Pubs White Paper: Profits on tap

About this white paper

This white paper is about the relationship between a fun experience for customers and profitability. It contains new pub industry statistics and aims to help pubs, bar-restaurants, social clubs, and leisure businesses with an alcohol license to create a better and more profitable customer experience. Saturn commissioned market research agency OnePoll to carry out a survey in 2024 with 2000 full and part-time adult workers from across the UK.

Download this white paper

Key takeaways

In this white paper you will learn:
• How much more people are willing to spend in a place they consider to be fun
• How much more often people are willing to return to a place they think of as being fun
• How people define what a fun place is, and conversely how they define a boring place
• How to create more of a sense of fun within pubs

Profits On Tap – Overview

The issues

Pubs hold a cherished place in the UK’s national culture, serving as vital community hubs. However, most would agree that the UK’s pub industry has had a ‘volatile’ time over the last few years. COVID-19 lockdowns and behaviour restrictions caused staff shortages and changes in consumer behaviour. Since then, there have been energy price hikes, rising inflation and interest rates. There has also been supply chain disruption, and increases in the cost of food which have meant that pubs have struggled to balance rising overheads and affordable prices for customers. Customers have been struggling with the increased cost of living and have subsequently been paying fewer visits to bars and leisure venues and/or spending less when they do visit.

Whilst some measures have been introduced to alleviate the impact of these economic issues, it is essential that pubs, bars and social clubs maximise their profitability by broadening their customer base and increasing customers’ average spend.

Our research

According to Saturn’s new pub industry research, people will spend more time and money in pubs, bars and licensed leisure venues that feel fun. This answers the question why some pubs in close proximity are more successful than others, and suggests that many bars are, in effect, leaving money on the table.  People involved in the research said that if they were having fun in a pub/bar

• Over half (52%) would spend more than £10 extra than they’d planned to.
• 41 per cent  said that they would be likely to spend between 30 minutes and two hours+ extra than originally planned
• Nearly a third (31%) would return to the same bar, pub or licensed leisure venue at least three or four times a year.

When respondents were asked how they would define what made somewhere feel a fun place

• Two thirds said one that makes you laugh/smile
• More than half (56%) said it was one that was ‘visually interesting’
• 48% said ‘collective enjoyment/shared experience’

When asked what made something feel like a boring experience

• More than half (56%) said ‘when there’s nothing to look at/watch’
• 54% said ‘when there’s poor quality entertainment’
• 51% said ‘no engaging activities’

Respondents were asked if they avoided spending time in boring spaces when outside of the home. More than half (53%) said yes – this figure rose to 66% for those aged 18-24, and to 61% for the over 65s.

They were also asked how long it took them to start feeling bored to the point where they felt they had to entertain themselves (e.g. using a mobile phone).
• 25% said 60 seconds or less
• 15% said 1-2 minutes
• 13% said 3-5 minutes
• 19% said longer than five minutes

These results suggest that more than half of people (52%) are likely to lose interest in a pub, bar or licensed leisure venue and think of it as being a boring place within 5 minutes, if it’s not actively stimulating or entertaining them.

Solutions

The research indicates that there is a clear financial imperative to create a sense of fun and/or a fun atmosphere in pubs, to encourage customers to linger, spend more and return frequently.

Digital displays are dynamic and create a vast amount of ‘airtime’ which can be used in a variety of ways to create a sense of fun alongside standard drinks/food advertising materials and the promotion of special offers.

The PDF of of our pubs white paper gives a snapshot of just some of the content ideas and digital signage technology that’s available to pubs, bars and licensed leisure attractions, and is free to download now.

If you have a project you want to discuss or you want to learn more about using digital signage to enhance the visitor experience, call our team now on 0161 222 0706 or email us at info@saturnvisual.com.