The lights go out for the nightclub market

Its bad news for shareholders of Luminar - but this news story is packed with rich potential for a business studies lesson…

Luminar Group Holdings plc is quoted public company that operates a portfolio of nightclub brands. 

The share price of Luminar fell by a third last week when management announced some very poor trading results.  According to this report in The Times:

“Luminar said that while investment in its venues had driven higher spend per head, admissions had dropped sharply in August and September — a decline exacerbated by heavy discounting among competitors, many of which were employing “all you can drink” offers to attract customers.”

Currently, more than 80% of Luminar nightclub revenues are generated by their core 18-24 year-old customers - a population that has been hit particularly hard by the increase in youth unemployment.

An interesting change in segmentation looks on the cards for Luminar according to the article as Luminar focuses on the “divorced, single and dumped” market.”

The nightclub market probably outperforms other leisure markets during times of economic boom, but it looks much weaker when consumer spending is cut back.  It could be some time before the lights come back on

Revision Presentation - Marketing Mix: Introduction to Pricing [17 May 2012]
Revision Presentation - Unemployment & Business [6 Apr 2012]
UK manufacturing - GlaxoSmithKline invests in 1,000 new jobs [22 Mar 2012]
Business legislation - the cost to businesses [5 Mar 2012]
Economics for Business: Is an economic recovery underway? [28 Feb 2012]
Extreme Market Segmentation? [20 Feb 2012]
Buying-in to the Facebook culture [5 Feb 2012]
Crazy Frog-Great example of a targeted marketing mix? [28 Jan 2012]
Would you work harder - for nothing? The hidden costs of employment fear [29 Dec 2011]
Unemployment and motivation [28 Dec 2011]
Investment in People - Google and Human Capital [26 Dec 2011]
The human story of long-term unemployment [15 Dec 2011]
Optimism and expansion in consumer leisure markets [2 Dec 2011]
Cut price cup cake deal goes wrong…... [22 Nov 2011]
Retrenchment not enough as the lights go out for Luminar [6 Nov 2011]
Stakeholders gripped by the bad news coming from BAE Systems [28 Sep 2011]
Business investment: the UK corporate cash pile [15 Jun 2011]
Recruitment challenges from the skills gap [25 May 2011]
An end to outsourcing? [18 May 2011]
Changing demand in the market for live music [16 May 2011]
Jaguar goes for NPD investment with £5bn plan [10 May 2011]
Life in the chocolate factory - automation, productivity, motivation and culture [24 Apr 2011]
Private v Public Sector - A Clash of Two Cultures? [20 Apr 2011]
Discounters move into UK shopping malls [19 Apr 2011]
The UK Economy - Business Investment [14 Mar 2011]
The UK Economy - Unemployment [13 Mar 2011]
The Profit Margin Bloodbath of UK Recession [6 Mar 2011]
Niche segmentation - Britain’s Last Teddy Bear Maker [23 Feb 2011]
Revision games - Marketing Basics (True / False) [16 Feb 2011]
Q&A - Distinguish between price and cost [2 Jan 2011]
Q&A - Should a business use a “loss leader” as part of its pricing tactics? [31 Dec 2010]
BUSS1 Revision Quiz - Understanding Markets [15 Dec 2010]
Marketing strategy: North Face aims to become the “Nike of outdoors” [12 Dec 2010]
Segmentation & Pricing - the Ice-Cream Price Pyramid [17 Nov 2010]
Cash flow Clue-doh! The Mystery is Revealed… [2 Nov 2010]
Making the FT Brand Sweat! [19 Oct 2010]
Businesses argue the case for greater investment in public infrastructure [16 Oct 2010]
Pricing Strategy - Mobile Data Networks [14 Sep 2010]
Insights into the Ice Cream Market [11 Sep 2010]
The FT and Online Paywalls - a Winning Strategy? [30 Jul 2010]
Lessons from the business model of King & Allen [13 Jul 2010]
Dark days for the UK nightclub market [21 Jun 2010]
A significant rise in unemployment ahead for the UK [16 Jun 2010]
Business survival strategies for independent bookshops [14 Jun 2010]
BUSS4 UK Recession - More Profit & More Customers - How Sainsburys Did It [25 May 2010]
BUSS4 UK Recession - Data Burn [15 May 2010]
Niche marketing?  Its Pants [15 May 2010]
Corus chief calls for more government funds for the economy [8 Apr 2010]
Recession Survival Strategies Cost UK SMEs £16bn [31 Mar 2010]
UK Recession - What Happened to Redundancies? [30 Mar 2010]
An interesting way to describe the Business Cycle [25 Feb 2010]
Marketing in a recession: more focus on brand advertising and product enhancements [20 Feb 2010]
A CEO’s take on the effect of the recession on UK restaurants [18 Feb 2010]
Taking Demand-based Pricing To Extremes [8 Feb 2010]
Government support for apprenticeships [6 Feb 2010]
Recession Tracker for UK Economic Data [1 Feb 2010]
Video case study - substitute goods benefiting from the recession [1 Feb 2010]
What business students can learn from how businesses have handled the recession [1 Feb 2010]
Introducing business and the economic environment with Darling’s debt dilemma [27 Jan 2010]
Product, pricing and profitability in a changing market [20 Jan 2010]
Q&A - What is the difference between niche and mass marketing? [15 Jan 2010]
Q&A - Outline the main business benefits from market segmentation [15 Jan 2010]
Q&A - What is market segmentation? [15 Jan 2010]
Revision Quiz - Unemployment [13 Jan 2010]
Revision Presentation - Revenues and Demand [30 Dec 2009]
Q&A - When is it appropriate for a firm to use penetration pricing? [21 Dec 2009]
Q&A - Explain price skimming [21 Dec 2009]
Q&A - What is the difference between pricing strategies & tactics? [21 Dec 2009]
Q&A - Explain what is meant by price positioning [21 Dec 2009]
Q&A - What factors should a business consider when setting its prices? [19 Dec 2009]
Q&A - How does pricing link to the objectives of a business? [19 Dec 2009]
Q&A - What is price and why is it so important in the marketing mix? [19 Dec 2009]
Breakfast for $1 tests price elasticity of demand [12 Dec 2009]
Video Case Study - Luxury Sound Maker Ditches CDs [4 Dec 2009]
Outdoor Ice-skating heads firmly down the product life cycle [3 Dec 2009]
A tale of two bakers [16 Nov 2009]
Emerging markets drive demand for oil [16 Nov 2009]
Buffett Bets on the Railways [5 Nov 2009]
Santa goes back to basics in attempt to reduce the cost of Christmas [29 Oct 2009]
Q&A - What is globalisation? [27 Oct 2009]
Q&A - How are businesses affected by unemployment? [27 Oct 2009]
Q&A - What are the main causes of unemployment? [27 Oct 2009]
Q&A - What has happened to unemployment in the UK? [27 Oct 2009]
Q&A - Explain what unemployment is and how it is measured [27 Oct 2009]
Pricing strategies and tactics under investigation [15 Oct 2009]
Dyson launches a new premium product [14 Oct 2009]
Ukraine 1 England 0 - A match to remember? [12 Oct 2009]
Napster - Trying to compete, or getting desperate? [9 Oct 2009]
V-Water - from start up to exit [4 Oct 2009]
A textbook example of how rising unemployment affects demand [23 Sep 2009]
Can you spot the next ‘disruptive technology’? [7 Sep 2009]
How to beat the tourism competition?  Be the “steepest” [31 Aug 2009]
Sony cuts the PS3 price to extend its life cycle [30 Aug 2009]
A dramatic fall in business investment [27 Aug 2009]
More trouble in the skies [27 Aug 2009]
Strategic business decision-making - Network Rail [26 Aug 2009]
Picking from a growing pool of job hunters [19 Aug 2009]
Sainsbury’s and Diageo pitch in to battle [17 Aug 2009]
Own label brands profit from the recession [4 Aug 2009]
Demand and supply in action - tea prices surge [4 Aug 2009]

BUSINESS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER
Get first news of business teaching resources, ideas and other materials from tutor2u. Over 9,400 business teachers from the UK and around the world receive our regular teacher email newsletters. Sign up for free here!