Case Study: eGalaxy Starter Pack | Oakland Zoo

eGalaxy Starter Pack | Oakland Zoo, California

THE CUSTOMER
Welcoming nearly 750,000 guests annually, Oakland Zoo is home to more than 660 native and exotic animals. Currently they are undergoing a transformational project, The California Trail, that more than doubles their size. Opening in 2018, it will further their commitment to animal care, education and conversation. To prepare, Oakland Zoo is enhancing its technological efforts today to further improve the guest experience tomorrow.

CHALLENGE
With society’s growing dependency on smartphones, Oakland Zoo knew they had to adapt. “Zoos and aquariums oftentimes tend to lag behind technology-wise,” says Nik Dehejia, Oakland Zoo’s Chief Financial Officer. Expanding on a robust website, Oakland Zoo developed a mobile app to enhance the guest experience. “Guests can now seamlessly purchase admission and parking permits, increasing their time to enjoy the Zoo and animal exhibits.”

THEIR SOLUTION
Oakland Zoo had previously investigated having a web store. “The barrier to entry five years ago was too high and required a significant investment in resources,” says Dehejia. He reached out to the Zoo’s ticketing point-of-sale software provider for the past 10 years, Gateway Ticketing Systems. It just so happened that Gateway had recently introduced its eGalaxy™ Starter Pack, an affordable turnkey web store solution for selling general admission tickets online. With a minimal initial investment and low per-transaction fee, the eGalaxy Starter Pack enables venues with seasonal sales or limited capital resources to offer their guests the convenience of online sales.

THEIR BUSINESS BENEFITS
“We didn’t have any barcode scanners to ensure the tickets were valid so we purchased the nicer 2D ones,” says Dehejia. “But even with the purchase of those and the starter pack, we made back our investment in the first month of selling online. Without a doubt, it’s been a great investment.” “Working with Gateway is a real pleasure. Everything was seamless from start to finish. Most importantly, whenever I needed assistance, they answered all of my questions and met our aggressive timeline to get our web store up and running,” Dehejia says.

WHY eGALAXY STARTER PACK?
“Within the first four months we had $60,000 in online ticket sales – this surpassed my expectations of what we could achieve.” – Nik Dehejia, Chief Financial Officer | Oakland Zoo, California