Another day, another new business vertical Amazon is aiming to disrupt.
The Seattle tech giant is looking to partner with U.S. arena owners as a way to sell event tickets, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The move would put Amazon in direct competition with Ticketmaster, the industry giant that controls much of the ticketing market in the U.S.
Amazon already launched a ticketing service called Amazon Tickets in the U.K. two years ago and now it appears that business may be gearing up for more growth. Amazon has several job postings for Amazon Tickets which note “rapid expansion.”
“If you love seeing live shows, and are interested in creating the industry’s best ticket purchasing experience, then join us, and help bring better live entertainment to the world,” one job posting reads.
Reuters noted that Amazon once considered partnering with Ticketmaster, which was acquired by Live Nation for $2.5 billion in 2009, but discussions have “stalled over who would control customer data.” Amazon is also exploring a potential secondary ticket market service that would compete with StubHub or SeatGeek, Reuters reported.
It would take a lot for Amazon to loosen Ticketmaster’s grip on the ticketing industry, but there is certainly opportunity if the company can address customer pain points like Ticketmaster’s fees and convince arena operators or league owners that it can provide a better service.
With its technical expertise, customer base, Prime membership program, and willingness to experiment, it seems no industry is safe from Amazon. In just the past few months, reports of Amazon getting into real estate, meal kit delivery, and other verticals have sent shares of companies like Zillow and Blue Apron down. Its pending $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods caused investors of incumbent grocers like Kroger and Walmart to worry as well.
