AFG Arena St.Gallen relies on cashless payment
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AFG ARENA, St.Gallen
payment solution AG is chosen to equip the first cashless stadium in Switzerland
Munich / St.Gallen, May 26th, 2008 – The recently built AFG ARENA in St.Gallen has decided to use cashless payment based on a multi-functional customer card. The ARENA CARD makes the home stadium of FC St.Gallen the first football stadium in Switzerland to use an ePayment system. The technology and expertise for this project were provided by the German payment experts at payment solution AG in Munich.
Payment solution AG is specialised in innovative cashless payment in stadiums and arenas; successful references include the RheinEnergie-Stadion in Cologne as well as the Ricoh Arena in Coventry in Great Britain. As opposed to the arenas in Cologne and Coventry, where payment solution AG and its subsidiary Goalgetter GmbH are managing all personnel and financial services in terms of a free full service operating scheme, AFG Arena will be operating the system on its own.
In addition to payment options, the cards in St.Gallen provide even more functionality: There will be separate personalised cards for the shareholders of the FC St.Gallen, for example. The season ticket also has its own design and serves as cash replacement and as a ticket.
During the opening of the arena on May 25th, visitors were already enabled to pay cashless. This provides a number of advantages for the fans: As the season ticket and the means of payment are combined in one card, the payment process is accelerated and waiting times are reduced. The caterers were pleased with the increase in sales that resulted from the rising demand due to the accelerated payment procedure. For the future, the operators are planning to use the card for ticketing as well.
“We decided to use a future-proof system right from the start. This is what makes us pioneers in Switzerland. We are convinced that this decision will allow us to improve the service for our fans and that the other stadiums will not take long to follow the example. We opted for the German payment solution AG because the company has already equipped two other stadiums and has a lot of experience with regard to operating payment systems. We now profit from these facts during the phase of preparation”, says Bill Mistura, CEO of Betriebs AG AFG ARENA.
Heinz-Peter Strömsdörfer, Head of Sales & Marketing at payment solution AG, is very pleased about this decision: “After Germany and Great Britain, we have now managed to gain ground in Switzerland as well – thanks to our attractive offer. Other national and international stadiums have already signalled their interest in our solution. We are confident that our vision of a stadium-spanning payment method delivering even more advantages for the fans will become reality on a long-term basis.”
Press Contact:
payment solution AG/ Goalgetter GmbH
Frederik Herr
Tel: +49 (0) 40 – 556 203 484
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