CASE STUDY

The Arcadia Unified School District (AUSD)​​ is currently ranked in the top 1% of best school districts in America. The district holds 11 schools with approximately 9,500 students. While they may be the best around, their performing arts center was far behind. Acadia Performing Arts Center creates a professional learning environment for students interested in the arts. A high quality program with low quality ticketing.​

• No online registration for ticket sales
• Offering a customized shopping experience
• Selling merchandise and concessions
• Online registration for students (due to COVID-19​​)

With Purplepass, AUSD is no longer limited to their box office. ​Now, they can also sell tickets online, cutting box office lines in half the day-of their events. AUSD guests can purchase everything they need directly from their website without being directed to a third party. By using Purplepass’ ticket widget integration​, the buying process is streamlined, simple and branded all on their website. ​​​

One thing AUSD needed that most ticket solutions couldn’t offer was ticket add-ons​​; selling merchandise, food, drinks, concessions, PLUS tickets.

Why? For a few reasons. Most of their shows are big events, meaning big lines and congested traffic. Selling event merchandise and concessions ahead of time not only encouraged an increase in these sale types, but eliminated heavy wait times and long lines during the events. AUSD’s concessions online consist of anything from water, coke, sodas, to chips, cookies, and popcorn. They also sell branded merchandise and student t-shirts online.

Before adding concession sales online, AUSD had a hard time selling merchandise and food at events. They couldn’t maximize their sales because people (a) didn’t want to wait in line, (b) were afraid of missing the show, (c) AUSD couldn’t process payments other than cash. After promoting ticket add-ons and merchandise sales online, not only has their revenue spiked, but now they have a better idea of inventory needs and popular items to stock up in.

Performing arts, charity dances, fundraisers, registration, family events, ticket add-ons and online concession stands … let's just say AUSD holds a lot of unique events throughout the calendar year. Although it’s one district, every school and event is different, requiring individual checkout processes with their own customization features. With Purplepass, each checkout is tailored to fit the needs of that event.

For example, their school registration checkout page also includes a questionnaire for students​​, collecting all required information. Any student that also includes a Spirit Shirt fills out another questionnaire requesting information on their shirt size, color, etc.

At the end of each event, AUSD also includes terms and conditions​​ set for each specific event. These address ticket processing, refunds, policies, food and beverage allowance, what you need prior to admittance, etc. They can add custom elements and build a tailored set of terms for each event that guests are required to agree to before checkout.

Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic has affected every aspect of our lives. Until deemed safe, we remain working at home and living online. COVID-19 has had a huge impact on students; predicted that schools will remain online until 2021. Instead of turning to Purplepass just for events, they’ve now outsourced the platform as a registration for classes. Enroll as a student, purchase Grad Night tickets, and even spirit shirts all online. AUSD has also chosen to include a donation option​​ before checkout to receive further support from their communities and students.