Background
Shaw Theatres is Singapore’s longest-running cinema operator, with eight locations across the island and Singapore’s only IMAX screens. Over the years, Shaw has continuously raised the bar for the cinema experience, introducing premium hall concepts including IMAX, Lumiere Grand, premiere, and Dreamers across its locations.
This commitment to excellence reached a milestone in 2026 with the completion of a major renovation of Shaw’s flagship Lido cinema on Orchard Road – transforming it into a multi-format premium destination with upgraded projection, new hall concepts. a hybrid box office, and an all-new dining precinct, CENTRO.
As Shaw elevated its physical product, it needed its operational infrastructure to match. Peak hour congestion at traditional box office counters was a persistent friction point – creating long queues, limiting staff availability for guest-facing roles, and reducing opportunities to upsell premium experiences and concessions. Shaw needed a smarter, faster and more seamless front-of-house solution that could keep pace with its improvements.
Objectives
Shaw Theatres set out to achieve four clear goals:
- Reduce queue times at peak hours to improve customer flow and satisfaction.
- Redeploy manpower away from routine ticketing towards higher-value roles in F&B service and guest assistance.
- Create upsell opportunities at the point of ticket purchase/collection, including concessions and premium seating options.
- Quick collection of tickets and F&B slips directly from the kiosks allows the customers to skip the regular queues.
The solution also needed to integrate seamlessly with Shaw’s existing ticketing system across multiple locations – including the recently renovated Lido and JEM – without disrupting daily operations during deployment.
Solution & Implementation
Shaw Theatres selected Toshiba TEC Singapore as its technology partner based on its regional expertise in self-service retail solutions, end-to-end delivery capability, and ability to customize hardware to Shaw’s cinema brand and operational requirements.
Toshiba TEC designed and deployed a fleet of custom-built self-service ticketing kiosks tailored specifically for Shaw’s cinema environment. Each unit was built for high-volume, daily public use – combining a premium physical design with reliable, fast performance.
| Features | Details |
| Display | Large-format multi-touchscreen for intuitive navigation. |
| Payments | Multi-payment system – card, contactless, QR like NETs and PayNow. |
| Ticketing | High-speed thermal printer for immediate ticket and coupons output |
| System Integration | Real-time connection to Shaw’s existing ticketing platform. |
| Design | Premium form factor aligned Shaw’s interior aesthetic. |
Toshiba TEC manages the entire process end-to-end – from system design and integration to on-site deployment and staff training – ensuring a smooth, low-disruption rollout across all locations.
Results
The deployment delivered measurable improvements across operations, revenue, and guest experience:
- Significantly shorter wait times at peak hours – customers move from entry to seat faster, with less friction at the ticketing stage.
- Manpower redeployment – staff previously assigned to ticketing counters were redirected to F&B preparation and floor service, directly improving the quality of guest-facing service.
- Value add upsells within 1 transaction – the kiosk interface surfaced concession upsells and premium seating options at the point of purchase, encouraging add-on selections that counter staff interactions may miss.
- Contactless and frictionless payments – fully card and QR code payments, meeting modern customer expectations for fast, hygienic transactions.
- Elevated brand perception – the kiosks’ clean, premium design reinforced Shaw’s positioning as an innovative, forward-looking entertainment operator.
Customer Quote
“Toshiba continues to impress us with their speed, service and quality for our self-ticketing kiosks. The kiosks enabled our customers to quickly and conveniently do transactions and collections. Allowing us to streamline our operations to deploy the much-needed manpower to higher values roles, reducing costs and boosting revenue” – Terence Heng, Shaw Organization
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