How lady night works and how we can shop at 3am

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