Non-Ticketing Companies Amazon, Plan A Day Discuss Future of Ticket Sales

The VenuesNow Conference ticketing panel Distributed Commerce: Finding Ticket Buyers Where They Are was a lively conversation between representatives from Amazon and Plan A Day – two non-ticketing companies that are making an impact.

Moderated by Kiaja Klabo, Senior Director Distribution Partners, Ticketmaster, participants included Kian Janamian CEO Plan A Day and Abhijeet Patel, Senior Solutions Architect at Amazon, whose work centers on voice commerce.

Patel and Janamian represent different online – online and offline – with a common goal of making access to tickets easier for consumers. Amazon sells Ticketmaster inventory through Alexa+, a voice and AI surface with reach across 600+million Alexa-enabled devices in the U.S. Plan A Day builds kiosks and concierge technology – Turnstile and Keypad – deployed at venues and physical locations integrating Ticketmaster as well as other ticketing systems and 3P experiences providers.

Distributed commerce was discussed as a way to help fans discover and purchase live-event experiences wherever and whenever that moment of intent occurs, across digital and physical channels.

“Amazon is obsessed with helping customers find what they want when they want and live ticketing and events is just a natural extension of that mission,” said Patel. “Fans were already asking about events or ticket, so that was just something that we discovered organically. That organic use case was always there.”

The model went from “What concerts are in my area?” to the ability to not only find out who was playing but then being able to purchase a ticket.

“It became very clear that we could essentially power the experience all the way from discovery to action,” added Patel. “And it would make for a much more compelling user experience.”

Alexa+ can search events, discuss options, show pricing and availability, and complete the purchase.

Another significant development came in June 2026, when Amazon introduced Alexa+ Agentic Ads. For the first time, an advertisement itself can take the customer all the way through a ticket purchase without leaving the Alexa conversation.

Amazon showcased the capability using concerts by Beck, Jill Scott and Omar Courtz. A customer could see the concert advertisement on an Echo Show, ask about it, check seats and prices, select seats and have the tickets delivered to their Ticketmaster account.

Amazon isn’t simply creating another Ticketmaster-style marketplace. It is putting ticket discovery and buying inside an AI personal assistant with a huge existing customer base.

And this is consistent with Amazon’s broader strategy of making Alexa+ an “agent” that actually performs transactions, rather than simply answering questions. Amazon says Alexa+ can already book restaurants, order food, book Uber rides and perform other transactions on a customer’s behalf.

“The final result of what we accomplished – which is something I’m really proud of – is simplifying the customer journey for a use case which was previously – or still is – very complex, in my opinion: taking a customer from discovery to selection to checkout,” said Patel. “So, making that journey as seamless as possible is something that I think we’ve done a phenomenal job at, and that would not have been possible without the deep collaboration that we’ve had with the teams at Ticketmaster.”

Plan A Day has evolved into more of an in-destination commerce/box-office platform. It connects to ticketing and reservation systems to aggregate live inventory for concerts and shows, attractions, tours, restaurants and other experiences, allowing guests to buy multiple products in one transaction. Its technology can be deployed through websites, mobile experiences, hotel/resort marketplaces and digital ticketing kiosks.

“For us, it’s not about replacing and ripping out anything. It’s about taking the existing systems that are there and just making them work better together, making it that much smoother,” said Janamian. “They’re already there. They’re already working beautifully. They’re phenomenally successful companies. They’re world-renowned companies. But making them work together in a much more seamless and frictionless way, I think, is what the consumer is expecting and demanding these days.”

_Originally reported by [Pollstar](https://news.pollstar.com/2026/09/30/alexa-find-me-ticket-buyers/)._