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Seamless ticket purchases on Facebook will stir hornet’s nest in Eventbrite battle against Ticketmaster.
Punters in Ireland and the UK can now seamlessly buy tickets to events powered by Eventbrite without leaving the Facebook app or website.
The new functionality goes live today and Dublin night clubs The Wright Venue and District 8 are the first venues to sell tickets directly on Facebook.
The move heightens the competition between Eventbrite and long-established ticket vendor Ticketmaster by bringing a social media dimension to the fray.
According to Eventbrite, which has offices in Dublin and Cork, the multiple pages that punters need to navigate on traditional ticketing sites usually results in 10pc of potential customers abandoning their purchases.
Taking the friction out of buying tickets
Speaking with Siliconrepublic.com, Eventbrite marketing director for Ireland and the UK Marino Fresch said that the integration makes use of clever APIs from Eventbrite and Facebook’s Marketplace services.
Just like with platforms like the Apple App Store or Google Play, Facebook securely stores credit card details to make swift purchases.
“Once users are set up to use it they just click twice to buy their tickets. That’s it,” Fresch said.
“We see this becoming the way that people will quickly get their tickets for gigs, festivals, nightclubs and other events where often the decision to attend is spontaneous.”
Asked if there are any plans to integrate ticket purchasing within Facebook Messenger, Fresch said that there are no immediate plans.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a future development but right now it is about making it easier for people to find, share and attend events.
“We try to innovate and put customers first and put events into the interactions that customers want. The key is to be constantly innovating and go where the customer wants us to be,” Fresch said.
