CGA by NIQ‘s latest Evolving High Tempo Occasion Report reveals the growing role of planning in ‘high tempo’ occasions.
High tempo occasions include events such as including big nights out, ticketed events, bottomless brunches and pub or bar crawls, for example.
According to the report, two in five (39%) consumers say they pre-book a table or table with drinks beforehand – rising to 46% of females. Nearly half (47%) of these pre-bookers – and 60% of students –reserve their tables at least a week in advance.
Planning takes place throughout other stages of high tempo journeys. Three quarters (75%) schedule their start time, and large majorities also plan elements like the group they’re visiting with (87%), pre-drinks (82%) and venues to visit (64%). There is an even balance of planning and spontaneity in whether to have food and where to have food—which is an increasingly important part of these experiences.
The Evolving High Tempo Occasion Report also flags the types of drinks that high tempo planners want. Nearly a third say they would pre-order bottles of sparkling wine/champagne (31%) or sharing jugs (31%), while single-serves (31%), buckets of packaged drinks (27%), bottles of spirit with mixers (25%) and trays of shots / energy bombs (17%) are all in demand too. Two in five (41%) say it’s important that their drinks are served cold—a much more important factor than high alcohol content (22%) or serve size (19%).
Jonny Jones from CGA by NIQ says high tempo visits to the on-premise involve an interesting mix of advance thought and in-the-moment decision-making.
“More planning goes into these occasions than some realise – which creates some great opportunities for suppliers and venues to sell drinks in advance and alongside food, and to plan strategies to maximise dwell time and spend.
“But behaviours are evolving fast, and success here requires an expert understanding of the new-look balance of planning and spontaneity.”
Influencing spontaneous decisions maximises spend
There is still a lot of spontaneity in other aspects of high tempo visits. Over half say their drinks category choices (54%), number of serves (62%) and end time (57%) are spontaneous rather than planned.
High tempo visitors are ready to spend freely on drinks. Three in five say they either don’t set a budget (47%) or probably won’t stick to the amount they budgeted (13%). This opens the door to trade-ups, and more than half (53%) agree they are likely to pay more for a better quality drink on a high tempo occasion—14 percentage points more than the average when going out for relaxed or quiet drinks.
“While a lot of planning goes into the basics of a high tempo occasion, many consumers are keen to stay spontaneous in their drinks choices and are keen to premiumise – especially later on in a visit,” says Jones.
“But they will only do so if they are satisfied that the experience they are getting is good enough. Brand positioning and ranging are key to influencing decisions in the spontaneous stages of visits, and our report delivers the market intelligence that all suppliers need to intervene and influence people here.”
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