Technical Difficulties at the Ticket Counter

Tickets to the hottest events are not possible for typical fans to get, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
"Ticketing, to put it bluntly, is a fixed game," said a report Schneiderman's workplace released Thursday.

The major contributor to the trouble is the automated computer "bots", which are applications that ticket brokers use to rapidly buy a large quantity of tickets the minute they go on sale.

Schneiderman's report cites examples such as a U2 tour final year in which a single bot bought 15,000 tickets in one day and Beyonce's 2013 concert at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, which sold 520 tickets in 3 minutes.

Measures to block the bots, are becoming defeated with sophisticated software applications and low-cost overseas workers.



And most tickets to significant events surprisingly, aren't even offered to the common public in the first place, according to Schneiderman's report.

Event organizers and ticketing solutions such as Ticketmaster set aside significant blocks of tickets for insiders like season ticket owners or particular credit card holders. Less than 20% of tickets produced are ever accessible to the common public for the hottest events. And several of those tickets that are set aside also land in the hands of brokers, according to Schneiderman.

Schneiderman recommends having vendors like TicketMaster use tougher measures to detect and avoid bot use, enforced by imposing criminal penalties for any person caught utilizing a ticket bot.
He brokered for higher transparency, like getting ticket resale internet sites such as StubHub listing the original face value of the tickets they sell and also for legislation to limit the markups that resellers can put on tickets.

"Reinstating caps on markups would still allow brokers a role in the marketplace but would also make sure that any value markups be reasonable," Schneiderman said.

But changing the ticket-sales procedure marketplace for higher profile events will be difficult. Price tag controls have never been quite efficient in the past, mentioned Jesse Lawrence, CEO of TiqIQ, which tracks and facilitates the resale of tickets.

"There is a fair industry price that individuals are prepared to pay for tickets," he mentioned.
And defeating bots has also proved tricky.

"That's a technology challenge, not a legislation challenge," mentioned Lawrence. "It really is like saying how can you stop hackers? They'll always be a step ahead."

Ticketmaster said it fully cooperated with Schneiderman's investigation and that it "looks forward to continuing to coordinate with the Attorney General to ensure that artists can get tickets into the hands of their fans."

Chris Isidore: CNN Money

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The History of Best Buy | Electronics Superstore

The Best Buy Company., Inc. was started by Richard M. Schulze and his partner in 1966. The first store was named ‘Sound of Music’ and sold only home and car stereo equipment. They met with success immediately as they were able to achieve sales in excess of $160,000 in only one year. In 1970 Richard became the sole owner of the store when he bought out the stakes of his partner. Till 1981, he was happy selling only his stereo equipment living off the income it generated.

Soon he realized that there was very little future ahead in this market with the target audience decreasing day by day. In addition to the stereos he also began selling appliances and VCR’s. In spite of having little experience selling appliances, his store was able to generate $9.5 million in revenue in 1982. This was a major success for such a small store. That very year, the store was renamed Best Buy Co., Inc. to make the store more appealing to the general audience.



In 1984, the company changed into a superstore format and opened another 7 stores in the Midwest region of the U.S.  This immediately got the company a hold over 40% of the local market. Now they decided to expand their services throughout the Midwest region and by 1987 they had more than 25 stores. Their sales had peaked $240 million that year making it a well known retailer in the U.S.

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In 1989, the company went on to unveil the new idea of ‘Concept II’ stores. The plan was to open large showrooms which would be well stocked with electronics goods so that people could pick it directly from the shelves. This concept was able to decrease the number of salespeople and attract more and more new customers to a new way of shopping.

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From being a store that only sold stereos to becoming a store where every electronic gadget under the sun can be found has been an impressive journey indeed. The success that Best Buy has achieved could not be possible without their high risk expansion strategy.

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