“Despite inflation, we have made the strong choice not to increase our prices to support the industry.”
On 25 August 2022, Pierre-Henri Deballon, CEO of Weezevent, was interviewed on the French TV channel, specialised in business, BFM Business.
In this interview, he talks about Weezevent’s work at Rock-en-Seine festival, which closed a record-breaking 2022 summer season. Weezevent’s access control and cashless solutions have been implemented at this event since 2016. In terms of cashless, Weezevent also equips Europe’s largest festivals such as Boomtown in the UK, Festival Internacional de Benicàssim in Spain, Paléo Festival in Switzerland, Boom Festival in Portugal, Dour in Belgium and Frequency in Germany.
This international expansion was supported by the acquisition of PlayPass, Weezevent’s Belgian competitor. Since this merger, Pierre-Henri announces a strong increase in Weezevent’s international activity, going from 20% to 50% of Weezevent’s global activity.
Pierre-Henri then offers his analysis of the Covid-19 crisis, the current socio-economic news and its impact on Weezevent. With a healthy financial situation and a strong culture of profitability, the company was able to continue its activity in a year of total standstill for the events sector. Weezevent thus announces a positive annual balance sheet, where some of its competitors are experiencing serious difficulties.
Resolutely optimistic about the outcome of the situation, the challenge of 2021 was to prepare for a significant major recovery of the events sector, in order to be able to support a large number of organisers and help them win back their audiences in 2022. With events lasting longer, larger audiences, and high attendance rates, Weezevent notes that the desire for a return to events and partying was very real. An observation is nevertheless made on the impact of the drop in purchasing power, leading to a change in customer habits with a greater share of last minute ticket purchases than before.
Finally, the sincere dedication of the entire Weezevent team has made it possible to deal with supply difficulties, the inflation affecting the organisers, and the significant staff turnover that the crisis has engendered. In spite of this, in order to continue to support the event industry, Weezevent has chosen not to increase its prices in Europe, despite higher production costs.
To find out more, view the full interview below (in French):
