Caelan Chambers
The post-Christmas period often challenges hospitality operators with reduced footfall and spending. This year, the upcoming April budget changes in the UK around National Insurance increases, add to the financial pressures. Focusing on increasing Spend Per Head (SPH) and repeat footfall is crucial to stay competitive and maintain profitability. Kobas offers a comprehensive solution to help operators navigate these challenges and boost their bottom line.
Understanding consumer behaviour is key to tailoring experiences that meet both functional needs (price and quality) and emotional desires (status and pleasure). By leveraging Kobas’ powerful tools, operators can gain valuable insights into their customers’ preferences and spending patterns, allowing them to make data-driven decisions that enhance profitability and customer loyalty.
Why focus on spend per head (SPH) and repeat footfall?
Increasing SPH directly boosts profitability (good) without the need to attract more customers (difficult). This efficiency is particularly valuable during slower periods. Meanwhile, fostering repeat footfall builds customer loyalty, reducing the reliance on costly new customer acquisition strategies. By understanding and catering to both primary and secondary customer motivations, operators can create emotional connections that go beyond functional service delivery.
1. Analyse Customer Behaviour 📊🧑🏼
Kobas’ centralised reporting suite lets operators track a range of data points in real-time such as:
- Spending patterns: Kobas allows businesses to track peak spending times, monitor average order values, and identify high-revenue customers or locations. This information enables operators to identify key opportunities for upselling, optimise staffing during busy periods, and ensure that high-margin items are available when they are most likely to sell.
- Preferences: Operators can uncover which menu items are most popular, which dishes perform poorly, and even discover hidden opportunities to cross-sell or create bundles.
- Trends: The ability to analyse seasonal fluctuations in sale trends and the impact of promotional offers on spending activity allows our clients to make data-driven decisions about pricing, menu adjustments and promotions.
Having access to data like this empowers businesses to make informed decisions about menu pricing, promotions, and service offerings. By understanding situational factors influencing customer choices, operators can tailor their strategies to maximise SPH and encourage repeat visits.
2. Implement a loyalty scheme 🎁🥇
Kobas’ integrated loyalty program for hospitality businesses rewards repeat visits with points or discounts, encouraging customers to return. By offering personalised rewards based on purchase history along with a convenient white-label mobile app, operators can create a sense of value and exclusivity that drives customer retention.
Online promotion: Outline the benefits of being a loyalty member to encourage sign-ups with a tailored loyalty landing page on your website. This provides a valuable resource to link from marketing channels such as social media posts and email marketing campaigns. Don’t forget to sweeten the deal and attract new members with a sign-up incentive. With Kobas, you can easily offer a welcome voucher, such as £5 off their next purchase, to encourage sign-ups on the spot.
Offline promotion: What better opportunity to encourage sign-ups than to advertise to customers who are already in your ven and enjoying their experience? Strategically place adverts with QR codes throughout your venue – on table tents, receipts, and even outside. These codes should direct customers to your promotional landing page. By capitalising on the in-venue experience, you can capture immediate interest and encourage sign-ups while customers are already actively engaged with your business.
3. Use tagging for targeted marketing 🏷📧
Tagging customers based on behaviours or preferences allows for highly targeted marketing efforts. By segmenting audiences (e.g., frequent diners, high spenders), operators can send tailored offers through Kobas’ integrations with Mailchimp or Airship, ensuring campaigns reach the right audience with the right message.
4. Offer targeted discounts and promotions 🎯💸
Kobas’ EPoS system enables operators to set up automated promotions, such as happy hours or upsell reminders for premium items. These targeted offers can attract new customers while incentivising existing ones to spend more, effectively increasing SPH.
5. Seamless integration with marketing tools 🔗📲
Kobas integrates with platforms like Mailchimp for email campaigns and Airship for advanced customer journeys. These integrations allow operators to automate personalised outreach and re-engage dormant customers dynamically, creating a cohesive marketing strategy that drives both SPH and repeat footfall.
The April budget impact: Why act now?
The upcoming National Insurance increase will tighten margins for operators across the hospitality industry. It’s crucial to adopt cost-effective strategies like Kobas’ all-in-one system to streamline operations and boost revenue before these changes take effect. By leveraging Kobas’ tools, operators can optimise their pricing strategies, enhance customer experiences, and build loyalty programs that will help offset the impact of increased costs.
In conclusion, the time to act is now. By making use of Kobas’ comprehensive suite of tools, hospitality operators can not only survive but thrive in a challenging economic climate. Through smarter insights, loyalty programs, and targeted marketing, businesses can create personalised experiences that drive both SPH and repeat footfall.
Don’t wait for the April budget changes to hit – start leveraging Kobas today to build a resilient and profitable operation that stands out in a competitive market.
Want to see the Kobas system in action?
Kobas enables teams across the hospitality industry to manage all areas of the business, from one connected and complete system.
