Smart Venue: The Digital Transformation for Event Venues

The Revolutionary Role of Smart Technologies in the Event Experience

In modern venues, smart technologies play an increasingly important role. These technologies encompass a variety of systems and devices designed to increase efficiency and maximize visitor satisfaction. They are not only practical aides supporting the smooth running of an event but also provide real added value and have the ability to enhance the visitor experience on multiple levels. For example, smart lighting systems can dynamically adjust the atmosphere of an event space, while advanced sound systems ensure clear and impressive acoustics. Additionally, intelligent access control systems contribute to security by reliably regulating access to different areas. All of these technologies lead to a seamless and impressive visitor experience.

Which technologies enhance the event experience – and which fundamentally change it?

Smart Technologies for a Better Event Experience

Thanks to digital solutions, the visitor experience becomes more efficient and comfortable. Here are some key areas where modern technologies play a decisive role:

Ticketing & Access Control – Digital tickets and automated admission controls ensure fast and secure access to the event. We have the necessary expertise and are a certified partner of the company SKIDATA.

Security Systems – AI-based monitoring and smart sensors contribute to the security of visitors.

Contactless Payment – Mobile payment and digital wallets reduce waiting times and increase comfort.

Optimized Catering – Intelligent ordering and delivery processes significantly improve the catering experience.

Information Provision – Real-time updates, interactive site maps, and augmented reality for an even more intense experience.

Traffic Management – Smart mobility solutions optimize the arrival and departure of visitors.

No More Queues Thanks to Mobile Ordering – The Digital Transformation of the Event Break

Every visitor knows the problem: The break begins, and the way to the snack stand becomes a race against time. Mobile ordering offers a remedy here!

Order & Pay by QR Code – Thanks to smart PWA technology, visitors can order and pay for their snacks and drinks directly from their seats without having to install a native app on their phones.

Fast Pickup or Delivery – The order is made available for pickup or delivered directly to the seat. This leaves more time to enjoy the event and the atmosphere.

Personalized Recommendations – Smart algorithms suggest suitable offers to visitors based on their preferences.

This digital transformation ensures that the valuable break is not lost standing in line, but is used for what matters – the true event experience!

The Key to Success – Visitor-Centricity

In an increasingly digitized world, where technology dominates and is constantly evolving, precise alignment with the specific needs and individual desires of visitors is essential. This is especially true for modern venues that must continuously develop to meet expectations. These venues are much more than just settings for a wide range of events, from cultural performances to large-scale business conferences to entertaining leisure events. They also function as dynamic centers aiming to create unique and unforgettable experiences. Such experiences combine innovative technology with personal service to provide an environment that meets today's demands while simultaneously offering the opportunity to explore new forms of interaction and engagement.

Mobile-First Strategy: The Foundation of Visitor Interaction

A central component of visitor centricity is the mobile-first strategy. The visitor journey often begins even before entering the venue and includes:

• Ticket Purchase – Easy and quick access to events
• Travel Planning – The seamless integration of all Google services ensures smooth navigation to the venue
• Event Information – All relevant details at a glance

The goal is to provide a seamless and intuitive mobile experience that facilitates and enriches the visit.

The Visitor Journey: Every Touchpoint Matters

The visitor journey extends across numerous interaction points, including:

• Account Creation – Personalized experiences start here
• Ticketing & Access – Convenient digital entry solutions
• Catering & Services – Mobile orders and VIP areas
• The Event Itself – Live interactions, exclusive content & visitor activations

Each of these points offers an opportunity to personalize and enhance the experience.

Consistent Brand Experience: Online & On-Site

Visitors expect seamless interaction between digital and physical channels. This includes:

• Consistent brand messages across all platforms
• Gamification & interaction to increase visitor engagement
• Exclusive content & offers for personalized experiences

A consistent and engaging brand experience sustainably strengthens visitor engagement and loyalty.

The Future of Visitor Centricity: Creating an Unforgettable Experience

Visitor centricity means more than digital optimization – it is about the perfect fusion of digital and physical experiences:

• Exclusive visitor zones with interactive experiences
• Personalized rewards & loyalty programs
• Augmented reality & digital features for an immersive experience

Visitor Centricity as a Success Factor

In the digital age, visitor centricity is not just a competitive advantage, but a necessity.

By creating unique, personalized, and engaging experiences, venues can build deeper engagement and loyalty among their visitors – and thus ensure their long-term success.

Make the visitor experience unforgettable!

A Seamless Experience: From Online Ticket Purchase to Online Shop

Event visitors benefit in many ways from smart technologies. Especially in the areas of:

• Ticketing – Quick and convenient online booking of tickets
• Admission Control – Efficient access controls through digital solutions, optionally with existing hand scanners, cash registers, or directly via visitors' smartphones
• Security – Enhanced security measures through smart sensors and digital identification
• Payment Options – Contactless and digital payment options via cash registers or mobile payment systems

But the experience doesn't end at the entrance of the venue. Also, visitor information, catering offers, and traffic management play a crucial role in ensuring smooth arrival and departure.

The Online Shop: More Than Just Event Items

The online shop is much more than just a platform for merchandise. With intelligent features like:

• Inventory Management – Optimized stock control for fast availability
• Dynamic Pricing – Flexible pricing based on demand
• Product Videos – Interactive content for a better shopping experience
• Cross-Selling – Individual product recommendations for visitors

These digital solutions provide a comfortable and modern shopping experience – on-site at the venue, via mobile devices and online. 

The Path to the Smart Venue – Faster and Safer Access Through Innovative Technologies

The rapid development and advanced integration of modern technologies play a key role in transforming the event experience. The use of NFC (Near Field Communication), RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) and QR Codes (Quick Response Codes) has the potential to fundamentally change access to venues.

NFC – Contactless Entry via Smartphone
With NFC, smartphones and other mobile devices can be used as tickets by simply holding them near a reader. This technology offers a seamless and contactless experience that not only increases convenience but also enhances security by minimizing physical contact.

RFID – Fast and Efficient Through Automatic Identification
RFID enables even faster and more efficient identification and verification of visitors. RFID tags embedded in tickets or wristbands can send a signal to RFID readers. This accelerates access and significantly reduces wait times at entrances.

QR Codes – Flexible, Digital, and Cost-Effective
QR codes provide another layer of access control. They can be easily generated, distributed, and scanned, making them a cost-effective solution for organizers. With QR codes, tickets can be distributed and verified directly through smartphone apps, eliminating the need for physical tickets and optimizing the entry process.

More Than Just Access: Interactive Visitor Experiences
These technologies also offer new possibilities for visitor interaction. Organizers can:

Send personalized offers and event information directly to smartphones
Provide digital directions within the venue
Create new marketing opportunities through digital touchpoints

Smart Venue – The Future of Event Attendance
Thanks to NFC, RFID, and QR codes, attending events becomes faster, safer, and more interactive. These technologies make the experience more user-friendly and appealing for visitors.

As a certified partner of SKIDATA, an internationally leading company for access solutions, we offer you complete solutions for modern venues. Combined with our software for Smart Venues, you can impress your visitors at every event! 🏆💪

The Right Choice of CRM System – The Key to Success

Efficient Master Data Management with Smartstore MDM

Smartstore enables companies and organizers to optimize their business processes through advanced master data management (MDM) and a powerful customer relationship management (CRM).

Central Management

The Smartstore MDM system ensures unified management of all digital master data within a single application. This significantly increases efficiency since all data is centrally stored and seamlessly synchronized with ERP or merchandise management systems.

Optimized Customer Management with Smartstore CRM

Everything at a Glance: The Smartstore CRM module provides a comprehensive platform for capturing, centralizing, and managing all relevant customer data. With specific plugins, missing information can be added in any direction.

Powerful Features:

• Unification of customer profiles
• Modeling of customer data
• Real-time personalization
• Marketing process automation

With these features, companies can achieve personalized customer communication, targeted data segmentation, and efficient marketing automation – all from a single central platform.

The Perfect Combination: MDM & CRM

Combined, the MDM and CRM system from Smartstore offer a coherent and efficient solution for optimally managing and utilizing both corporate and customer data.

Added Value for Companies and Organizers:

• Optimized data management leads to better business processes
• Increased customer loyalty through targeted communication
• More efficient processes through automation

Smartstore provides the perfect digital foundation to position itself successfully in the market in the long term.

Mobile Ordering of Food, Snacks, and Drinks – WITHOUT a Separate App

Smartstore Revolutionizes Venue Catering

Smartstore offers an innovative solution for catering that takes visitor convenience to a new level. Event visitors can easily order food and beverages – without long wait times and without the need to install a special app.

No Standing in Line, No Waiting Times – Simply Order via QR Code

Thanks to our technology, visitors no longer have to stand in line for food and drinks. Instead, a simple scan of a QR code, prominently displayed in the event area, is enough.

Here's How It Works:

• Scan QR Code – directly with the smartphone
• Place Order – select food & drinks

• Convenient Payment – online or through the existing cash register system

Flexible Payment System for All Visitors

• Registered users can process their orders directly like a normal online order, and billing is done automatically.
• Guests without an account can quickly sign up via social media logins or pay for their orders immediately online.

• Optional: Payments can also be processed via mobile POS systems.

Benefits for Visitors & Organizers

• No waiting: Visitors don't lose valuable time during the event.
• Higher revenue: Through optimized order processes and evenly distributed demand.
• Efficient processes: Reduction of lines during breaks.
• After ordering and payment, the goods are displayed for pickup via push notification.

• More comfort: A contemporary and pleasant catering experience.

With this innovation, Smartstore sets new standards in catering and makes attending an event even more enjoyable!

Digital Solutions for Age Verification in Sales Environments

To ensure that underage visitors do not gain access to products intended exclusively for adults, Smartstore offers various options for secure age verification. These technologies allow the safeguarded sale of products such as alcohol or tobacco from age 18 – both at vending machines and self-service checkouts.

Integration into Vending Machines & Self-Service Checkouts

• Age verification systems can be directly integrated into vending machines or self-service checkouts
• This ensures that age-restricted products are only dispensed to authorized individuals

AI-Powered Age Verification with ID Documents

• A KI-based age recognition checks an ID document by holding it up to a camera
• The system decides in real-time whether the sale is approved

Privacy-Friendly: No internet connection required, no storage of personal data.

Preset Identities for Returning Customers

• In recurring sales environments, visitors who give their consent can store their photo or an identity feature in advance
• This enables quick age approval without requiring manual proof every time

Access Control for Restricted Areas

• Age verification can also be integrated into access systems
• This ensures only authorized individuals gain access to certain areas, such as in 24/7 stores or secured sales zones
• For solutions in door control and access management, we work with our partner company SALTO Systems

Horizontal Scaling for Peak Loads at Large Events

Especially at larger events, enormous peak loads can occur – whether in ticket sales, admission, or orders in the catering area. To reliably manage these strains, we rely on a dynamic cloud environment that can immediately and effortlessly provide additional capacity.

Why Horizontal Scaling is More Sensible
With modern cloud technologies, it's often simpler, more cost-effective, and more efficient to horizontally scale resources rather than scaling up centrally.

• In vertical scaling (more power on a single server), you quickly reach technical and economic limits. Additionally, necessary restarts often create downtime.

• In horizontal scaling, however, additional infrastructure instances are provided in parallel to flexibly accommodate increasing demand. Once the peak load is over, unneeded resources can automatically be removed – without unnecessary costs.

Strategic Scaling for Peak Loads

A thoughtful system design allows for confidently handling sudden traffic peaks at events. Typical scenarios include events such as:

• Large cultural or music events
• Trade fairs and conferences

• Sales actions or marketing campaigns

By preparing the infrastructure in advance and scaling dynamically, performance bottlenecks are avoided – and visitors enjoy a smooth digital experience.

Cloud Operation on Demand

Our solution supports operation in Microsoft Azure but can also work with any other cloud provider preferred by the organizer.

The benefits:

• Cost Efficiency – no high investments in additional hardware required.
• Flexibility – resources are added or removed automatically as needed.

• Pay-as-you-go – only pay for actual capacity use, no idle costs.

This approach makes it possible to remain powerful and stable even with unexpectedly high visitor numbers or extreme demand peaks.

General Events and Large Gatherings Under the Threat of Cyber Attacks

Digital security at major events, especially General Events, is becoming increasingly important.

Risks and Threats

The increasing connectivity of venues and the growing number of devices and networks substantially raise the risk of cyber attacks. In particular, the following are affected:

• IT Infrastructures: Venues often have security vulnerabilities that endanger critical operational functions and visitor systems.
• Organizational and Partner Data: The loss of sensitive business or personal data can have serious consequences.

• Visitor Data: Personal identification data can be compromised through insecure event apps, open Wi-Fi hotspots, or manipulated QR codes.

Protection Measures for Your Event

To minimize these risks, we rely on proven security standards and trusted cloud solutions in partnership with Microsoft and Sogeti. Our security policies help you effectively protect General Events and large gatherings from cyber attacks.

Secure Your Event Before it's Too Late!

One-Stop-Shop for the Smart Venue

Smartstore consolidates all relevant functions into a single system – this reduces maintenance effort, lowers costs, and increases scalability. With Smartstore 6, the fastest cross-platform Open Source Composable Commerce platform in the ASP.NET world, organizers are optimally positioned for the cloud.

Maximum Performance with the Smartstore Commerce Cloud

Thanks to the close collaboration with Microsoft, organizers can accelerate their growth and benefit from customized solutions. The Smartstore Commerce Cloud provides a powerful foundation for the digital transformation of venues.

Strong Partnerships for Best Service

Smartstore relies on numerous renowned partners to always ensure the best services:

• Technology Partners: AWS, Microsoft, Google
• E-Commerce & Security: Trusted Shops, Diebold Nixdorf, Sunmi POS, Pyramid Computer, eBay
• Payment Providers: Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, Amazon Pay, Klarna, Bluecode, UNZER, Santander, Ratenkauf by easyCredit, PAYONE, and many more

Digital Transformation for Modern Venues: Digital transformation is not a trend, but a necessity to meet the increasing expectations of visitors and create a contemporary shopping experience. Smartstore is a certified SKIDATA Integration Partner – the perfect connection for future-proof solutions at venues.

Do you have questions on this topic? Or would you like to send us your feedback? You can reach us via the contact form, by email at info@smartstore.com or by phone from Monday to Friday between 10 am and 4 pm at the number +4923153350.