On a good snow day the longest line at a ski resort is often at the ticket counter. Online sales move that line to the guest's sofa, days before arrival. The resort gets money earlier and needs fewer people at the counter. Here is what a working setup needs.
Start with the product list
List everything the resort sells and keep the first version simple:
- Day and half-day passes
- Multi-day passes
- Season passes
- Family, child and senior options
- Add-ons such as ski school or rental, if you can fulfil them
Guests should be able to pick the right pass in a few taps on a phone. Too many options slow the sale.
Use the calendar in your pricing
Online sales let you change price by purchase date. Bjelašnica-Igman, for example, prices its season pass in steps, so buying earlier costs less. Early pricing brings cash in before the season and rewards loyal guests.
Make recharge the main flow
Returning guests already have a ski card. If they can top it up online, they skip the counter and go straight to the lift. This is the feature with the biggest effect on queues. The guest needs an easy way to enter the card number and clear confirmation that the pass is loaded.
Sell to groups and partners
Hotels, agencies, schools and companies buy passes in volume. A B2B area with its own prices and invoicing removes email and phone work for both sides.
Connect to the access system
A paid order is worth nothing if the gate does not open. The webshop has to pass the order to the access system, so staff do not retype anything. See how this works in our article on SKIDATA and Shopify integration.
Plan for peak days
Sales spike with the first snow and on sunny weekends. Your shop has to handle the spike and your support has to answer the same five questions fast. Put these answers on the product page: where to pick up a card, how recharge works, what happens if the lifts close.
Mobile comes first
Many guests buy on the way to the mountain, or standing in the parking lot. Test the whole purchase on a phone with cold fingers in mind: large buttons, few fields, wallet payments if your gateway supports them.
What to measure
- Share of passes sold online
- Recharge share among returning guests
- Time of purchase before arrival
- Counter queue on peak days
eComm.ski is our Shopify-based system for ski resorts, with B2C and B2B sales, recharge and SKIDATA-connected fulfilment. It runs at Bjelašnica-Igman, and we have implemented similar systems for resorts in Slovenia.
0 comments