Gust Pay gives us a glimpse of how its app, NFC wristbands fared at Rocking the Daisies

A few weeks back, we told you about the app Stellenbosch-based startup Gust Pay had built for the Rocking the Daisies music festival, as well how it planned to implement its NFC payment system. Now, we can give you a little bit of information on how they fared.

The app was designed to take advantage of advanced navigation smartphone features and sensors to guide festival-goers around the venue, while the NFC payments system allowed them to pre-load money onto wristbands in a bid to avoid the hassle of carrying cash around.

According to an official blog post from Gust Pay, The “Daisies 2013″ app — built in collaboration with Red Bull Mobile and Seed Experiences — ranked as one of the top downloads on the South African iTunes app store in the run up to the festival.

“The Daisies 2013 app raises the bar for festival apps in terms of design and features. Music festival environments are perfect for mobile apps as we need quick access to relevant information. This app is a great example of using location services and a range of sensors in our smartphones today,” says Joe Botha, one of the founders of Gust Pay.

The NFC wristband meanwhile used fixed outdoor wireless to ensure that it wasn’t reliant on crowded festival 3G networks and also aimed to eliminate the need for clunky payment options.

It also says that paying with a smartphone or wristband may be a greener alternative than using cash. The true cost of cash at events can be as high as 15% when including costs like cash deposit fees, cash transport costs, security guards and the logistics involved in running ATM machines.

“Using cash at events is risky and it’s a frustrating experience for customers to run out of money at these big events. Nobody wants to return from a three-day festival having to deal with the admin of having a phone, wallet or credit card lost or stolen,” says Botha.

According to Botha, the 2013 edition of Rocking the Daisies was mostly used to showcase the tech, particularly to media, VIPs and Daisies staff. He says about 500 wristbands were used, with an average of 10 transactions per user.