PENNY, Europe's largest ticketing company CTS Eventim and Europe's leading prepaid and payment provider epay have announced their collaboration on a new type of ticketing solution for the point of sale. This co-operation brings together for the first time representatives from three key German industries, the event industry, the retail sector and the financial services sector. Together, they want to create sustainable growth momentum after the coronavirus crisis with an innovative and scalable value-added solution for event tickets.

PENNY is the first German discounter to offer the ticket solution. Customers can now take advantage of the first offer from the new cooperation and purchase exclusive, discounted family tickets for the upcoming Holiday on Ice tour in their usual PENNY store. The discounter is expanding its range with a new attractive service and can thus address new customer groups. As an event partner, CTS Eventim provides access to numerous popular cultural, music and sporting events. With this co-operation, the service provider is expanding its ticket sales network to include a large number of highly frequented sales locations. Full-service payment provider epay is the technical partner and payment service provider within the cooperation. The payment institution provides the digital solution and its payment infrastructure, which is used for the technical processing of the ticket solution.

Consumers can choose their event, book their seat and print out their receipt directly at the Servicepoint machine in the PENNY store. With this receipt, they can pay for the ticket together with the rest of their purchase at the checkout using their preferred payment method.

The cash register is directly connected to epay's technical infrastructure via a cash register interface. The payment service provider at PENNY has been using this interface to activate its prepaid and voucher products for many years. This same infrastructure is now being used to process the ticket solution.

The solution also offers an online version: customers can also book and pay for a ticket in the PENNY webshop, the PENNY Kartenwelt and now also in the PENNY Ticket Shop.

There are plans to expand PENNY's offering to include more tickets for events and to integrate other retailers and event organisers into the solution. The aim is to revitalise the event industry, which has been severely impacted by coronavirus, by networking with the retail sector.

"We believe in the potential of the new ticketing solution. It is a very attractive addition to the range of versatile event tickets for our customers. And with this innovation, we can rely on an existing and reliable payment infrastructure in our stores as well as in our webshop from our long-standing partner epay. We are pleased to be able to offer our customers a unique ticket offer for Holiday on Ice at the start and many more exciting event tickets from the regular CTS Eventim range in the future," said Vincenzo Castaldo, Senior Category Buyer, REWE Group Buying GmbH.

Marcus Haus, Head of Marketing at PENNY, added: "For years, we have been making a name for ourselves among our customers with additional services that make everyday life easier and shopping more attractive. These range from temporary offers such as organ donor cards or immunisation campaigns to permanent offers such as the wide range of value-added cards or the option to withdraw cash at the checkout. Now our customers can also conveniently buy their next concert ticket from us. PENNY has proven to be a reliable and strong partner over the years, especially with regard to renowned festivals such as Parookaville. In this respect, this commitment now fits perfectly and is logical. We have many festival fans among our customers who are also PENNY festival fans."

"We are delighted to have gained further opportunities to reach our customers with our new partner PENNY. This cooperation will enable us to tap into new target groups for a selected range of products. At the same time, the collaboration with PENNY will make it even easier for fans to access unforgettable live experiences," said Karsten Elbrecht, Vice President Sales at CTS Eventim.