Vouchers are most popular with the younger age group
When it comes to eating out, internet savvy 18-34 year olds have been found to be the largest age group to use vouchers in order to get discounts and offers off food outlets.
67% of the age group used vouchers when eating out, with the highest take-up of vouchers being from casual dining and fast food places.
This younger age group were the most engaged through subscribing to websites and forums, shopping about, and using smartphones and social networking to get discounts.
3,000 people took part in the Taste of the Nation survey, by Deloitte, which found over half of consumers have used a special offer voucher when dining out.
Jon Lake, a corporate finance director in the licensed retail group at Deloitte, said: "Vouchers have proved an effective tactic by some operators for encouraging consumers to eat in their outlets, and have risen in popularity since the recession. However, the popularity of some of these schemes has raised concerns some operators are now reliant on them."
Though vouchers are widely used across the industry, the problem now lies with consumers loyalty to their restaurants, with 27% of 18-34's saying they would stop going to a place that no longer offered vouchers.
Lake continued: "Vouchers are undoubtedly an excellent tool to generate new custom, especially amongst the 18-34 age group, the biggest market for eating out. However, the challenge comes when converting that consumer into a loyal customer willing to pay the full price in their establishment.
Operators need to strike a balance between curbing the use of vouchers in their outlets whilst retaining their loyal customer base."
From the overall survey, only 1 in 5 consumers would stop visiting an outlet if they discontinued their vouchers.
Alexandra Baracskai
Tagged in Food And Drink eating out