An “app” developed in Aberdeen aimed at shortening queues at festivals by allowing punters to pay with their mobile phones had its first successful trial.
Qpal officially launched its business with its first successful deployment at a music and ale festival near Edinburgh where 45 users tried out the technology.
Craig Buchan, founder and managing director of Qpal, said: “We developed this solution with the core aims of reducing queue times, increasing revenues, and giving event organisers access to real-time data – with the overarching mission of boosting and enriching live events for everyone involved. This is exactly what we achieved at Hops in the Garden, and we are set to do the same at upcoming events across the country.
“We were delighted to work alongside an early adopter of the Qpal technology, who fully embraced what we are trying to bring to the industry, and bought into our vision.”
Ian Stokes, manager of Hops in the Garden, adds: “From initially meeting the Qpal team, we knew this unique solution would be a great fit for our event. As our venue is relatively isolated with no cash machine on-site, Qpal was the perfect solution to ensure our attendees could easily purchase food and drink throughout the festival.”
The Qpal technology allows event attendees to load cash onto a branded card, and use its contactless technology to make quick and easy payments. This eliminates the need for cash or token systems, which are currently used across the events industry.
Mr Stokes said the data the technology collected will also help the design of the event next year.
He said: “We plan to host Hops in the Garden again next year, so the access to the data analytics is invaluable, enabling us to make key decisions based on a better understanding of our customers and their purchasing behaviour.”
Qpal recently completed the 12-week Accelerator Programme in Aberdeen, which is run by Elevator UK.