Features

Bleep’s Rugby World Cup payment solutions praised

The impact of Bleep UK PLC’s point-of-sale payment technology at the recently concluded Rugby World Cup in Japan has been hailed by Legends International, the tournament’s official retail partner and operator.

As the point-of-sale technology provider for the event, Bleep’s integrated EPOS, payments solutions and self-service checkout kiosk systems were rolled out across retail stores throughout the host country, with the competition running from September 20 to November 2.

Bleep installed its retail solution in 12 stadiums across Japan, with retail shops at all host venues and in the fan zones, as well as at a flagship 11,000-square-foot megastore at Shinjuku Odakyu Park in Tokyo. All stores sold a range of team-branded goods, official licensed products and exclusive event memorabilia, including replica shirts, apparel, balls and souvenirs.

Bleep SS-821 self-service checkout kiosks were installed in the Tokyo megastore as part of the ‘Mastercard Priority Lane’ and this multi-language solution enabled fans to self-scan products and pay at the wall-mounted, seamless and intuitive self-service kiosks.

Also, Mastercard’s new ‘Sonic’ aural brand was initialised whenever a customer used a Mastercard as a payment method on a Bleep EPOS terminal or self-service kiosk. The ‘Sonic’ was launched to help customers recognise the brand when they make purchases and the Bleep EPOS hardware physically played the ‘Sonic’ sound and simultaneously displayed the animation on the customer-facing POS media displays.

“Central to any good retailer is your EPOS system,” Legends International chief commercial officer Nick Price said.

“We have been extremely pleased with the solution we have provided through our partners, Bleep and Mastercard. Working with this solution has allowed us to bring our average transaction time down and we have enjoyed record sales at a truly memorable Rugby World Cup – proving to be the most successful in history.

“One of the key features of our activation at the Rugby World Cup has been our introduction of self-service machines – for the first time in Japanese event retail environments. It has gone down extremely well with the Japanese public and it is something we are incredibly happy with.”

The solution deployed by Bleep featured a combination of traditional point-of-sale, handheld devices and self-service checkout kiosks, with the emphasis upon the speed of service, positive customer experience and user-friendly for staff and customers.

Bleep’s TS-813 Android EPOS terminal was selected for the retail stores, complete with built-in printers, barcode scanners, and POS media video customer displays showing a range of sponsor advertisements. Each terminal had an integrated payment device for secure and speedy contactless payments.

The Bleep V2 handheld POS device was used in the fan zones for hawking, mobile sales and beating queues, allowing more ‘best-sellers’ and smaller items to be sold during the busiest times.

The EPOS hardware sent live sales and stock data to Web Back Office for real-time reporting and stock control, viewable by management and web-enabled devices.

John Wellman, group CEO of Bleep UK PLC, added: “We delivered an unrivalled solution in terms of innovation, reliability and performance.

“Bleep put in a consistence performance from the group stages right through to the final, due to our hardworking team of Bleep EPOS experts – both those out in Japan or back at home in our UK offices. The in-store customer experience across all sites was truly best-in-class, thanks due to the Bleep system and our latest technological innovations.”

Bleep’s traditional EPOS and payment solutions have been deployed this year across the globe at prestigious events including Wimbledon, The Open, Formula One and the Tour de France, while the new self-service terminals have also been installed at several events, such as the UEFA Champions League Final in Madrid.

Image: Bleep UK PLC