Ski resort Deer Valley Resort is rolling out a commerce-enabled mobile application in the next month and anticipates that mobile will represent two to five percent of total sales within the first year of its launch.

The app also includes utility, navigation-based and social features to make skiing more interactive for consumers. Deer Valley Resort worked with CarteScape on the mobile app.

“We believe that users now simply expect to be able to use mobile apps to facilitate ecommerce transactions,” said Wade Harb, CEO of CarteScape, San Diego.

“From the user perspective, purchasing lift tickets on the app reduces lines and waiting times and is very convenient and, from the resorts perspective, facilitating a mobile transaction enhances customer service and the guest experience while increasing operational efficiencies,” he said.

“We expect first year ecommerce ticket sales to be in the range of two to five percent, second year between four and eight percent and greater than ten percent in the years three to five.”

Mobile slopes
In addition to commerce, consumers can also use the Deer Valley Resort app to stay up to date on navigation and social media features from the ski resort.

For example, an augmented reality feature will integrate with an interactive map.

Additionally, social media will allow consumers to share photos and information from their runs directly on Facebook and Twitter.

Similarly, consumers will be able to find friends and family members on the mountain and set up meeting times and there is also a button that connects a user to ski patrol.

The app ties into the resort’s own marketing efforts. Resort managers can use the app to track how consumers are using the app, which the company claims will impact the company’s marketing.

The app’s analytics will be displayed in a dashboard so that Deer Valley Resort can analyze metrics.

The app will be available from Apple’s App Store and Google Play and is slated to roll out in November.

A screenshot of the new app

Mobile convenience
Deer Valley Resort is not the only ski resort leveraging mobile for a streamlined experience on the slopes.

Copper Mountain in Colorado, for example, launched a Waze-like mobile app in September that guides guests through the mountain’s terrain without touching the screen (see story).

One of the key differentiators for ski resorts with mobile is the loyalty that resorts develop with consumers in driving repeat guests during the winter months, so it is no surprise that many are developing apps.

Skiers are also plugged into technology, according to surveys from Guest Research Inc. that finds 50 percent of skiers are active on social media and half of those users follow resorts on Twitter and Facebook.

“We expect, as with general mobile utilization trends, to see mobile playing a huge role in how users engage with the mountain and the resort,” Mr. Harb said.

“Whether using augmented reality to locate points of interest and facilities, the GPS features to navigate and find friends or to make purchases such as lift tickets and lodging, all make for greater utilization of our mobile platform,” he said. “Additionally, contest and gaming features makes our app fun and engaging and creates a new dimension to a day on the mountain.”

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York