SIX Payment Services (SIX) is cementing its position as a leader in providing cashless solutions for events by enabling a range of events across Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands to be cashless this year.

The trend for cashless events is spreading across a range of areas, including sporting competitions, music festivals and food and drink pop-up events and fairs. As the popularity for such events has grown, so too has their size and professionalism. Both event organizers and exhibitors are realising the importance of providing smooth and efficient services to their customers, and offering cashless capabilities is a key part of this. Providing cashless payment solutions for large-scale events has been one of the core competencies of SIX in Austria, and with more and more festivals and events deciding to go wholly or partially cashless, SIX has developed and implemented a range of new and innovative solutions to suit the differing needs of each occasion across Europe.

Cashless transactions are typically much faster than cash purchases, meaning that queues are reduced and fewer staff required, saving the event organisers additional costs. Cashless events also eliminate the need for additional security required to handle and store cash. In the last three years, SIX has tripled the number of events for which it has provided cashless payments solutions and plans to continue to grow its cashless proposition in the future.

“The number and size of events we support and enable to go cashless has grown substantially. From music festivals to motor racing, we are able to provide and service their individual needs which are sometimes very different,” explains Thomas Grabner, Managing Director of SIX Payment Services in Austria. “As well as equipping the area with a secure internet connection, we also ensure our terminals will function in all environments and temperatures – from -20C to over 45C! 

“While we found logistics at some venues, such as ‘Boomtown’ in Belgium relatively straightforward, others pose a range of challenges such as the ‘Nova Rock Festival’, which took place in June and is held in a very rural location in Austria – requiring miles of cables to achieve a reliable internet connection. Most of the events are held in temporary locations, which adds an additional time factor when installing and taking down our terminals and top-up stations. No two events are the same and each element is considered carefully to plan for all situations.  There is no ‘one-size-fits-all. 

“The notion of a cashless festival was met with some opposition a few years ago, but with more and even larger showcases cashless seems to become state of the art. We are seeing more and more events going cashless as a way to boost customer experience and increase efficiencies. We look forward to supporting more events in the coming years, both in Austria and further afield.”

SIX has provided / will be providing cashless solutions at the below events in 2017:

• Formula 1 World Championship, Austria
• Life Ball, Austria
• Hahnenkammrennen, Austria
• Eurosonic Noordersleg, Netherlands
• Fifteen Seconds Festival, Austria
• Nova Rock Festival, Austria
• Electric Love Festival, Austria
• Boomtown, Belgium
• Moto Grand Prix, Austria
• FM4 Frequency Festival, Austria