$85 Million Worth Of Cashless Transactions: PlayPass Celebrates Biggest Summer To Date

Cashless and NFC company PlayPass operated at over 250 events across 22 countries across five continents and processing 12.82 million cashless transactions, worth €78 million ($85 million).

By its own admission, the company has grown its worldwide event roster by 40 percent between May and September 2019. 

The UK mostly contributed to this growth, with a 400-percent increase in events utilising PlayPass event solutions. The company sees this as a result of its four-year track record of reliably providing festivals with its technology.

Not all events went fully cashless, some used the technology to combat accreditation fraud, while others used it to create a more immersive visitor experience.

Black Deer was one independent festival that used PlayPass for the first time in 2019 to go fully cashless and streamline their crew accreditation. The event’s operations director Chris Russell-Fish said it “worked brilliantly. 

“We’ve had no queues, the system has been easy to use – far better and more secure than dealing with cash – and our spend per head has been significantly higher than last year. We’ve had great feedback from the audience, traders and bar managers and I’m sure we’ll look to enhance it further next year.”

PlayPass UK managing director Steve Jenner commented: “It’s been a momentous summer for our team, who have delivered consistently through some challenging conditions and we are very fortunate to have worked with some truly innovative organizers at the fore of introducing this fast-evolving event tech to the market. 

“Ultimately this is all about driving our clients’ economic efficiency and improving their audience’s experience through better engagement and intelligent data use.”

Pollstar reached out to Jenner to find out more about some of ways festivals can use a cashless system. They include automation of the deposit payment process and refunds at bars used in many recycling schemes. 

For instance, a refundable deposit is added to any order if no cup is presented by the customer, or can be refunded if they just want to give back the cup. “By being automated, this reduces any reliance on bar staff having to think about the process and forgetting to apply it, a frequent problem at busy festival bars. By being cashless it does not rely on the customer having extra change on them or handling extra cash which would slow down the bar operation, increase queues and risk handling errors, i.e. over- or under-charging,” Jenner explained.

 

A festival could also reward visitors for recycling. “Event staff can scan visitors’ wristbands when they complete a recycling action (relating to a cup, plate, tent or general campsite rubbish), awarding them points which they can redeem instantly on-site in the form of free credit or a voucher they can exchange for something. This also provides a competitive, fun incentive platform for visitors,” Jenner went on, emphasising that “all of the above is included in our systems at no extra cost for all client festivals to take advantage of.”