Axs Testing Ticket Invites

AEG’s Axs Ticketing is treading into social territory with the launch of a new product that will give fans an opportunity to save seats for friends.

Axs Invite allows fans to purchase tickets then reserve adjacent seats and send out invites via Facebook or email. Friends have a 48-hour window to accept and purchase tickets or decline the offer.

 
The company thinks Axs Invite will help take the stress out of ticket buying – especially for those who usually pony up the cash for tickets.
 
“There’s always somebody in every group who ends up fronting money to buy tickets for friends,” Axs.com GM Tom Andrus told Pollstar, adding that Invite removes the risk from purchasing tickets early should friends decline an invitation.
 
The service also acts as a marketing tool and could help drive early sales.
 
“If I know my friend’s going and I can buy the seats next to him, then I’ll purchase sooner,” Andrus said.
 
Axs Invite won’t happen for the beginning of an onsale or for shows that sell out immediately, however, which cuts down on the likelihood of people using the service to score extra tickets for resale on the secondary market.
 
In fact, the hottest concerts on the books may never see Invite activated, but “the reality is so few shows really sell out in the first few hours,” Andrus said.
 
Axs is rolling out Invite for upcoming shows including Cirque du Soleil: Dralion and Harlem Globetrotters at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif.; Jackie Evancho at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie, Texas; and Cirque du Soleil: Quidam and Nuclear Cowboyz at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.
 
The company also noted it plans to launch Axs Ticketing at Target Center in Minneapolis in coming weeks and at the O2 in London and Staples Center in Los Angeles early next year. Additional ticket products may also be in the works.
 
“The perception from our standpoint is that this is just the first in a very long line of features that are very venue and customer friendly,” Andrus said.