How Epos Now Helped Universal Studios Take Over Waterloo

Universal Studios had something special planned for the commuters at London Waterloo Station to promote the launch of the new blockbuster film Jurassic World. For the first time ever, the entire station was completely transformed into the legendary Jurassic theme park. Rail passengers were transported into the world of Jurassic World during a two-week, fully immersive takeover of the station.

Jurassic World had a record-breaking opening weekend, bringing in $208.8 million, and to support this success, Universal Studios planned to set up a pop-up shop selling Jurassic Park and World merchandise to film fans.

The Challenge 

When choosing their EPOS system they wanted the best-in-class. It was crucial that it was easy for all of their temporary staff members to learn and essential that the system was able to keep an accurate track of merchandise sales and stock levels, as well as taking quick card payments in a busy environment.

Waterloo is Britain's busiest railway station by passenger usage, with 350,000 people travelling through every day, so it was vital that the system was able to withstand this. Additionally, the secrecy of the station takeover, pop-up and their products was paramount, so Universal needed a partner they could trust. After heavily researching and vetting over a dozen of the leading providers, they chose Epos Now.

The Solution

The Epos Now cloud-based software was up and running using the station’s WIFI instantly, with no time-consuming downloads or installations. With tens of thousands of transactions to go through in a short period of time, it was so important for the team that the system was reliable and able to work seamlessly.

The Result

Having the Epos Now system before the opening allowed Lielay to train his staff in minutes so they could confidently start selling as soon as the pop-up opened its doors. The Epos Now Back Office ensured Universal Studios had access to all of the tools they needed to assess the success of the store, including accurately tracking merchandise sales and stock.

“The Epos Now system was so easy to understand that all the staff could use it so we could hit the ground running from the first day."

Additionally, full integration with Paymentsense allowed Jurassic Traders to streamline the entire payments process. Using Paymentsense for the entirety of the pop-up shop opening saved Jurassic Traders time and money, eliminated errors and therefore aided profitability of the business.

The card terminal communicates with the Epos Now system, which ensures the machine knows the exact amount to charge every single time. This made sure that customers were never under or overcharged. With temporary staff, it was important that all members of the retail team could focus on selling, and not fixing monetary errors.