Introducing Newcastle United Football Club
One of the UK’s oldest football clubs dating back to 1892
St James’ Park has a seating capacity of 52,388
Eighth largest football stadium in England
Host to other large events including World Cup Rugby and music concerts
Sodexo responsible for food and event management service
“Using contactless payment is a great way to reduce queues and improve speed of service and we are seeing a growth in demand for automated payments. For example, almost half of the 12,219 cashless transactions during our three World Rugby Cup fixtures, were contactless.”Claire Appleby, Commercial Manager, Sodexo
The business challenge
Due to the vast crowds of people attending the events at St James’ Park, Sodexo, Newcastle United’s food and events service provider, needed to be able to respond to customer demand as it occurred.
No live business intelligence showing customer demand hotpots on the ground at peak times
No insight into the behaviours adopted by fans and guests
Wanted to tailor rewards and promotions to customers
“The Zonal team is extremely knowledgeable and is able to serve up solutions that meet our very specific needs. They are always on hand to offer support and are very much part of our team”Claire Appleby, Commercial Manager, Sodexo
The solution
The EPoS solution implemented at St James’ Park includes an integrated payment system, with integrated Chip & Pin and contactless functionality as well as a Loyalty system to enable them to understand their customers’ behaviours.
- Stadia-ready EPoS system, providing managers with live data feeds of performance and hotspots
- Integrated payment system with integrated Chip & Pin and contactless functionality for lightening speed transactions
- Fully-integrated Loyalty module
“Zonal’s EPoS technology has revolutionised the service we offer fans and corporate guests, by giving us valuable live data so that we can respond to specific needs as they arise in the ground. For example, we can move staff around the ground to peak areas and shift stock items, such as hot dogs, if they’re proving more popular on a particular station.”Claire Appleby, Commercial Manager, Sodexo
Results
Zonal’s technology solution for football stadia has provided Sodexo and Newcastle United Football Club with valuable live data feeds of activity hotpots during events through the EPoS system as well as valuable insight into the preferences and behaviours of fans and event goers through their Loyalty scheme.
