TickEx.com will be attending next weeks TicketSummit convention in Las Vegas.
By Alfred Branch, Jr.
Richard Robinson, CEO of U.K.-based Tick Ex, believes it not hyperbole to say he hopes his website could one day by considered the Google of ticket search engines.
Launched less than six months ago, the site is already tracking more than 2 million tickets from more than 200 broker and primary websites, and continues to grow exponentially, making the site the largest catalog of tickets in the U.K., according to Robinson.
The privately held company doesn’t disclose the number of sales generated through the site or its revenues.
Visitors to the site can type in the name of an artist in the Power Search window, and the site offers up a list of ticket vendors and what they’re charging for the tickets. Primary and secondary sellers are listed on the same page. Once presented with the information, users can initiate a purchase from the site. . .
Robinson said that while there have not been complaints by brokers or primary sellers about being listed together, he added that the company is considering ways of differentiating between the two. Among the criteria used in searches are artist, venue, cost, date and seat location.
“We’re focused on the consumer and their needs,” Robinson said. “They tell us that they like the fact that they can get ticket information from five or six sites all at once, instead of having to visit them all.”
Robinson was quick to add that the site does not play favorites between primary and secondary vendors in what they offer; pricing information is displayed for all sellers and resellers so that visitors can compare them. The five most-heavily searched terms on the site for the week ended July 7 were (in order), Live Earth, Metallica, Concert for Diana, Muse and Snow Patrol.
Another thing customers are saying is that they want the site to better filter and sort the search results. For example, a U.K. resident could be interested in seeing Barbara Streisand in concert, but the search results will not only list offerings for U.K. venues but also for arenas in the U.S. or Europe. The reason for this is because site compiles the information from more than 200 other sites around the world.
Robinson said the company is building a similar U.S. database, which it hopes to launch in the fall, and has plans to expand into Germany, Spain, Italy and France by early 2008.
“The ticket industry, especially the secondary market, is very fragmented because of all the different players, consumers, brokers, primary sellers, venues, etc. What Tick Ex is creating is a common ground for all these groups,” Robinson said.
