The 'Green Paper' is the biggest piece of category research ever undertaken by Heineken, and is the culmination of over 100 pieces of qualitative and quantitative research.
The paper identifies six major growth drivers that licensees can use to grow their businesses and generate incremental value in the marketplace.
Reasons to visit
Heineken believes licensees need to do more to capitalise on on existing events and create new occasions to drive footfall and maximise sales.
Identifying data showing that the number of visits to the on-trade has fallen by 10% over the past five years, the paper argues licensees must give customers more of a reason to visit rather than staying home, such as through live sport, pub quizzes or other events.
The report also suggests giving existing customers reasons to visit more frequently, through offering different food offerings throughout the day, or free Wi-Fi to coax in remote workers. Pointing out that food is present at a third of all drinking occasions, HUK also advises pairing food with a range of ciders and beers, to drive more money through the tills.
With customers increasingly choosing to live healthier lifestyles, having a choice of options such as no and low-alcohol alternatives, or having natural and sustainably produced ciders and beers is increasing vital to pubs. Failing to provide these options may leave consumers feeling like the pub is not in line with their lifestyle, HUK predicts.
Balanced range needed
On-trade visits by 18 to 24-year-olds are falling year on year, with the number of times per week they go out for a drink falling by 20%, over the past decade. Hence, the paper argues having the right range of products – a balance between well-known brands available at reasonable prices as well as more unique choices – will be key in enticing the younger generation to your venue.
Finally, the paper points to evidence suggesting consumers are now more likely to choose premium when visiting the pub, and hence using tools such as point-of-sale and back-bar displays to drive sales of premium options will generate an uplift in sales.
Speaking about the paper, Jerry Shedden, category and trade marketing director at Heineken, said: “This is about giving more people a reason to visit pubs and bars – and it will mean more people through your doors, spending more money, more often.
“Months of research have been condensed into an easy-to-understand category strategy that will grow our customers’ businesses. The six growth drivers are the starting point for all Heineken on-trade activations so, with the power of the best portfolio of ciders and beers and our industry-leading expertise, we will be helping to bring the on-trade back into growth.”