City opinion Jonathan Wildgoose

Learning a lesson from supermarkets

Many pub operators and licensees have strong opinions about supermarkets.

In many cases, they see the supermarket chains as competitors and also disagree with their pricing policy on alcohol.

However, maybe pubs can also look at the way supermarkets are run and use that knowledge to boost their own businesses.

Coming from a point-of-sale background, it is clear to me that there are some things that pubs can learn from the supermarket chains.

Walk into Tesco or Sainsbury's and there is a heavy emphasis on point of sale. Supermarkets offer a wide choice of products, and it is clear that they focus on selling certain products and brands. For example, they give special positioning to products at the end of the aisles and at checkouts.

This is not always the case in pubs — and as a result, many licensees are missing out on sales of certain drinks they are keen to sell.

Many pubs I visit do not, in my opinion, put the right emphasis on positioning their drinks behind the bar. Research shows that a high percentage of people do not actually know what they are going to drink when they enter a pub.

This is a golden opportunity for licensees to encourage them to purchase a drink that benefits the pub as well as the customer.

Licensees can also promote beers that are served on tap — for example, condensation fonts promise colder refreshment for the customer, which is a great selling point — the beers served from them are likely to be more popular for this reason.

However, to gain the maximum benefit from this attraction, it needs to be placed carefully to ensure it truly stands out and is not lost in a maze of fonts at the bar.

And in the same way as supermarkets promote certain products that they are keen to sell and provide them with the highest profit margins, the pub will be able to do the same.

To be fair, there are a number of savvy pub operators and licensees across the UK that have already taken on board the views that I have expressed.

However, it seems to me that with a bit of thought and time, all licensees can ensure that their pubs are in the best position to maximise sales, boost profits and keep their customers happy too.