The Leadmill 1.4 - Leisure & Tourism GCSE
LEADMILL NIGHT CLUB 4:
SWOT ANALYSIS
A SWOT analysis is one way of looking at the current marketing position of any
business. The Chief Executive, Julie Tippins, has got views on the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing The Leadmill:
Strengths
“I think that one of our big strengths is our reputation
for live music and different types of clubbing; we’re
not seen as a mainstream club, we’re seen as
something slightly on the alternative, which I think
makes us very different from our competitors”
Weaknesses
Julie
“Because we have such a well known brand here, I
suppose we are so well known for live music and we
do see ourselves as a slightly more alternative club.
That can actually alienate some of the market, who
want something that they would see as being a lot
safer or a lot more predictable. I think that people
would like it if they came, but sometimes, it’s difficult
to persuade them to come in the first place.”
Opportunities
“I think that if there is a company that views our business in the long-term, you can
build a really successful business, especially if you look after the customer. We are
a company that really cares about our customers. People want more from a
business now, they want a better service and I think that if you can provide that,
then I think that there is a massive opportunity for bringing more customers into this
industry.”
Threats
“One of the threats that we will have to face is with the changing of the licensing
laws, more of the bars will be able to become more like clubs and like venues, so
that will increase the number of competitors in our market and obviously, they will
want a share of our business.”
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The Leadmill 1.4 - Leisure & Tourism GCSE
Rupert Dell (Live Promoter) and Ged Warren (Senior Manager)
have also got some views on the SWOT.
Rupert
“There are many outside influences that can affect whether a customer is going to
come down to the Disco Club Night or not. That could be exams for students. It
could be payday for the normal working people. It could be whether it’s really hot.
For example, the football on Monday had a great effect on us, everybody came
down to the club night afterwards, and we were absolutely packed. But the day
after, everybody’s got a hangover! So again, football has both negative and
positive effects.
Weather doesn’t really have a huge effect. If it’s really snowing hard and they can’t
get a taxi that will have an effect, because The Leadmill is a bit out of the way, so
you really need a taxi. Rain doesn’t really have an effect, unless its gale force wind
and rain, it doesn’t tend to have an effect.
We have to think about all these things. There are outside concerns that we can
assume are going to happen, but weather, for example, there’s nothing we can do
about it.”
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The Leadmill 1.4 - Leisure & Tourism GCSE
Ged
“One of the things in particular that we are looking at is being able to have a DJ
playing music on a DVD and have the visuals for that song up on screen all around
the building. That’s something that in the past, we haven’t been able to do because
it’s incredibly expensive. But prices are coming down and the technology is moving
forward, so we are looking at doing that.
We are also looking at having PC-driven visuals on all our screens, so we can have
completely different things on each screen; all sorts of messages going up on
screen, just to interest customers. This has been developed ‘in-house’ by two
technicians along with some people at Hallam University.”
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