Nightclubs and bars: what do customers really want?

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to give a wider understanding of what customers really want from first and subsequent visits to mainstream city centre nightclubs and bars by examining customer attitudes to various aspects of the services arena and service offerings provided by such venues.Design/methodology/approachPurposive sampling was used to establish two focus groups within the industry's main target market age group. This qualitative data were analysed from a grounded theory approach in order to identify the emerging themes that were then tested by quantitative data gathered by means of a questionnaire in phase 2 of the research. These data were then subjected to a frequency analysis in SPSS in order to identify those elements that were most preferred by the majority of respondents.FindingsFindings point to the relative importance of various elements of the servicescape in influencing customer decisions to enter a venue for the first time, and also to the relative importance of factors which prompt subsequent visits to a venue.Practical implicationsIn such a saturated and highly competitive marketplace these findings can assist mainstream venues within the late night economy to improve their competitive position by understanding and then providing what customers really want.Originality/valueAlthough there is much services marketing literature on the relevance of the servicescape and the importance of service quality, this paper attempts to ascertain which factors are truly key in customer decision‐making, and in which order each element of the service is rated by the industry's key target market.

Host community resignation to nightclub tourism

“…There are some descriptive studies about the nightlife in Taiwan (Huang, 2011), South London (Andersson, 2011), Belgrade (Todorovic & Bakir, 2005), Milwaukee (Campo & Ryan, 2008) and Los Angeles (Hong & Duff, 1997) and some studies on servicescape (Kubacki, Skinner, Parfitt, & Moss, 2007;Skinner, Kubacki, Parfitt, & Moss, 2008;Skinner, Moss, & Parfitt, 2005) as the only academic publications focusing on the analysis of this type of leisure tourism. With the only exception of the study of Andriotis (2005), asking for preferences for tourism development in a more general context in Crete, no research has been undertaken up to the present concerning the attitudes of the host community towards clubs and nightlife in sun and beach destinations as opposed to the case of casinos.…”

The Application of Revenue Management in Beverage Operations

“…Prior research in this context has addressed issues such as alcohol abuse/addiction and the negative social consequences associated with the serving of alcohol (Allsop, Pascal, & Chikritzhs, 2005;Engineer, Phillips, Thompson, & Nicholls, 2003;Guéguen, Jacob, Le Guellec, Morineau, & Lourel, 2008;Hughes, Anderson, Morleo, & Bellis, 2008), the integration of modern technology into beverage operations (Gluhak et al, 2006), customer preferences for nightclub and bar services (Kubacki, Skinner, Parfitt, & Moss, 2007;Skinner, Moss, & Parfitt, 2005), and factors that influence the locations of nightclubs (Seidman & Crim, 2008).…”

Comparing nightclub customers’ preferences in existing and emerging markets

“…Although there is much literature on general issues surrounding the servicescape in the hospitality industry in the UK (Jones et al, 2003;Clarke et al, 1998;Skinner et al, 2005), this paper attempts to ascertain which factors are truly key in customer decision making in both studied countries. For the purpose of this research Mintel's (2002) definition of nightclubs was used, which described them as ''permanent club/discos venues offering dancing, which would normally charge an admission and whose primary business activity is as a nightclub''.…”