Online ticketing service Eventbrite is to enable Facebook users in Ireland to buy tickets directly through the social media site for the first time.
A number of Dublin nightclubs, including District 8 on Francis Street and The Wright Venue in Swords, have signed up to the service, which allows users to purchase event tickets without need to leave the Facebook site or mobile app.
According to Eventbrite, which first teamed up with Facebook to provide its service directly through the site in the US last year, consumers are considerably less likely to abandon purchase orders if they can buy tickets without being redirected to a separate ticketing page.
"Integration has been incredibly successful so far and I think that is because we are going where the customers are. Typically. in the markets in which we've launched the service, Facebook users are twice as likely to buy tickets where they can do it directly compared to being dragged away from the platform," said EventBrite's head of marketing for Ireland and the UK, Marino Fresch.
In addition to the US, the integrated ticketing service is also available to Facebook users in Canada, the UK, Germany and Austria. Eventbrite, which employs 20 people in Ireland, plans to introduce it to the Netherland and Spain in the coming weeks.
"Ireland is one of our most important markets in terms of growth globally and I think that speaks to the fact that Irish people are inherently social and events are an important part of the culture," said Mr Fresch.
More than 100,000 event organisers have used EventBrite in Ireland since it launched here in 2014 generating tens of millions of euros in sale. That is a phenomenal figure given the size of the country,” he added.
