Problem
Govia Thameslink Railway’s (GTR) current sales channels were independent of each other and its provider had a very old-fashioned user interface which discouraged online sales; it was also unable to support smartcard sales.
GTR wanted to create an innovative, omni-channel retailing scheme which would encourage online ticket sales to reduce the cost of each sale. It also needed to support a radical shift in the use of the station to drive footfall and improve customer satisfaction.
Solution
The team at Hammock led the design and development of our Core Information and Retailing Engine (CIRE), in partnership with On Track Retail. The CIRE enables companies to easily consume rail data and sell to customers using their own websites; it separates the front and back ends of the solution which facilitates much greater cross-channel flexibility.
A free app helped customers plan their journey and buy their rail ticket, further reducing the cost of each ticket sale. Full integration with the client’s Account Based Fare System ensured a seamless transition. It also enabled a much broader retailing offer which included account based solutions, stored payment cards, mobile ticketing solutions and smartcard sales.
Results
Our journey planning and ticket purchasing software has been intuitively designed to help make finding and buying the right rail ticket easier and hassle-free.
As a direct result of this, there has been a 15% reduction in the cost of retail and an increase of 20% in online revenues over a 24-month period. The app, which also helps customers receive live updates and even pay for their car parking, is personalised to an individual’s travel habits and this has led to an increase in customer satisfaction.