Seconds? Another Helping of Data
Remember the family from last week that was at your destination and ready to eat and shop? We know they came ready to spend, but let’s dig in a little more into what’s driving their purchase decisions.
The family of five includes two adults and three kids. That’s a lot of opinions on food. Research backs up what we already suspected. In PGAV’s recent Food, Beverage, and Retail spending survey (FB&R), visitors reported variety, seating options, ambiance, and selections for kids as important. That’s the starting point to making this family happy and spending their money at the attraction instead of waiting until they are headed back to the hotel.
Once a great menu with lots of variety and a dining experience in a pleasing environment have been created, it’s time to look at secondary drivers—these are the things that will help satisfy everyone in the family. If you think back, the dad looked like he needed a drink. The FB&R study showed 41% of visitors think the availability of alcohol is important. But while 66% of visitors buy a soft drink, only 34% purchase alcohol. That flexitarian teenager? She wants her food to be from a local farm (nearly 40% of visitors feel locally sourced ingredients are important) and made with sustainable ingredients (39% of visitors). To maximize their time at the attraction, the family also would like to make a reservation (38%) and take in a show while eating (live entertainment 35%). Mobile ordering (33%) also showed up on the list.
Now we know what drives our visitors to make a purchase—but what’s inhibiting them? The study revealed the top five barriers to food and beverage purchases when people did not make a food and beverage purchase when at an attraction: Unaffordability (46%), low quality (44%), dirty/messy seating area (42%), no place to sit (40%), and not enough variety (39%). The lesson: price/affordability and quality matter.
Barriers to F&B purchases on occasions the visitor did not make an F&B purchase
In addition to wanting choices for kids (you know the drill—chicken nuggets and macaroni), more than one in five attraction visitors indicated that they or someone in their household have a dietary restriction. The most common restrictions reported in the study include diabetic needs (37%), dairy sensitivities (26%), low carb (26%), and gluten intolerance (24%). What’s this mean? We need to consider the child with a gluten allergy—chicken nuggets and macaroni aren’t going to work for him, and a lack of options to meet customers’ needs shrinks the total available market to purchase food by 20%.
While people reported they would prefer comfort food (65%) to healthy options (35%), it’s worth a closer look at why that is. Are the “healthy” options that are presented unappealing? Is it just a salad with some lettuce and tomato tossed in? Is there a way to make comfort foods healthier?
People also prefer simple and quick food service (62%) and unique items they can’t get anywhere else (54%)—we’re looking at you, Hershey’s chocolate barbecue chicken wings! And visitors prefer larger portions to share with each other (60%) rather than smaller portions that allow sampling multiple choices (40%).
Now onto retail. The mom and 12-year-old plan to visit the shops. What are they looking for? More than 60% of visitors reported their primary reason for making a purchase was for a souvenir. Functional (31%) and collectible (26%) items were rated much lower.
They easily found shops to peruse—located conveniently around the attraction-- and are searching for t-shirts and keychains. But they are disappointed—when mom picks up the t-shirt with the attraction logo, it feels itchy and is nearly see-through. And that keychain? Way too expensive. When asked what characteristics draw visitors to shopping and visiting retail shops at attractions, people reported looking for affordable prices (77%), quality of merchandise (74%), variety (67%), location at the attraction (61%), and availability of attraction brands (57%).
The key themes:
Are you selling quality items, and does the price match the level of quality?
Do you provide enough variety—can a middle-aged mom and the 12-year-old both find something they’d like?
Are your store locations convenient?
Looking for a few factors to tweak in the retail experience? The FB&R study found the availability of products online, attraction brands, package pickup, locally sourced merchandise, and variety will drive more spending. When asked about future purchases, 64% of visitors indicated they’d prefer an item that was unique to the attraction compared to 40% who preferred a nationally branded item.
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