Retail technology innovation of the week: Parklife Festival stays ahead of the game with Boxbar Tech tie up

Retail Technology Innovation of the Week is a series brought to you by RTIH and sponsored by 3D Cloud, highlighting stand out deployments, launches, and initiatives by retailers and tech suppliers.

Every week, we will showcase forward thinking tech plays that have impressed our Editor and the Retail Technology Innovations Report judging panel, alongside the publication of the 2024 report.

So far, we’ve flagged up sterling work being done by Ocado Retail, Decathlon, Lacoste, Downtown Spirits, TalkShopLive, Huck’s, Rovertown, Wing, Nobody’s Child, IKI, Pixevia, Walmart, A.L.C., Archive, Therabody, Outform, Kingfisher, PMC, Boots UK, Ocula Technologies, Grace O'Malley Irish Whiskey, Metacask, Ikea, Carrefour Belgium, Matalan, and McDonald’s.

And this week we’re focusing on Boxbar Tech and Parklife Festival, who have announced the results of a recent partnership.

This followed on from a Boxbar installation at The Warehouse Project events series in the autumn and winter of 2023.

Parklife Festival is one of the UK’s leading music festivals.

Organised and promoter by The Warehouse Project and Live Nation, the Manchester festival started life in Platt Fields Park, before moving to Heaton Park in north Manchester where it has become the largest metropolitan festival in the UK.

The 2024 edition saw the likes of Doja Cat, Disclosure, Becky Hill and Kaytranada perform across the weekend of 8th and 9th June.

Boxbar's deployment at the event made Parklife the first music festival in the world to dispense a complete drinks menu utilising automated self-service technology.

35 Boxbar terminals were deployed across two locations, serving ten different products including beers, ciders, spirits and mixers, Prosecco and the world’s first self-service Aperol Spritz cocktail bar.

For payments, Boxbar integrated with Global Payments’ WBO PoS back office and card terminals.

It says that it increased bar service speeds by up to 258% faster, and adds that efficiencies reduce bar infrastructure, staffing and overhead costs. As a result, Parklife’s partnership with Boxbar generated a 145% return on investment.

"With Boxbar, we feel like we’re ahead of the game," says Dan Pirie, Head of Bars at Parklife. "We were keen to be the first festival to take the leap into replacing a high volume bar with self-serve terminals.”

“The bar looked fantastic and it really feels like we have moved into the future with this installation. The queue was moving rapidly and the entire flow of the operation felt very smooth. There is real potential to significantly increase transaction speeds and make cost savings with Boxbar." 

Andrew Thubron, Boxbar COO and Co-founder, says: “To gain the trust of such a heavyweight of the UK circuit fills us with great pride. It’s no secret that we’re in a very challenging time for festivals, but the opportunity automated, self-service drinks technology offers for operators to reduce costs and become more profitable is genuinely game changing.”

“It put a big smile on our faces to see the Boxbar effect on such a large scale at Parklife. Faster service, less queues, happy fans and the end of flat, warm drinks at festivals.”

2024 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Self-service tech and automation are key focus areas for the sixth edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards, which is now open for entries.

The awards, sponsored by CADS, 3D Cloud, and Retail Technology Show 2025, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Key 2024 dates

Friday, 25th October: Award entry deadline 

Tuesday, 29th October: 2024 shortlist revealed

30th October-6th November: Judging days

Thursday, 21st November: Winners announced at the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards ceremony, to be held at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London.