I visited Sparta Rotterdam as a supporter twice in my life. The first time I was just a little kid and tickets had to be bought at the gates with cash “gulden”, the Dutch coin before the Euro made its entrance. I cannot really remember anything of the match and the atmosphere itself, except Sparta lost the match with 0-1, thanks to a late goal of the young talent Dirk Kuyt (still playing for FC Utrecht that time).
A lot of things must have changed the second time I visited a match, this September. Tickets were bought online with Euro’s and scanning of the tickets went automatically. But one thing was still the same: long lines in front of food corners, only accepting cash money. I was fascinated by the patience of the customers, who seemed to be waiting in front of the food corner forever, even missing parts of the soccer match! After telling about my experiences at the Sparta stadium the next day with my team members, it became clear that one of us actually worked at the stadium. He could confirm that there was a lot of trouble at the food corners and improvements were welcome.
There must be a solution to this problem, so me and my team members decided to come up with a disruption plan to solve it. The biggest problem was the time it took to complete one transaction, the time it took to take an order, manage payment and deliver the consumable. It had to be reduced.
My teammates visited the next match of Sparta, against AZ on 2 October. Not only for the match, but mostly to do a quick field research. It became clear that queues at the Sparta stadium at the food corners are a serious problem after our field research. Respondents were asked what they think of the current waiting lines and if they were open for new innovative ways to pay. Most of them had to wait at least 10 minutes in queue and were not quite happy with the given service, but they were “used to it”. Another interesting thing fact that became clear is that average waiting time at the (one and only) food corner where there was access to PIN, was quite a bit shorter. So our suspicions were right: the order- and pay system had to be innovated.
So Sparta Rotterdam can improve sales and customer happiness by using disruptive technologies in their order- and payment system. In the new system, SpartaMet, customers can pre-order and finish the payment, while watching the game. Users will have to download an application on their cell phone and be able to quickly order and pay for their beers and snacks, while watching the game. After a few minutes, the walk to the food corner and show their cell phone to the workers at the food corner and receive their products. This will decrease the amount of steps it takes to order and will smoothen the entire process. Supply chain shall also improve, due more precise data collection.
After making a concept of our plan we analysed the costs, benefits, feasibility and risks having SpartaMet implemented. The eventual benefits will exceed the investment costs in the beginning.
So there are great opportunities for Sparta’s catering service and there is a big chance there are again a lot of changes when I visit a match for a third time!
Greetings,
Team 32
David Noordermeer – 461281
Michiel Steendam – 420655
Joost Breevoort – 372737
Christian Sitepu – 341734
