Solving a very niche problem of even organisers, BookMyShow-owned DIY ticketing platform Townscript has been seeing phenomenal growth in its business. After creating a strong presence across tier 1 cities, Townscript is now looking to move beyond urban cities and focus on expanding aggressively in tier 2 cities.
One-and-a-half years ago, tier 2 cities contributed to only 10% of Townscript’s total tickets sales, which has now increased to 33%. Townscript is looking at increasing this further by entering more markets and expand its presence to towns such as Jaipur, Patna, Kochi.
Apart from deeper penetration into tier 2 markets, the DIY ticketing platform is also looking at new event segments, which could be potential growth drivers. Having a strong presence in segments such as Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE), marathons, TedX, etc, it is now exploring new segments such as workshops, training, and adventure markets as well.
Townscript was acquired by BookMyShow in an all cash deal for an undisclosed amount in February 2017.
Townscript helps event organisers set up ticketing using its platform. A Do-It-Yourself platform, event organiser just have to fill in all their details such as bank account, event venue, description, etc and the event goes live in 5-10 minutes. Not only does it help organised create events and set up ticketing, it also connects them to potential people in the given geography who would be interested in the event.
It gets embedded within the organiser’s website, removing the need for people to leave the website to book tickets.
Sachin Sharma, co-founder of Townscript calls themselves an events and experience marketplace.
Townscript also allows organisers to create forms, discount coupons, different type of tickets, etc. And each time someone registers for an even powered by Townscript, their details are captured in the organisers’ dashboard, which he can download at any point.
Townscript has also made its product internationally capable. According to co-founder Sanchit, what this means is that though the startup is not physically present, its product can be used in 25 countries, given it’s a self-serve ticketing platform.
While Townscript was growing healthily in the ticketing space, given its niche offering, the acquisition by BookMyShow resulted in the growth propelling and the startup registering a 100% year-on-year growth, with over 15,000 events being organised in India through its platform in just FY18. And as of April 2018, it has an annual run rate of 1 million transactions with over 10,000 event organisers using its platform.
According to Sachin, there have been various value adds to the business of Townscript from BMS being on board. One of the most important one is gaining market understanding from an experiences player. “Sanchit and I were young entrepreneurs when we were acquired by BMS and with support from their leadership team, we were able to look deeper into the market and our understanding of the market grew. This helped up deploy strategies at a larger scale,” he adds.
Even in terms of operations, Townscript has the advantage of being able to leverage the capabilities of BMS in terms on operational and on-ground support at larger events from BMS’ team.
The startup is now eyeing an international expansion as well having recently entered the Indonesian market. BMS having a presence in Indonesia helped Townscript leverage operational capabilities to position its product and acquire customers. The startup claims to have seen a 50% month-on-month growth in Indonesia.
It now plans to expand its presence to markets such Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai over the next fiscal year.
And to cater to its growing customer base, it is also build innovative platforms and technology that focuses not only on being a ticketing facilitator but also on solving end-to-end needs of event organisers including check-in, printing badges, and tech to cater to services needed on the day of the event.
It is also building its capabilities where organisers can see where their traffic is coming from, where they are dropping and how they can improve conversion rates. It is also building a mobile platform to allow event organisers manage events from their mobile phones.
DIY ticketing is currently a new concept in India that has been around only in the past 3-4 years. This, Sachin believes has come on the back of people increasingly looking at experiences and events in the entertainment space thanks to growing disposable income. There has been a surge in the market and many events have been taking place to cater to the needs of the audience.
Sachin says that at a time like this, Townscript is in a very good position to leverage both trends. “Since we already leading in self-ticketing, we are in the best position to leverage the growth that’s going to happen in the self-serve market in coming years in India. We saw a 150% jump over last year and expect to grow with same rate this year as well,” Sachin says.