Embed eyes Europe market expansion at IAAPA Expo Europe 2024
By News Release | September 17, 2024
DUBAU, U.A.E. — Embed, the world’s FEC tech partner of choice for the amusement, entertainment, and leisure industries gears up to showcase its business solutions at IAAPA Expo Europe in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from 24 to 26 September 2024.
After decades of being a family-owned company with deep roots in the family entertainment business, Embed sets its sights on driving the transformation of Europe FECs to cashless/contactless to enable, empower, and ease the business of fun in the region. Market research sets the Europe family entertainment market share at US$1.82 billion, with a projected CAGR of 7.4% by the end of 2031.
“Some of the key trends we see in the market are increasing demand for interactive and personalised experiences through mobile apps and digital platforms, a drive for the adoption of eco-friendly practices, and effective digital marketing as a vital growth driver to boost guest numbers,” shares Sara Paz, CMO and Growth Officer at Embed. “These dynamics are shaping the European region and are the reasons why we’ll be demonstrating the power of our Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions at the show.”
Proving that words are only as powerful as the follow-through actions behind them, Embed recently announced a new Sales Account Manager who will be dedicated to the European market and serving the needs of existing Embed customers and prospects alike.
This commitment to customer-centricity is why Embed is constantly developing solutions powered by the world’s best tech players like Apple, Google, and Amazon Web Services – to transform the business of fun.
“Since its launch in 2019, our award-winning Mobile Wallet is still the only Apple and Google-certified FEC solution. This virtual game card is a response to the growing demand from consumers for more personalised and contactless (mobile payments) means of transacting with businesses,” explains Paz. “Embed’s Mobile Wallet 2022-2023 metric results are crystal clear: a whopping 5x increase in average reload value ($50.57) compared to cash ($9.90) and credit card ($31.95), with 60% of reloads happening before guests even arrive at the FEC! This isn’t a game changer, it’s a life changer!”
Likewise, as operators seek higher profitability from reloads and return visits, and more business visibility, Embed’s STATS business intelligence dashboard (powered by Amazon Web Services) enables them to use their games and guest data to design (future-forecasting) better experiences, value, and promotional offers and communicate these more effectively through digital marketing. “This way, guests can play more with every visit and enjoy the best value while operators can take a step back and enjoy transformational business growth with real-time visibility to their FEC data like game performance, revenue prediction based on retro data, inventory, and even manpower allocation.
As a result, Embed is attracting the biggest FECs in the market. The Veltmeijer Group, who has been with Embed for over 11 years to date, has over 49 sites inclusive of Gamestate, Gamecity, and GameTown locations on the Embed system, composed of kiosks, game card readers, game cards, POS, and prize redemption.
Embed drives strategic growth for customers like the Veltmeijer Group – enabling its expansion to the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and the Czech Republic with the partnership. With its tech innovation and partnership, Embed is also the trusted tech partner of choice of other leading Europe FECs: Elite Experience in Austria, Planet Arcade in Germany, Sir Winston in The Netherlands, and Loft Berlin each have an Embed cashless solution comprised of card readers and KIOSK+.
Even with the best of FEC tech, Embed layers more value for its customers: “We know it’s not enough to offer the best cashless business solution and then watch operators get straddled with third-party costs that absorb their revenue, so we need to layer value in all areas of their revenue ecosystem” explains Paz.
Seeing the uptick in cashless payments in different regions, including Europe, Embed is layering more value to the transformational growth its solutions drive, raising awareness of losing revenue from paying published rates instead of effective rates to payment processing providers.
“We are offering FREE rate analysis/consultations at the show to help operators cut their losses and see the savings they can get from simply switching to another payment gateway provider. This is the Embed difference: This means thinking twice about their current providers and challenging operators to seek reliability even when their internet connectivity is down and they need to continue their business operations with manual transaction processing, strong security, pricing transparency, better rates, and pricing know-how.”
To accelerate the region’s cashless transformation, Embed is also bringing the best of FEC tech to expand its footprint in Europe – such as smartTOUCH+, KIOSK+, and a full range of game cards and Wearables – and to contribute to Europe market’s rapid growth with its distributors like Bandai Namco UK, FARO Games, and BALO Turkey.