How itemdrop is revolutionizing the wardrobe of FZW Dortmund
From the operational bottleneck to high-speed solutions – digital, efficient, and faster than cash.
Wardrobe without cash, labels, and queue
How the FZW in Dortmund has transformed its cloakroom operation
Anyone going to the FZW on the weekend probably won't notice the difference at the cloakroom. Hold out the ticket, drop off the jacket, done. 18 seconds. Most guests are unaware that it used to take significantly longer.
Why it took so long
The FZW is one of the largest clubs in Dortmund. Several rooms, concerts, club nights. On good evenings, hundreds of guests come at once.
The cloakroom had been a bottleneck for years. About 90 percent of all payments were made in cash. Not because the FZW wanted it that way. Credit card processing was simply too slow.
“With credit cards, a single transaction took about 80 seconds. With cash, it was still 45 seconds per coat,” says Till Hoppe, managing director of the FZW. On a busy evening, that is not acceptable.
In addition, there was the effort involved. Providing change, counting cash registers, reconciliations. Organizing security transports. Before each event, cloakroom tokens had to be prepared, then collected and sorted afterward.
“After every weekend, there were easily 30 people at the door saying: Coat please, token lost,” Hoppe recalls.
What Hoppe has changed
For about half a year, the FZW has been working with the cloakroom system from itemdrop, a provider of cashless coat check services. The jacket is assigned upon handing over a card. Upon picking up, the same card is sufficient. Paper tokens are no longer used.
"That was a test, and it was extremely positive," says Hoppe in an interview with the Ruhr Nachrichten.
But Hoppe didn’t just change the software. He redesigned the entire cloakroom. Hangers out, hooks in. Shorter pathways. Sounds like a small thing. According to Hoppe, it was not. Hanging and removing with hooks is faster, and more fits in the same space.
The times in comparison
Information: FZW Dortmund
With the new system, a transaction takes 18 seconds. Faster than cash, which was previously the only viable option. Compared to the old EC payment, this is 77% less time.
The difference is also evident in personnel: Previously, the FZW needed 3 to 5 employees at the cloakroom and handled about 124 transactions per hour. With the new system, 3 employees manage over 190 transactions in the same time.
What is also omitted
What is not included in the secondary figures: all the effort before and after the event. Preparing brands, organizing change, sorting, balancing the cash register. It no longer exists.
"For our employees, this is overall more than positive," says Hoppe. The team makes fewer mistakes. The follow-up work has practically disappeared.
The price
The FZW has raised the coat check fee from 2.00 to 2.50 Euros. According to Hoppe, the guests' reactions have been overwhelmingly positive. Guests drop off their jackets, pay, and are through in under 20 seconds. Whether the price is 2.00 or 2.50 seems hardly noticeable at that pace.
For the FZW, this means: higher revenue per transaction with less staffing effort.
What the guests say
"It was completely received positively in its own target group," says Hoppe. And summarizes:
"Less losing, less waiting, and more time for the evening."
Till Hoppe, Managing Director, FZW Dortmund
Classification
The FZW is not the only establishment that has remodeled its cloakroom in this way. Other clubs and event venues in Germany are now also working with the system. The problems described by Hoppe are widespread in the industry: cash expenses, slow terminals, lost tokens.
At the FZW, the transition has worked. The cloakroom, which was once one of the most elaborate items in the operation, now runs as a routine process.
