Interview with Līga Rubine, CEO of Biļešu Serviss on development and extending market reach

SIA “Biļešu Serviss” is one of the leading ticket sales companies in Latvia and a leader in the Baltics. For more than 20 years, it has been working to provide the widest entertainment offer to its customers – from concerts and theater performances to a wide range of sports competitions, seminars and conferences. However, the company is aware that in today’s dynamic world, it is impossible to stand still and stagnate. We must constantly move forward, because everything around us is flowing and changing, and new technological opportunities are also emerging. In this regard, “Biļešu Serviss” has many plans and intentions.

Continuous improvement of the system

“Biļešu Serviss” is part of “Piletilevi Group”, the largest ticket distributor in the Baltics, operating in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The number of tickets sold and events serviced by the company is constantly growing. Līga Rubine, a member of the board of “Biļešu Serviss”, tells more: “We have 26 years of experience in the Baltic market. In total, the group sells about 7.5 million tickets and serves about 30 thousand events a year. We are known as the largest cooperation partner for such music giants as Metallica, Ed Sheeran, Robbie Williams, Depeche Mode, Imagine Dragons, 50Cent. The same can be said about major sporting events, for example, the Euroleague basketball tournament games in Kaunas and the World Cup biathlon competitions in the Estonian winter sports center Otepää.

This means that tickets for these events could be purchased through the Piletilevi Group ticket sales platform in all Baltic countries, but in Latvia it was conveniently provided by the Biļešu Servis sales network. Looking back, we see that the development of the ticket sales system has been continuous, especially in recent years. Currently, we have several larger-scale plans that will allow us to offer customers new products.

One of them will be a self-service service, which will allow event organizers to put their planned events on sale and independently conduct marketing campaigns and other activities even without the participation of “Biļešu Servis”. This would, in principle, allow event organizers to work much more freely and independently not only with administration issues, but also with data analytics. It would no longer be just, for example, preparing invitations or making reservations, but the opportunity to completely create an event from scratch, plan hall pricing, ticket sales strategies, etc. There will also soon be a transition to a completely new ticket sales and control system, which will allow the organization to maintain the advantages of existing systems and supplement them with new opportunities for event organizers.”

Organizers will feel the biggest positive changes

Regular consumers of “Biļešu Serviss” services have probably noticed that the company’s image has visually changed and the purchasing process has become smoother. However, Līga Rubine emphasizes that the biggest changes will be felt by event organizers: “Events will go on sale faster, namely as soon as the organizer has made a decision about it. Our big plan involves improving the convenience of event organizers, for example, offering much more analytical data and providing such technical capabilities that the organizer can independently plan their ticket sales strategy and technically carry it out themselves. If in previous years improvements were made to make the ticket purchasing process easier for buyers, now the system is being built so that event organizers will see the benefits. In fact, there will be mutual benefits for both organizers and buyers – “Piletilevi Group” has expanded, adding the largest ticket sales operators in the Czech Republic and Romania. This gives the customer the opportunity to also find events taking place in these countries on the “Biļešu Serviss” page and comfortably purchase tickets in a sales channel they already know. This would be one of the conveniences that the ticket buyer could gain as a result of this company's geographical expansion. Speaking of event organizers, with one cooperation agreement, it will be possible to sell tickets also in the Czech Republic and Romania and attract additional visitors to events taking place in Latvia.”

Guarantees convenient, safe and profitable ticket purchase

Līga Rubine draws our attention to the fact that “Biļešu Serviss” also devotes great efforts to security issues: “Currently, we observe in the market that after the lifting of Covid-19 time restrictions, with larger events returning to sale, various fraudsters and those looking for easy money have become active again. Ticket resale with fraudulent purposes is much more common, playing out schemes that result in the same ticket being sold to multiple event attendees. In some cases, buyers have actually purchased counterfeit .pdf tickets, which happens mainly because they make purchases “off the shelf”. This is the primary risk factor, as a result of which the intention to attend a concert may end with the fact that they cannot enter the event and have to pay again for a new ticket. Therefore, I would like to emphasize that the consumer should pay attention to the channel through which they buy tickets. It is better to do this with the help of an official ticket distributor, because this is the only way to protect yourself and be sure that you will be able to attend the event. In addition, “Biļešu Serviss” is also planning a new solution to reduce the possibility of reselling. I would like to emphasize that reselling tickets is not legal, but people still use this purchase option, so you have to be careful.

Another common oversight caused by carelessness is when visitors feel so happy about the upcoming event after purchasing a ticket that they post a picture of the document on social networks to show it to their friends and followers. However, in such a case, it may happen that the unique information of the ticket – the barcode, the ticket ID – becomes visible in this picture and someone successfully uses it. Therefore, it may happen that the great joy turns into disappointment about not being able to enter the event. Therefore, we urge everyone to be careful when spreading information about the tickets they have, and it is better not to do it at all.”

Opportunity to reach a wider audience

Today, the most progressive ticket sellers are no longer just engaged in direct duties. Speaking about the company she represents, Līga Rubine confirms that “Biļešu Serviss” has expanded its ticket sales service over time and has also become an advertising channel: “It is an opportunity to gain wide visibility by using the ticket seller platform. Specifically, “Biļešu Serviss” offers various solutions both within our own resources and also consultations and advertising planning on a wider scale, including in the Baltic States. Namely, it is an additional service offered by the ticket seller. He also has communication with the ticket buyer in his hands. All together, it ensures excellent communication, which allows coordinating any issues related to possible event changes and other things that are important for the visitor to know before going to the chosen event.

This is a very important thing that event organizers should pay attention to, because nowadays the range of ticket sales platforms is quite wide, and everyone can choose the most suitable one for themselves - according to their needs and willingness to pay for a specific service. However, it is worth reminding you of one thing that event organizers quite often forget, namely - ticket sales are not just a technical solution that allows you to sell a ticket and go to an event with it. It is also customer service, which includes a fairly large set of services that a ticket seller provides on a daily basis. Of course, in many cases when platforms are used that do not even have an application in Latvian, the buyer may be confused about what happened to his ticket if he has not received it. Then doubts arise whether the transaction was made correctly, and there is often a lack of information on who to call or otherwise contact to resolve ambiguities. “Biļešu serviss” pays great attention to this aspect and takes care on a daily basis to ensure that the consumer can receive all the necessary information, including being sure that everything is in order with the purchase and that he has left his data on a reliable platform with high security standards.”

The company also offers extensive cooperation opportunities for organizers of smaller events or organizers who want to sell tickets independently without the involvement of a ticket seller. Līga Rubine says: “I would also like to emphasize that “Biļešu Serviss” is not one of those companies that cooperates only with organizers of large-scale events. We are also happy to participate in servicing smaller-scale events. For example, there was just a wonderful sunset concert in Talsi region as part of the Home Cafe Days.

At “Biļešu Serviss” you can also buy tickets for various master classes. Therefore, it does not really matter how many visitors will attend an event, we are also very happy to cooperate with organizers of small events. Gatherings can take place in a variety of formats, and whether it is a small concert, conference, exhibition or master class, it doesn’t matter.”

Speaking of future

Expanding the use of IT and involving artificial intelligence could also be promising in the field of ticket sales. Līga Rubine admits that “Biļešu Serviss” is also thinking about what the new future will be like: “The word combination “artificial intelligence” is becoming increasingly modern in everyday life. Of course, we also expect the time to come when such a reality as dynamic pricing or communication with the ticket buyer directly in the ticket sales process will also become our everyday life. But for now, we see that artificial intelligence would also be useful in everyday work and processes in the culture and entertainment sector. In order to better understand how to apply it, we are planning a series of seminars specifically on the use of artificial intelligence tools in the culture and entertainment sector.

In conclusion, I would like to mention a positive nuance – the latest ticket sales data show that event attendance is similar to the level of 2019. This shows that people are willing to attend events and “Biļešu serviss” is a place where artists can meet their fans.”

Source: PLG