More than 50 Melbourne bars and clubs are among those to recently join discount deal apps in the pursuit of attracting more customers during off-peak hours. As customers face greater financial pressure and reduce spending on non-essentials, bars and clubs are some of the many venues facing reduced footfall.
Setting the mood and atmosphere early on has always been a big part of the evening in any nightlife establishment. With the help of apps like EatClub, the introduction of promotional pricing tailored to slower periods could help to fill empty tables and set venues up for a night of successful trading.
EatClub is well known for its success among restaurants, with over 2,000 venues Australia-wide already on board. Co-Founder Pan Koutlakis identified an opportunity for bars and clubs to get on board with the app and adapt the same approach that has been successful for so many restaurants.
“Effectively promoting your venue in a busy market to successfully attract customers is a big part of running a bar or club”, said Koutlakis. “People want to be in places that have a great atmosphere and energy, and of course creating that environment has to start somewhere.”
Koutlakis has drawn on his own experience managing nightclubs to roll out the technology to bars and clubs. “When I was running a nightclub in Adelaide, the most important part of the night involved attracting your first bunch of customers, so when the next group walks in there is already some atmosphere and vibe. This creates a positive cycle which attracts more customers and ultimately flows through your whole night.”
Popular Melbourne institutions Circus, Electric, ATET, La La Land and many more have joined the app in the last month. With almost 300,000 users each month, the EatClub app helps venues to attract hundreds of extra customers each week by offering promotional pricing at the right time.
With healthy discounts of up to 50 per cent off the total bill, Koutlakis explained that it has been easy to convert customers from food to drinks offers. “Customers are used to how EatClub works. It’s totally seamless. They redeem a deal which activates a digital EatClub card which sits within their Apple or Google wallet. From there, they simply tap to pay for their food or drinks and the offer is automatically applied.”
The rollout of EatClub to bars and clubs could provide a huge draw for venues looking to attract customers at the start of the night. With the ISWR’s latest findings showing that inflation rates have led to a decline in alcohol’s share of wallet, EatClub is set to expose venues to new customer markets and bring consumers through the door at the right time.