Case study of a pub retail company

A large pub retail company had a major problem. The problem was to know where its pubs were and what competitor pubs were nearby. The company sought solutions from a number of large market research organisations. All of them could provide a solution but upon the slightest scrutiny the pub retail company saw that the solutions offered by these well known businesses came up short. The problem was fundamentally simple to solve but none of the potential suppliers could provide the solution by identifying the best available methodology.

CGA Ltd identified two basic requirements that would enable the pub retailer to solve their problem.

The first was to have the pub retailer evaluate the "preciousness" of its own data. The test required the pub retailer to be honest with itself and CGA Ltd. In turn CGA Ltd assured them that the result would prove to be sound and resolve the primary problem. The fact is that the outlets that make up the pub company's estate is not that precious - millions of people have to know where the pub is otherwise the business would fail. Hence the pub company resolved to let CGA Ltd handle their pub information in confidence.

The second test was to establish if there was benefit to be gained from pooling similar information from other pub retail companies. The answer was an undoubted yes in that the pub retailer was able to say more certainly than that offered by other solution providers. The secondary benefit was that CGA Ltd could rely upon the pub retailer's information and consequently concentrate resources on establishing the validity and existence of other outlets in the market place.

Drinks Places was born and has benefited more than 20 pub retail companies over the last 10 years. The methodology is so sound that the industry has never had such a reliable and comprehensive database of pubs - over 90% of the 68,000 pubs were verified as trading in the last 12 months.