Train operators seek supplier for online railcards system

The Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) is looking for a technology supplier for a new online railcard service.

Railcards accounted for £64.3m worth of sales in the last financial year, but only 25 per cent of these sales were through online channels. ATOC’s three-year strategy is to significantly increase this share.

The chosen supplier will undertake the “design, initial and ongoing development, implementation, enhancement, support and maintenance of the online railcard retailing service”.

ATOC indicated that it is highly likely additional railcards will be added to the product suite during the term of the contract, and as a result, the e-commerce supplier must be able to provide a flexible and scalable solution with the ability to “add or substitute products as needs change and as technology develops”.

The contract is set to run for a minimum of three years, with the possibility of being extended to five years at ATOC’s discretion. The service provided by the new supplier must be fully operational by July 2012.

The tender outlines the following requirements that the supplier will provide: 

The development and provision of a 24/7 fully integrated e-commerce solution;  

Creation, hosting and servicing of all transactional pages and associated web content; 

Payment processing by a range of payment cards including giftcards, PayPal, credit and debit cards;

Processing of digitally uploaded photographs;

Transmission of customer data in an agreed electronic format;

Customer support through an online, email and telephone desk facility;

Web analytics and railcard data management.