GOLDEN VILLAGE

Established in 1992, Golden Village is a collaboration between Hong Kong's Golden Harvest Group and Australia's Village Roadshow Limited. Adopting a virtual storefront b2c ecommerce business model, the Golden Village website was set up to serve as a conduit not only to expand the company’s reach but also cater to the modern net savvy consumers. With a merchant click-and-mortar model, GV.com grants consumers the ability to browse the latest international blockbusters and purchase tickets direct whenever they desire.





Throughout this in-depth analysis of Golden Village’s website, I will also be making references to those managed by its major competitors Shaw, Cathay and the Eng Wah Organization. Each of these 4 major players in Singapore cinema had long obtained a web presence and dutifully utilized it to achieve their full potential.

Thus in this analysis, we shall start off with a general overview of the Golden Village website and how it measures up with its competitiors. As this site was made with the consumer in mind, we shall take into account not only its features available, but also its ease of use, web architecture and aesthetics. Then we shall venture into the more pressing issues of security, payment, strengths, weaknesses, and conclude with an evaluation and assessment of its growth potential.

Features

Golden Village’s B2C website allows consumers access to a vault of resource concerning the cinematic world, brimming with the up-to-date movie releases not only from the mainstream channel, but even independent productions and art festival favorites.

GV.com provides a whole range of services besides ticketing. Visitors are able to purchase movie vouchers, gift cards, and know about the latest promotions being offered. Golden Village also has frequent collaborations with both local and international organisations, which in recent years include The Metropolitan Opera, Australia’s Licks 5D Productions , and SAFRA.





Consumers are able to purchase their tickets via the website, eliminating the hassle of needing to join the snaking queue that is always a fixture, especially during weekends. From the homepage, individuals can either choose to browse by movies or go straight to their preferred cinema location for its complete listing of shows available.


Design

GV.com’s ease of use is apparent from the onset. The design is intuitive, adhering to the web design mantra of ease of use and simplicity. From the homepage individuals are able to directly access virtually all aspects of the site, staying well within the Three-Click Rule of web design.

As opposed to Eng Wah and Cathay’s websites, GV’s ticketing interface is well thought out. It allows consumers to view not only the seats available, but a summary the total cost including any additional expenses incurred as well as promotions offered.


Aesthetics

Aesthetically it is also the best among the 4 websites. Golden Village’s corporate colours are well blended into the website, with a smart use of tones to differentiate between the various options. Feature films from Cinema Europa and GvMax are coloured differently to allow instantly identification.

The website is brimming with easily accessible information, yet it never seems overly cluttered or overwhelming even to a first-time user.

The contrast of distinctive colours gives the site a clean look which facilitates the ease of use. It has an edge over its competitors in this aspect. Eng Wah’s site has its promotion cluttering the homepage while Shaw’s does not even have a movie listing available upon entering the site.



Patrons come first

This is where the Golden Village shines compared to the others. E-commerce websites are all too common, and is an absolute staple in any company’s marketing. Thus GV has distinguished itself with its attention to details and a chance for users to customize their online experience through membership. In addition, registration also provides GV with valuable consumer information with which they can better understand consumer buying habits.


Customization and Benefits Online

GV.com offers a free membership that can be completed with just a short registration process. Membership, along with an adorable popcorn shaped membership card, offers exclusive perks like discounts on movie tickets and various snacks bought from the box office.





The website also offers members a degree of customization like being able to mark certain cinemas as your “favourite”, allowing the website to prioritize which movie timeslots to list for each member. Members are also entitled to a list of privileges like birthday specials, lucky draws and possible invites to premiere galas. In addition, a free SMS confirmation service for all bookings is also open to members.





Consumers will also be offered the chance to purchase snack combos online along with their tickets. Customers who purchase tickets for GV Gold Class with be offered a combo of chardonnay with 24k gold flakes and cheese platter while others will have the regular popcorn combo available.


Payment

Payment on Golden Village’s site can be done through Visa, HSBC’s privilege prepaid card or eNETS. However payment on all the other 3 websites accepts not only Visa, but MasterCard and American Express card as well.


Security

As technology flourishes, so will the number of hackers and fraudsters who will stop at nothing to undermine established ecommerce sites and attempt to steal from not only the big conglomerates, but the little people as well. Thus security is of utmost importance in this day and age, as major companies install safeguards to avoid fraudsters, scammers and phishers.

Golden Village has in place an array of security measures enforced just to protect its users. These technical safeguards include not only firewalls, but Secure Socket Layers and encryption as well.

Although Golden Village recognise that perfect security does not exist, it does not shirk from the responsibility of protecting it's customers and goes the extra mile to prevent and security breaches and actively seeks feedback from both staff and customers for suggestions to improve the site.

In terms of security, GV.com has on its payment page noted that it had been awarded the TrustSG seal, and has on it the TrustAsia VeriSign and Consumer Trust seals as well. These certifications will do well to reinforce a sense of confidence and peace of mind to consumers when they purchase tickets online.


Strengths

- Reliable website powered by Cxrus Solutions, whose clients include Canon Asia, Canon Singapore and NewMan Magazine

- Excellent design interface facilitates ease of use

- Good web architecture staying within the Three-Click Rule

- Free Membership service allowing customization of preferences

- Only local cinema website allowing payment by eNETS

- Appeals to a wider audience by having promotions like $6 student tickets and loyalty programs like the Senior Citizen Movie Card

- Detailed but not overly cluttered homepage

- Outstanding ticketing interface specifying summation of costs

- Speedy loading due to the lack of flash advertisements


Weaknesses

- Unlike Shaw, Eng Wah and Cathay, GV does not allow for payment via American Express or MasterCard

- Less savvy than Shaw, which uses an RSS feed to update consumers on the latest show times, promotions and movie information

- Promotions take a backseat as homepage is focused mainly on current movies available

- Less dynamic due to the lack of attention grabbing Flash advertisements

- Eng Wah’s $6 movie ticket offer extends to not just students, but the general public as well

Door to the next frontier!

After a careful evaluation of the 4 websites managed by each of the major players in the local movie industry, it can be said that Golden Village website comes out tops by comparison. It's ease of use, intuitive design, excellent web architecture and aesthetics means that it stands out and is well on its way to fulfilling its online potential.

Perhaps Golden Village can go the way of the airliners and issue etickets as well. Customers will then be able to book and print their own tickets direct, saving them the trouble of having to queue for collection at the box office.

Alternatively, GV could use SMS notices to replace the physical ticket completely. The company can create special codes or uniquely coded passwords that can be identified by the ticket check directly at the door. That would streamline the process and fully integrate existing technology with the services provided for complete synergy.

Thus the online medium has in-store a whole world of unexplored possbilities and growth just waiting to happen. It's only a matter of time before Golden Village or its competitors reach that frontier.