Ripley's, Believe it or Not!

Ripley's Believe it or Not! are the largest, fastest growing and most successful chain of amusement based museum-type attractions in the world, with a total of 32 Ripley's Believe It or Not! venues. Ripley's in London houses a collection of over 700 unusual artefacts from all over the world. Occupying 25,000 square feet in the heart of London's West End, it is one of London's major tourist destinations.

The Problem

Situated at 1 Piccadilly Circus, Ripley's attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors and with such a high number of visitors it is vital to provide total satisfaction to ensure they return again and again. A system that works seamlessly in helping cope with demands on staff and visitor numbers is therefore absolutely crucial to the success of the operation. This was where their original system fell well short of requirements and expectations.

After experiencing continued difficulties and frustrations with the original Radiant system, Ripley's were looking for an alternative solution which gave them the flexibility to have their admissions, retail operations and online ticketing facilities all integrated. They were looking for a system that was fast and easy to use and Expert Ticket met their needs perfectly.

The Solution

Expert Ticket offers the complete package for any size organisation from small visitor attractions to major operations like Ripley's London. The full range of functionality is available from Expert Ticket covering, EPOS, admissions, online tickets and even access control systems. Having all these features in one integrated system convinced Ripley's that Expert Ticket was the way to move forward and help expand their business. "It's much more of a partnership that the normal Supplier/Customer relationship" said Max Ferreira,General Manager of Ripley's London.

Ripley's installed a complete admissions, retail and online ticketing system with 7 retail/admissions terminals, 10 back office users and online ticketing, as well as integrating their existing turnstiles to provide fast track unmanned entry points. With the attraction open from 10am - 12 midnight every day, the installation and training team had to work alongside visitors and staff to ensure a smooth installation and had the system up and running within two days, with no 'down-time'.

Ripley's are very happy with their new system and the impact it has had on their business. Max Ferreira, General Manager said "It's definitely easier and faster to use compared to our previous POS. We can also export most of our reports onto a spreadsheet which make day to day reporting much easier. It's light years ahead of where we were before with our old (Radiant) system ... we finally believe we're in the 21st century!" Another area where Ripley's London have benefitted is in the back-office where having a fully integrated system now allows them to manage group bookings, stock replenishment and marketing initiatives on the same system, with all users sharing vital information.