Acquisition in Line With Strategy and Triples Volume of High-Margin E-Ticketing Solutions
Global Ticket is market leader in the field of e-ticket solutions in the Benelux and sold more than five million tickets in 2019 with a total ticket value of approximately € 60 million and a revenue of € 1.2 million. This acquisition triples the total number of tickets CM.com processed in 2019 and at the same time gives the company a solid market position in ticket sales for museums, attractions, and zoos in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and South Africa.
Global Ticket’s customers include the Van Gogh Museum, Heineken Experience, Toverland and GaiaZOO, but also resellers such as GetYourGuide and Tiqets, which use the platform to sell tickets. In total, some 200 customers and around 400 resellers use the Global Ticket platform.
In addition to ticket sales, CM.com will also process part of the payments for Global Tickets’ clients. Meaning CM’s Platform and Payments businesses will both benefit from the acquisition, and the shift in the product mix to high-margin solutions will be continued, in line with the Conversational Commerce proposition. This means that Global Ticket will also make a positive contribution to the development of CM.com’s gross margin.
Following the acquisition of Ticket Flow in 2015 and EventsIT in 2018, CM.com was primarily active in the field of ticket sales for festivals and sports events, such as the Solar Weekend Festival and the Dutch Grand Prix. The acquisition of Global Ticket, whose customers are primarily museums and other cultural institutions, means CM.com can now provide services to all segments of the ticket market.
Jeroen van Glabbeek, CEO CM.com: “The acquisition of Global Ticket means we can offer our Conversational Commerce solution to an even broader market and it also means a significant increase in the number of tickets we process. As of today, Global Ticket customers can turn to one player for the total customer journey, from ticket sales and payments to communications with their visitors. This makes it easier for our customers and more fun for visitors, which will in turn result in more return visits.”
Robin Blekemolen, CEO Global Ticket: “We share CM.com's international growth ambition. This acquisition enables Global Ticket to accelerate our development and growth together with our current and future customers. As there are less and less subsidies available for cultural institutions, it becomes more important for museums to be cultural entrepreneurs. This implies that we see opportunities for our customers to create visitor interaction through Conversational Commerce and to increase visitor numbers. By way of this acquisition we can help cultural institutions worldwide to take up this challenge.”
The 15 Global Ticket employees will continue to work for CM.com at the Amsterdam office. The current Global Ticket shareholders will also remain with the company, as CM.com moves forward with the global roll-out of its ticketing solutions.
