhelds and rugged tablets can pair with your WiFi system, cellular network, or Bluetooth to ensure communication channels between systems remains open as associates move throughout the stadium. 

Keep exploring Zebra’s next-evolution devices reshaping the fan experience here. 

Enabling Flexible Payment Options

Quickly circling back to contactless payment, modernizing stadiums must also take into consideration security parameters needed to protect payment data. As new devices are evaluated for implementation, consider prioritizing those that offer:

• PCI-compliant data sharing
• Multi-factor authentication to access data
• Higher encryption standards 

How to Get Started

The beauty of automation is that it is flexible and scalable to fit and grow alongside your needs. That being said, most successful automation plans hinge on proactive planning to...

• Outline implementation goals to assist in accurate hardware procurement and provide realistic expectations following deployment.
• Identify trackable key performance indicators (KPIs) such as average wait times, total orders processed, and profit increases compared to numbers before implementation.
• Assess associates’ level of comfort with new technologies to reduce training time and increase user confidence.
• Prioritize vital tasks such as payment processing and fast replenishment to avoid downtime.

Check out our step-by-step optimization guide to see how you can leverage automation in your concessions’ workflows for increased associate productivity and positive fan experiences. 

The fan experience is expected to keep evolving as new technologies and expectations arise. To learn more about how you can empower your concessions team with user-friendly tools, reach out to our automation teams and dive into the modern stadium with the leaders in innovation.