Woodside Wildlife Park

Find out how Vennersys helped Woodside Wildlife modernise their EPoS and admissions systems to help sell tickets to a wider audience online.

By adopting the VenposCloud system, Woodside Wildlife have been able to implement online ticketing, membership management, data reporting, and more to maximise efficiency site-wide!

Woodside Wildlife

Nestled in the Lincolnshire countryside, Woodside Wildlife is a family-run zoological park with education and conservation at its heart. Opening its doors to the public in April 2001, then named Woodside Falconry and Conservation Centre, the park has grown substantially in the two decades since.

Steadily adding various species to its collection, including reptiles, large predators, and more, Woodside Wildlife offer a large variety of VIP animal experiences, encounters, and learning opportunities designed for adults and children alike. They have more than 200 animals from more than 70 species, many of which are part of their extensive conservation efforts that are managed by international breeding programmes!

What Were The Challenges?

Prior to their partnership with Vennersys, Woodside Wildlife operated using an antiquated and old-fashioned till system, which was unable to even connect to the internet. It also prevented the wildlife park from providing any kind of membership system due to the complications of doing so without compatible hardware.

Woodside Wildlife also had no way to sell online admissions tickets or pre-book animal experiences, meaning that it was first-come, first-serve. This meant that some customers would often end up waiting for long periods of time in entry queues to purchase tickets or were disappointed because some events had filled up before they could get in.

Plus, the till systems and ticket numbers needed to be updated manually, as did any data reports needed for financial or performance analysis. This was incredibly time-consuming for the small management team who were then unable to focus on the smooth running of their attraction instead.

How did we help?

The Woodside Wildlife team were eager to evolve as a business, and to do so they understood that they needed a modern attraction management and EPoS solution. Not only did the VenposCloud system provide the park with everything they needed, but the Vennersys team were also transparent and communicative throughout the tender process which also contributed to the decision.

We set up the VenposCloud system during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic which helped Woodside navigate the tough financial climate of lockdown. We installed three till systems across the site and set up online ticketing functionalities. This allowed for the prepurchase of admission tickets via their website, where we also listed the opportunity for guests to purchase or gift membership cards and VIP animal experiences.

To optimise the efficiency of these online tickets, we rolled out our innovative admissions system at the entry gates. This means that visitors can scan themselves in without the need of a member of staff manning a till, reducing admin time on behalf of the staff, and waiting times for guests in the queue. Additionally, our technology can automatically identify different ticket types and event passes, helping Woodside Wildlife store visitor and ticket data.

Furthermore, our system helps Woodside Wildlife collect, and then report on, various kinds of demographic and sales data to help inform their business decisions. This can help them figure out which events were most popular amongst their visitors and whether to do a re-run in the future, which retail or food items are selling, and where to allocate staff during their busiest periods. Lastly, our support team has been on hand to help Woodside Wildlife with any questions regarding the system or new features ever since we started working together. We have maintained a constant dialogue with the family at the helm of the business ever since the genesis of our partnership, and we are proud to have been able to help them achieve record-breaking success as a result of our work.

A Word From Woodside Wildlife:

“Vennersys have been a fantastic partner to work with over the last three years and I look forward to seeing where our work will take us in the future. The initial set-up took place right in the middle of the first Covid-19 lockdown, and things were understandably shaky at first, but they have been an absolutely crucial part of our growth and success ever since.

Both companies have grown side-by-side which has worked really well for our usage of the VenposCloud system. As we’ve demanded more from the VenposCloud system, Vennersys have been there to provide it, which has led to us experiencing back-to-back record-breaking years in terms of revenue and visitor numbers.

Vennersys have provided our guests with a massively improved user experience throughout their visits to Woodside Wildlife, and they have made it significantly easier for visitors to book ahead of time. What’s even better is that they are constantly working to streamline their existing systems and develop new functionalities to provide the best service possible to us and their other clients.

However, by far the best aspect of their service is their support and communication. They have been diligent, patient, and understanding with every phone call or message we’ve directed their way. They’ve massively helped a not-so-tech-savvy family get the best out of an electronic system we would otherwise really struggle with. Any problems or questions we’ve had over the years have been dealt with swiftly and without any judgement, and our account manager, Joe, has been amazing at keeping us in the loop with upcoming changes or additional ways to help us.

We are thankful for their help so far, but look forward to seeing where else this partnership could end up going.”

Charlotte Mumby, at Woodside Wildlife