Nightclubs and bars: what do customers really

want?

Heather Skinner, Gloria Moss, Scott Parfitt

The Authors
Heather Skinner, The Business School, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, UK
Gloria Moss, The Business School, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, UK
Scott Parfitt, The Business School, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, UK

Abstract

Purpose – This 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/approach – Purposive 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.

Findings – Findings 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 implications – In 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/value – Although 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.

Article Type: Research paper

Keyword(s): Service climate; Entertainment industry; Customers; Students.

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

Volume 17 Number 2 2005 pp. 114-124
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited ISSN 0959-6119

Background

Deemed as “a valid area for social research” by Schmidt and Sapsford (1995a), much has
been written about recent changes within the British pub industry. These studies have mainly
centred around structural changes within the industry (Knowles and Egan, 2002; Knowles and
Howley, 2000; Pratten and Scoffield, 2002; Pratten, 2003a; Pratten and Scoffield, 2003),
issues of gender in pub management (Pratten and Lovatt, 2003) marketing public houses to
women (Schmidt and Sapsford, 1995a, b), general issues surrounding the servicescape ( 
Jones et al., 2003; Clarke et al., 1998), and the recent issue of smoking policies (Pratten,
2003b).

The late-night economy

However, there is also a thriving late-night economy in town and city centres, generating “new
buildings and new jobs and large pub companies and nightclub operators have been very much
to the fore in such developments” ( Jones et al., 2003). Yet where academic research has
focused away from the local pub, or family-friendly theme pub relying more and more on its food
trade (Pratten, 2003a, b), studies tend towards investigating specific entertainment offerings to
subcultures (Haslop et al., 1998). More general studies that focus towards town and city centre
bars and clubs often concentrate on the late night trade's management and policing of anti-social
behaviour of clientele (Jones et al., 2003; Barclay and Thayer, 2000).

The late-night high street marketplace has become saturated with a range of venues competing
for market share in an industry that has seen overall admissions falling by 2 per cent between
1997 and 2002, and spending falling by 13 per cent over the same period ( Mintel, 2002). Mintel
also found that “while the overall proportion of adults who visit clubs had remained stable, the
number of people visiting frequently … had contracted slightly”.

Mintel (2002) found that there are 1,750 nightclubs in the UK (defined as “permanent
club/discos venues offering dancing, which would normally charge an admission and whose
primary business activity is as a nightclub”). However, Mintel (2003) also noted that

several other types of pub or bar developed in towns and cities during the 1990s, alongside the
traditional pubs, are responding to consumer demand: youth-dominated town centre superpubs,
pub-restaurants, late-night bars with some nightclub characteristics, and chameleon bars,
changing their character during the hours of opening to suit a changing customer mix.

Adding Mintel's (2004) estimates that there are 1,100 traditional high street pubs, 850 late-night
bars catering for students and young people, 375 café / wine bars, 175 Irish pubs, and 200 other
themes and late-night venues in the UK, there would now appear to be around “4,500 such
outlets in the UK, with an overwhelming bias in their appeal to the 18-25 age group” ( Mintel,
2004). Aiming at this target group, many such venues now strive to be the “cool” or “in” place to
be, and in which to be seen yet “cool” is hard to maintain, as customers tend to feel the “urge to
find new places as soon as current places became popular” with customers “consciously moving
on searching for something new” (Nancarrow et al., 1992).

For many town and city centre nightclubs and bars, a large proportion of their target 18-25 age
group are students who “represent an important part of the customer base of the average club”
(Mintel, 2002). Around 55 per cent of these customers are men “reflecting the perception among
many men that clubs are good places to meet women” (Mintel, 2002), yet Schmidt and
Sapsford's (1995a) research points to the belief that “there is considerable variation in what
women are looking to find in pubs, but that they agree on their dislike of male-dominated
atmospheres in which they are harassed or made to feel unwelcome”. Although Schmidt and
Sapsford's study focused on the traditional or local pub this view is borne out by Jones et al.
(2003) who believe women want a safe “female-friendly” environment when socialising at night in
town and city centres.

Alcohol consumption and drinks promotions

The provision of alcohol is still the core service offered by such venues. Mintel (2002) notes that
“the average club derives around two thirds of its revenue from the sale of beverages, and it is
therefore a vital source of profits”. However, the negative behaviour of anti-social intoxicated
clientele within the high street is still concerns stakeholder groups. A heavy reliance on drinks
promotions and price competition within the industry leads authors such as Freeman (2002) to
point out that clubs “don't enjoy a high moral ground stance in the eyes of the public, so there is
little sympathy over public order issues”. There are also concerns about binge drinking within the
young age group that comprise these venues' target clientele. Kinsey (2002) notes that “there
are increasing volumes of research identifying that early-doors discounting and happy-hours
policies fuel the binge drinking mentality”. This has brought about recent government intervention
in the form of the compulsory licensing of doorstaff by April 2005, the government's National
Strategy for Alcohol Harm Reduction (Mintel, 2004), and potential UK and EU legislation against
“Happy Hour” promotions leading to a need to begin attracting customers by other means than
price promotions on alcohol which currently dominate this highly competitive service environment.

The servicescape

Such leisure services offer an intangible experience, with even well-branded multiple clubs and
bars unable to fully counteract the inseparability of production and consumption of the service by
offering a totally uniform experience across all their venues. It is therefore not surprising that due
to the saturation of the market and competition for market share, capacity and demand are often
managed by way of price promotions on either drinks or on entry (e.g. targeting students with
lower prices on midweek nights).

Beatty and Kahle (1988) suggest, “frequent patrons who are highly involved and identified with
the organization may perceive little need for price discounts”. Clues to where high street
nightclubs and bars may find areas of competitive advantage other than in price promotions may
be found within the services marketing literature which points out that advantage is gained by
competing not on the core service alone (i.e. provision of alcohol or dancing), but on the range
and quality of supplementary services provided (Lovelock et al., 1999).

The service marketing literature also recognises the effects that front and backstage personnel,
along with other customers, can have on the customer's experience ( Langeard et al., 1981),
and the effect of the wider servicescape within which the service is offered ( Bitner, 1992),
comprising the elements of ambient conditions; spatial layout and functionality; and signs,
symbols and artefacts. With such an intangible service, the servicescape itself becomes
particularly important when attracting first-time customers who tend to “rely on the tangibles
associated with the service as clues or indicators of the level of quality that is available, thus
reducing the feeling of buying an unknown quantity” (Knowles and Howley, 2000).

This is therefore where the focus of our research lies, in the town and city centre mainstream
nightclubs and bars frequented mainly by young people, many of whom are students. It will aim to
give a wider understanding of what these target customers really want from first and subsequent
visits to late-night venues by examining customer attitudes to various aspects of the servicescape
and service offerings provided by such venues.

Methodology

This research was conducted in two phases.

Phase 1

Purposive sampling was used to establish two focus groups, one group of five males (all students
aged between 21 and 23) and one group of four females (all students, all aged 21) in order to
explore the in-depth views of high street nightclub and bar-goers 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.

Phase 2

In order to increase the reliability and validity of the data, the themes arising from the literature,
focus groups and depth interviews were further investigated by means of a survey. Sixty
structured questionnaires were administered to students on a UK campus. Forty per cent of
respondents (n=24) were male, 60 per cent (n=36) were female; 90 per cent of respondents were
aged between 18 and 25 (n=54), 10 per cent were older (aged 26-54); over 78 per cent of
respondents (n=47) were from the UK, 15 per cent (n=9) were from other EU countries, and
almost 7 per cent (n=4) defined their ethnicity as Asian, black or of mixed race.

Respondents were pre-qualified by asking if they had visited a mainstream city centre club or bar
within the previous 12 months. Eighty per cent of respondents (n=48) visited such venues at least
once per week, just over 13 per cent (n=8) visited such venues once or twice per month, and
almost 7 per cent (n=4) visited less frequently.

Survey questions centred on relevant aspects of the servicescape and service offering, with many
elements highlighted by pictorial representations in order to minimise the risk of misinterpretation.
In order to lower the risk of list bias, the order of each pictorial representation was randomly
picked in each case. Respondents were required to rate a range of different offerings in order of
preference (with one being the respondent's strongest preference). In addition, respondents were
also asked to rate those factors that would be most likely to attract respondents for a first visit to a
nightclub or bar, and then factors that would be most important in prompting a return visit.
These data were subjected to a frequency analysis in SPSS in order to identify those elements
that were most preferred by the majority of respondents.

Findings

Type of venue

Survey respondents were shown pictures of six bars with descriptions of the type of premises
each represented (two pictures each representing the large traditional centre bar, wine bars, and
Latin-themed premises common to high streets, and city centres) and were asked to rank them in
order of preference in each case. After analysing for frequency of responses, the most preferred
venue was the traditional bar, ranked as most preferred by over 27 per cent of respondents, and
second most preferred by over 20 per cent of respondents. This type of venue was only ranked
as the least preferred by 2.5 per cent of the sample. The least preferred type of venue is the
Latin-themed bar or club. This ranked as most preferred by less than 7 per cent of the sample,
but ranked as least preferred by over 27 per cent. Wine bars did not generate such extreme
responses, with 16 per cent of respondents ranking it their most preferred venue, and 19 per cent
their least preferred.

It appears to be inevitable that if a venue is popular it is going to have a queue for entry. One
female focus group respondent stated, “I dislike having to queue outside, I really feel the cold and
sometimes you can be waiting up to an hour to get into a venue. In summer it's not to bad, but
when winter comes it really puts me off going out”. Another noted, “having to queue outside my
hair goes frizzy”. Eighty three per cent of survey respondents would prefer to queue outside a
venue with a covering or awning, especially in inclement weather.

As the level of security inside a venue tends to be inferred by customers from the level of security
outside of a venue, respondents were also asked whether they believed formally or informally
dressed door staff emitted a greater image of security. Over 64 per cent of survey respondents
believed that more formal attire offered the greatest image of security. This concurred with the
results of the focus groups. One female respondent believes that, “if they have bouncers on the
door who are dressed smartly then it looks quite good”. Another focus group respondent believes
security is very important as, “I don't like going somewhere where you don't feel safe and have to
feel vulnerable”. Another female focus group respondent then added, “you don't like having to
look over your shoulder all the time”.

Other customers

Respondents were also asked to rank in order of preference venues with predominantly male
clientele, venues with predominantly female clientele, and those venues showing pictures of
predominantly mixed clientele.

A mix of male and female clientele was most preferred by 39.5 per cent of survey respondents,
with 31 per cent rating it as their second preference, and less than 2 per cent rating it as their
least preferred mix of clientele. Over 34 per cent of respondents rated a male-dominated venue
as their least preferred. However, unlike the mostly polarised answers to preferences for a mixed
environment, or lack of preference for a predominantly male environment, responses for
preferences towards a predominantly female environment were clustered around the mid point.

Members of the male focus identified the opposite sex as their main reason when asked what
they look for in a bar. “Women. That's why blokes go to bars for, and for the drink… the classier
the place, the classier the female population”. One male focus group respondent suggested that
the number of women in a bar was important, “for single lads definitely”.

For male focus group members the deciding factors for entering a bar are as follows:

How busy it looks when you're walking past. If it's not that busy then you're not going to have a
good atmosphere. If it's too busy then the bar is gong to be rammed and so it could take half hour
to get a drink and everyone is going to be bumping into you and you don't want that. You want
something in between.

I don't mind where I go as long as it's the right people there. I hate going to place when there's
people there with attitude who just want to bump into you and fight.

Kids! Have you noticed when you going clubbing there's kids there 17-18 who are just walking
round staring at people sticking their chests out.

Yeah looking for trouble.

Type of clientele was also important for female focus group members. To one respondent the
ideal other customers are “people who are there for a good time… and not just get plastered…
and they could be any age and from any background”.

Spatial functionality and layout

Survey respondents were also asked about the type of seating arrangements on which they
would prefer to locate themselves once inside a venue. Bar stools were the least preferred by 48
per cent of respondents, with sofas being the most preferred by 58 per cent of respondents.
Seating on individual chairs was also offered as an option. Forty per cent of respondents rated
this their most preferred seating choice, with 55 per cent of respondents rating it as their second
most preferred choice. A female focus group respondent stated:

I think it's important to have seating so you can have somewhere where you can relax, a lot of
places you go into there will be a couple of chairs or what ever and that's it, it's fine if it's not that
busy but when it's busy you cant sit down and have a break from all the pushing and shoving.

Another respondent added, “try wearing six inch heels and stay on the dance floor”. Another
member of this focus group mentioned a friend who, “does not like to dance therefore its nice for
her to sit down instead of standing in the corner watching us dance”.

Whilst on the subject of spatial functionality and layout, the location of the dance floor within the
venue arose in the female focus group, prompting a range of comments:

I hate it when the dance floor is in the middle and everybody just stands on the outside and
gawps at you. It feels as though you're in a meat market and your putting yourself on display.

I hate it when the dance floor is in front or right next to the bar, you got people with drinks trying to
get passed you, people who are on the dance floor want to dance. In my opinion the dance floor
should be complete set away from the bar.

Survey respondents were therefore also asked about the preferred location of the dance floor. An
equal number of respondents (25 per cent) most prefer the dance floor near the bar as away from
the bar, and an equal number (35 per cent) of respondents also rate these locations as their least
preferred.

Service offering

Survey respondents were asked to rank in order those service offerings that would most attract
them to a venue. Music, ranging through live bands, DJs and karaoke, was popular, with 36 per
cent of respondents rating it their most preferred service offering, and no one rating it as their
least preferred. This was in agreement with both the male and female focus group results. A
member of the female focus group made the following comment:

The music, the people it attracts. If they're really dodgy people who are brawling all the time, then
you don't want to be there, but if it's people who are having a good time then it just raises the
atmosphere.

A male focus group member made similar comment:

Music creates a good atmosphere and it draws the people, chart dance party a bit of R&B, a good
selection, you don't want to go somewhere that's playing the same type of music all night you
want a good range of music.

Music was also suggested by one male focus group respondent as a factor in attracting women to
a venue. “Good music is a must. This gets the women dancing and so I can work my magic on
the dance floor”.

Price sensitivity to drinks costs was also an issue for respondents. Female focus group members
liked price promotions on drinks and did not like paying high prices. To these respondents overall
value for money was perceived as important.

I think quality is just as important as price, because um, I don't think you'd go to a place just
because it's cheap and the quality isn't very good. I think you need a even balance of both to
make it a good venue all round.

I don't like paying to get in and queuing two hours in the rain, and when you're in there it takes
half an hour to get a drink, and then your paying £4 a bottle when you get in there, when you can
get it for a £1 on a student night.

Understanding that price promotions can have an effect on capacity and demand management,
one female focus group member commented, “you're in a no-win situation. You go on a Monday
and it's rammed and pay a £1 a bottle and go out on the weekend and it's rammed and pay £4 a
bottle”.

Drinks prices also provoked a lively discussion among members of the male focus group.

Price of drink does it for me. If you're going out spending £3.20 on a bottle you'll have to be
loaded to have a good night then, especially if you're going out with a big group of lads then you
tend to drink quite a bit, so if there's real cheap drinks then that can be quite tempting … . It's a
personal thing, even if I had the money I'd feel ripped off paying £3 or £4 a bottle. It's a pride
thing.

Yes, you don't want to come out of place thinking, Christ, you've had like ten drinks and spent
£50, £60 quid in a night. What a waste of money. You don't want to feel that ripped off.

Another respondent suggested “at the end of the day, who's going to say no to walking by a bar
that's got £1 on all shots and bottles?”

Given this price sensitivity it is not surprising therefore that everyday low alcohol prices was rated
as the most preferred service offering by 40 per cent of survey respondents.

However, one male focus group respondent, when asked is price of drink important replied, “no,
just the selection of drinks. They've got to have a good selection of brands”. Another responded,
“price of drinks doesn't bother me that much [but] I don't like to be raped by the prices”.

So, although “happy hour” promotions appeared popular, only 11 per cent rated it as their most
preferred service offering, 18 per cent as their second preference, and 33 per cent as their third
preferred service offering. “Buy-one-get-one-free” promotions were rated as the most preferred
service offering by only 10 per cent of the sample, yet 46 per cent rated it as their second
preference. By contrast, other forms of service offerings such as quiz nights and speed-dating
were rated low with less than 12 per cent of respondents rating such offerings in any of their top
three preferences.

Female focus group members also perceived overall service quality as important.

Quality and presentation of drinks could also be improved. I think it's disgusting when you have to
drink out of a plastic glass after paying £3 for a drink, also when there's no ice that's like, you
know, not on.

I know it sounds stupid, but if you order a vodka & cranberry juice you expect to have a slice of
lemon in it.

Forty survey respondents believe it is very important to receive service with a smile in these
venues, 19 respondents believe it is somewhat important, only one had no opinion on the matter,
and no-one rated this element as either not very or not at all important.

Comparing elements of the servicescape

When asked what makes a successful bar or nightclub one female focus group respondent cited,
“atmosphere, cheesy music and a good selection of drinks”. Eleven per cent of survey
respondents rated both the provision of entertainment and sales promotions on alcohol as the
second most important factors in influencing them to visit a venue for the first time. The most
important factor was rated as the venue's exterior by 44 per cent of the survey. However the
venue's exterior was ranked as having the least affect in prompting subsequent visits by 36 per
cent of the survey. Instead the provision of entertainment and sales promotions on alcohol were
perceived as having the most affect in prompting return visits by 27 per cent and 20 per cent of
the survey, respectively, with the second most important factor being service with a smile, cited by
12 per cent of the sample.

Discussion

The town and city centre late-night economy is a highly competitive saturated market, where
boundaries are blurring between nightclubs and other types of mainstream late night venues all
vying for market share amongst target consumers aged mainly between 18 and 25, many of
whom will be students.

Within this sample, 100 per cent of focus group respondents, and 90 per cent of survey
respondents are students aged 18-25. Eighty per cent of our survey respondents are frequent
visitors to mainstream city centre pubs, clubs and bars, visiting such venues at least once per
week. Although Mintel (2002) found that number of frequent club goers has contracted slightly,
it would appear that the student market is still important to this sector. Focusing on these
demographics, our research therefore sought to establish what such customers really want from
these venues.

Following a structural shift in the industry there are now many different types venues competing
for market share ( Jones et al., 2003; Pratten, 2003a, b), and our results show that it is the
venue's exterior that is the most important factor in deciding whether to enter such a venue for the
first time. Amongst this key target group of 18-25 year old students the large traditional city centre
pub or bar was rated as most preferred by most of the sample, and least preferred by the least
number of respondents. Theme pubs and bars were least preferred venue for this target group.
Without further qualitative data to explain this, it can only be postulated that this may be because
either these themes represent too much of a passing fashion trend to maintain competitive
advantage (Nancarrow et al., 1992), or that this type of venue may just be too expensive for
students. A further suggestion is that the more traditional bar has a wider appear to the majority. If
this is the case, then offering a more standardised rather than specialised or more segmented
offering to mainstream customers may be the way for businesses to ensure sustainability in this
saturated marketplace.

Popular venues tend to lead to outdoor queuing. Although much academic literature exists
concerning queuing within service environments, our respondents cited outdoor queuing as
problematic in the UK climate. Results from the female focus group found that women who invest
time, money and effort into looking good for a night out do not want to end up with frizzy hair
before they even enter a venue, and 83 per cent of all male and female survey respondents
would prefer to queue outdoors under some form of covered awning or canopy. These venues
could therefore consider a relatively small investment into either a fixed or retractable covering for
customers to gain competitive advantage.

Other tangible elements outside a venue can also entice customers inside by reducing purchase
risk (Knowles and Howley, 2000). Given that safety and security are perceived as important,
especially amongst females (Schmidt and Sapsford, 1995a; Jones et al., 2003) such easily
managed tangibles can include the attire of door staff. Sixty four per cent of our survey believed
that more formally dressed door staff emitted a greater image of security than door staff who are
informally dressed. However, it was not just the females in our sample who were concerned about
issues of safety and security. Langeard et al. (1981) found that the service experience of one
customer is affected by other customers in a service environment. Men tend to choose a venue
depending upon “how busy it looks when you're walking past”, and note that they dislike going to
place when there's people there with attitude who just want to bump into you and fight”.

Our results agreed with the literature in that women tend to want a safe female-friendly
environment ( Jones et al., 2003) that is not male-dominated (Schmidt and Sapsford, 1995a).
A predominantly male environment was least preferred by 34 per cent of our survey respondents,
a mix of male and female clientele was most preferred by the majority of the sample (39.5 per
cent), and the male focus group bore out the industry research ( Mintel, 2002) that believes men
go to such venues as it is perceived as a good place to meet women.

Respondents also had particular preferences for the spatial functionality and layout of the
nightclub and bar servicescape (Bitner, 1992). Seating at bar stools was least preferred by 48
per cent of survey, most prefer sofas (58 per cent). This is explained by the female focus group
who find the provision of comfortable seating very important. Women who wear high heels need
somewhere comfortable to sit and relax, and somewhere to socialise with friends who may not
like to dance. However, when it came to positioning of the dance floor there was no agreement on
an ideal position from either the focus group or survey respondents.

Music was the key attractor to such venues for our respondents, yet the provision of alcohol as
the core service is still important (Lovelock et al., 1999). Beatty and Kahle (1988) noted that
loyal customers may be less sensitive to price discounts, and our results concurred. Offering
“Happy Hour” was the most preferred service offering of only 11 per cent of our survey, and “buy-
one-get-one free” promotions was only most preferred by 10 per cent of our survey. Although
these offerings rated a high second preference, the strongest preference of 40 per cent of the
survey was for everyday low alcohol prices. Our sample can still be tempted by price promotions,
but these frequent pub and club-goers will pay higher prices as long as they also get a good
perceived service quality. Our respondents wanted a good range of branded alcoholic beverages,
and ice in drinks and a slice of lemon – such small supplements to the core service are deemed
very important, especially by women. Service with a smile was also perceived as either very
important or somewhat important by all bar one survey respondent.

When comparing the ratings of all of the above aspects of service provision and the
servicescape, our results also show that the service offering, in particular entertainment and price
promotions on alcohol, is most important, and service with a smile is the second most important
factor in prompting return or subsequent visits.

Conclusion

It appears that the industry can indeed gain and maintain competitive advantage in this saturated
market without relying on price promotions on alcohol if attention is paid to other service offerings
such as the provision of the entertainment that meets the needs of the target market. It is no
longer enough to attract customers for a first visit if it ends up becoming a one-off visit. High
prices without attendant high levels and quality of service, will not attract customers to return.

Our findings suggest that women want a safe female-friendly environment when they visit town
and city centre mainstream nightclubs and bars. Venue exteriors offer good tangible clues as to
the nature of the venue and its clientele, and this is the most important factor in deciding which
venue to patronise. Women also do not like to queue outdoors unless the queuing area is
covered. Women prefer venues that play “cheesy” dance music, have comfortable seating for
socialising with friends or taking a break from the dance floor, offer a good range of high quality
branded drinks at overall low prices, or that charge higher prices as long as they add expected
touches such as ice in drinks and a slice of lemon. It also appears that if a venue is successful in
attracting women then male customers will follow.

Overall service quality, including service with a smile, is important to all.

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