Online ticket booking service provider BookMyShow is looking at expanding its reach to Tier-II and Tier-III cities in south India, as part of its efforts to increase its offers to more theatres.

The company is also in talks with multiplex majors to bring in exclusive food and beverages (F&B) offerings for its customers, to increase bookings through the site.

When BookMyShow started the online ticket booking business, the choice was to tie up with big multiplexes and theatre chains to expand the market. The multiplex presence then was in the top 20 cities. With the company addressing this market, it is looking at expanding to Tier-II cities, said Ashish Saksena, Chief Operating Officer, Cinemas, BookMyShow.

“Given that movies are now released simultaneously across the country, and regional movies are also getting importance by drawing viewers in various parts of the country, we are looking at expanding our presence to Tier-II cities and beyond,” Saksena said.

The focus is especially on south India, and the company has improved its presence in Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru to address the service issues, he added.

The company, which has over 4,000 screens in its inventory, is looking at increasing the number to 7,000 by expanding its presence in Tier-II and Tier-III markets.

As of August this year, the company offers booking services in around 1,200 screens in south India.

It has added around 1,100 screens in the last one year, of which 600 were from south India. Of this, around 400 in the region were single screens, Saksena said.

The company has started offering an option to its users to pre-order their F&B offerings while booking movie tickets and this, as a value addition, has gained traction in the last six to eight months. It is also in talks with a few multiplex firms to introduce exclusive menu for those who are booking tickets through BookMyShow.

It currently offers the F&B feature in 370 cinemas across the country, and the company is expecting this number to grow by over 60 per cent in the next few months.

Around 70 per cent of the F&B transactions on BookMyShow are made through the app.

“In the last one year till August 2016, the number of users availing of F&B services through BookMyShow has grown 10 times,” Saksena added.

Source: Business Standard

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