Case Studies

Background
In 2005, Costco Wholesale Corporation, an international chain of membership warehouses based in Issaquah, Washington, wanted to offer their members discount tickets to live entertainment and sporting events.  Costco had been selling some event tickets in their warehouse stores, but this manual approach was both labor intensive and limiting.  They wanted an online solution to manage available inventory and let members buy tickets quickly and be able to see where their seats were located, all of which were not possible with the existing in-warehouse program.

Costco selected Shubert Ticketing for our technological experience, high customer service standards, and flexible online ticketing platform.  Shubert Ticketing was also uniquely able to meet Costco’s goals of maintaining their corporate branding, controlling access for legitimate Costco members, and selling ticket inventory controlled by multiple ticketing companies.

Results
Utilizing its existing Telecharge.com online ticketing platform, Shubert Ticketing was able to build a custom-branded Costco ticketing site, allowing members to access discounted tickets to events across the country.  Within 45 days of the initial contract, Costco was able to sell tickets quickly and securely online.

When a customer logs in to the site, Shubert Ticketing’s software verifies member status directly with the Costco membership database, before allowing a member to purchase tickets from one of Costco’s inventory sources.

When a transaction is performed, no matter what the ticketing system, Shubert Ticketing sends that transaction data back to Costco.  This allows Costco to sell virtually any event, including theatre, NBA, MLB, NASCAR, and allotments from events in venues using other ticketing companies, while maintaining information on what their members are purchasing.  Shubert Ticketing also provides customer support on behalf of Costco through a specially designated phone number, where members can receive the high level of service they have come to expect from Costco.

"Shubert Ticketing has created a streamlined approach to online ticketing that is easy to use and infinitely flexible," says Gayle MacDonnell-Brask, Costco’s Business Manager of Event Ticket Services.  "They have removed the boundaries that prevented us from growing this service in a meaningful way, and we see a big future for this extremely successful program."


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Shubert Ticketing has created a streamlined approach to online ticketing that is easy to use and infinitely flexible.
- Gayle MacDonnell-Brask, Costco