Internet payments speed up the lines at Mariners souvenir shops

With a new web-connected point of sale system at its souvenir stands in Safeco Field, the Seattle Mariners can serve more fans during peak periods before the game and between innings, the baseball club says. "We get 60% of our merchandise business just before the game, but by the first pitch, people want to be in their seats," Jim La Shell, senior director of retail operations for the Mariners, tells InternetRetailer.com.

The Mariners organization has deployed POS software from CRS Retail Systems Inc. at six mall stores in Washington State as well as at Safeco Field, where it handles 3,000 to 5,000 retail transactions per game. Safeco Field contains the flagship Mariners Team Store, which has 10 checkout registers, plus several retail souvenir stands throughout the ball park.

With baseball fans often cramming retail purchases in shorter periods between innings or just before or after a game, the Mariners deployed the CRS system to serve customers as quickly as possible, La Shell says.

“The main thing is to move people through the line as fast as possible,” he says. “It used to take 10-12 seconds for a credit card authorization, but now it takes about 2 seconds. By cutting the credit card authorization time and speeding up lines, we`ll get more sales."