Demand for on-trade experiences has grown exponentially behind closed doors during the past year – with technology poised to add a new dimension to both physical and virtual occasions, according to Heineken.
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APR 27, 2021
The digital customer, born on the internet and more recently shaped by the pandemic, is here to stay, and their numbers will only grow. There were 256 million digital buyers in the United States in 2020. It’s predicted there will be nearly 280 million by 2024.
The digital customer, who cares less about where they shop and more about the most convenient, safest and quickest ways to do so spends when inspiration strikes, and they expect a seamless shopping journey. Consumers are also aspirational; with the rise of influencer marketing, consumers follow their favorite Instagram or TikTok personalities and align with the lifestyles those individuals project and that they want to share. Particularly among younger buyers, consumers have also indicated that they want to be engaged across multiple channels, placing the onus on brands to provide a multichannel experience.
Now though we’ve had time to think harder about how our businesses work and many pubs are bringing in money-saving equipment and software to help boost the bottom line.
In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic pubs had to switch their businesses into more tech-focused operations for various reasons, but the main driver was the need for booking and payment systems.
Countless apps rose from the nowhere and were taken up by desperate operators who needed solutions to problems they’d never encountered before – mainly ordering and paying from tables but also the need for more intelligent booking software.