AO Arena frictionless bar raise the ‘bar’



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AiFi opens new store at AO Arena Image: AiFi (LinkedIn)

The AO Arena in Manchester, England (UK) has launched its first-ever frictionless bar which is completely self-service and includes a contactless payment system.

‘Retail Systems’ stated that Natasha Skelton, Senior Sales Manager at the 21,000-capacity indoor arena announced the launch recently in a LinkedIn Post describing the new bar as “a game changer for the customer experience”.

The Manchester Arena (currently known as the AO Arena for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena in Manchester, England (UK) immediately North of the City Centre and partly above the Manchester Victoria Station in air rights space. Prior to the opening of the 23,500-capacity Co-op Live the arena had the highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the United Kingdom and is the third-largest in Europe with a capacity of 21,000.

‘Retail Systems’ further stated that the bar which features a variety of food and drink options aims to increase the efficiency and speed in a high-traffic environment by enabling the customers to explore and select their preferred drinks at their own pace. The contactless payment systems also aim to reduce crowd and congestion.

Stated Skelton, “It drastically reduced the wait times allowing for smoother services and more time for customers to enjoy performances and less time queuing.”

Skelton added that the implementation led to “happier customers all around with higher satisfaction”.

The frictionless bar is powered by the spatial intelligence and autonomous solutions specialist AiFi who recently announced the expansion of its frictionless checkout services in 20 sports stadiums.

Burlingame (US)-based AiFi is the leading artificial intelligence (AI) provider of camera-led spatial intelligence solutions that creates a 3D real-time digital twin enabling business worldwide to track people and objects through space and provides advanced insights that drive profitability through real-time alerts to improve operations and security, labeled video evidence and powerful application programming interfaces (APIs). The AiFi’s spatial intelligence platform allows businesses across multiple verticals including retail, airports, facilities, sports and entertainment venues, and universities to fully understand their physical space and increase profitability.

Several venues in the United Kingdom have rolled out self-service solutions for the customers in recent years including the Premier League team – the Leicester City Football Club whose home venue – the 32,261-capacity King Power Stadium in Leicester, England – became the first European venue to introduce a frictionless AI- powered kiosk for self-service purchases in August 2022.

In June last year, the 20,000-capacity The O2 Arena in London also launched self-serve bars powered by the Just Walk Out Technology eliminating traditional checkouts by enabling the guests to tap in with a contactless payment, order their drinks and snacks.

The Just Walk Out Technology (JWO) enables the shoppers to simply enter a store, take what they want and just leave enabling a seamless shopping experience.

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