WangPiao to Use Funding to Make Buying Cinema Tickets More Social

Wang Piao – meaning “web tickets” – is a Chinese net company that sells cinema ticket deals in 23 cities. It will soon complete a second round of funding – at an as yet undisclosed amount – that will enable it to integrate new location-based services (LBS) into its mobile apps for iPhone and Android. Last year the site raised 30 million RMB (US$47 mil). As well as being a specialist e-commerce platform, Wang Piao also allows users to post movie reviews.

Talking to DoNews, Wang Piao CEO Jiang Chun-yang (pictured below) explains that the VC financing will allow him to add more of a social element to the site, as well as to make it into a “one-stop service for movie-goers.” i.e.: to allow users to research movie titles, check venues and prices, get deals and buy tickets, check-in, and then write a review of the film as well. It might venture into a broader deals on dinners and other leisure items.

On Wang Piao, there are six key tools, as represented by the horizontal tabs. Look, for example, at the page for the Nicolas Cage movie Drive Angry 3D, which I’m sure will be mind-numbingly awful absolutely amazing. Those tabs give local cinema times and prices, user reviews, web reviews, the movie trailer, promo photos, and some related films that might be of interest.

Wangpiao.com CEO Jiang Chun-yang. (Image source: DoNews)

Wang Piao has been around since 2004, but only really gained traction in 2007, when more cinemas sprang up around China, and people decided to spend more on leisure activities. The turning point coincided with – or was inspired by? – the original Transformers movie, which saw Wang Piao’s sales go from 2,000 per month, to more than 2,000 per day. It was an early experiment in what became the daily deals industry – dominated in China now by QQ Tuan, Taobao Ju, Meituan, and Lashou – and so necessitated some arm-twisting to get cinemas to give Wang Piao a chance.

The company has expanded how movie tickets can be bought and redeemed recently. And, of course, it’s all going towards mobile. In the past, Wang Piao required bookings to be done on the main website on a PC, and the ticket had to be printed out. Now, it can all be done in the mobile apps, with either a scannable barcode or a codenumber sent by SMS being used to claim the paper tickets when at the venue.

Jiang Chun-yang claims his site now has one million registered users, and – for the moment – is mostly growing by word-of-mouth. Recent promos have taken some movie ticket prices as low as 9.9 RMB ($1.55), though new 3D movies such as Drive Angry 3D cost about 90 RMB.

Since last November, Wang Piao has partnered-up with the fashion e-commerce site Vancl – whom we heard, just two days ago, might be prepping for a US IPO – so that movie tickets can be gifted to friends.

Group buy site Dianping.com is already pioneering where Wang Piao looks to be heading by incorporating LBS functions into its deals to make the whole experience more social. As a bonus, check-ins also serve as free marketing, telling your friends what deal you’re now enjoying, and giving them pointers. Dianping has been pushing into movie ticket deals this year, meaning that Wang Piao has strong competition already.

You can check out Wangpiao.com, and its mobile apps are here.

[Source: DoNews – article in Chinese]