How lady night works and how we can shop at 3am
We are all familiar with the lady night, a promotion rooting
from pub, club and bar. On the lady night, ladies are served drinks with no
charge. We all love that promotion, not only because of the money we don’t have
to pay, but also because of its meaning when it is only applied to women, not
men. And it also raised a very interesting question: How can the club owners
afford a lady night? If the ladies do not pay for their drink, how can the
owners get the revenue? And finally, is lady night just a promotion, or a trick
that can really earn profit?
The answer: the club owners can make money with the lady
night. It is arguably that lady night is usually on weekdays, such as Wednesday
or Tuesday. It is to understand, because weekend alone can attract people to
the clubs without a very small promotion. However, due to the fixed cost of
renting, the club owners cannot afford to open only at weekends. Therefore, a
promotion on weekdays is necessary to help raise the revenue. But where does
the revenue come from if the drinks are free of charge? It comes from my bill,
a male who only goes to bar at the lady night. The trick here is the lady night
attracts not only ladies but men also. Most of men go to bar because of the
women there. Therefore, the lady night will be the night that can attract men
the best. And it is arguably that the price of a specific drink is often set
high enough to cover 3 or 4 times the real cost of it. It means when I buy a
drink in bar, I am actually paying for other women who are enjoying free
cocktails. But are there enough men to pay for the women? Simple math shows us
that although the free drinks only apply to women, the ratio between men and
women remains balanced. However, cost and revenue is not the only benefit of
lady night.
It is widely proved and believed that as a customer, we tend
to be loyal to a specific brand. We often want to choose between Pepsi and Coke,
Nike and Adidas, … But what manipulates our choice? Why do you prefer Pepsi to
Coke? There are many contributors to this: the recent market’s trend, service
quality, or, say, which product we used first. The products we used in our
childhood will have a strong influence on us. They manipulate what we buy and
how we use our money. If a child drinks Pepsi before Coke, he will be likely to
prefer Pepsi later in all his life. Most of people can name all the cinemas in
the city, but ask them how many cinemas they have been to, the number will be
surprisingly small. Why do they only choose to go to one place and use only one
specific brand, though it is irrational to do that because the more brands we
use, the better choice we have? The answer: changing may bring inconvenience.
If we have to go to other cinema rather our familiar one, we have to look for
the ticket shelter, the bar, the restroom, and in some cases, the way to that
cinema. Though all of those inconveniences will disappear after one or two
visits, it can destroy the very first thought and idea of giving a try.
Therefore, given the same quality of every clubs in the city, the clubs you
visit first will stand a better chance to attract you once again. That’s why
the club owners want to carry the lady night, as a promotion, to make the people
become familiar with their places, even though the revenue may not balance the
cost of it.
That helps explain why convenience stores open 24/7. It is
certain to say that the cost of opening during night exceeds the revenue. The
wage of employees, the cost of delivery is higher when it comes to night shift,
while there are less people buying things at 2am than at 2pm. So why do the
stores still open 24/7? Imagine at first all the shops close at 10, which is
the time when revenue balances cost. One day shop X decides to close at 12.
Though it may get some more customers, the sale cannot balance the cost of
opening till that time. However, those customers will tend to visit shop X
again, because they are familiar with how the products are arranged and placed
in the store. Later, the benefit of opening longer will make other stores
behave the same. After a period, that will lead to a 24/7 convenience store.
And at that moment, interestingly, no stores will benefit from opening all the
time.
It is necessary to bear in mind that everything happens for
a reason.
Kz
