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Category Archives: Location based entertainment
More High Fidelity Proof
I believe this past weekend’s success of the movie Gravity is additional proof in the movie theater industry . . . Continue reading
Households increased entertainment spending in 2012
American households increased their average spending for fees and admissions at location-based entertainment venues in 2012 . . . Both the bad and good news is that the staycation trend is still going strong. . . These continuing long-term trends have serious implications for location-based entertainment. Continue reading
Vacation Deficit (Staycation) Trend Appears Headed Up this Year
A recent poll found that the staycation trend that started back in 1996 is continuing into 2013, with less people confident they will take a vacation than last year, but those that do expect to spend 12% more. Continue reading
Bowling as a third place
Contemporary bowling centers as well as other types of LBEs can have great success if they become third places. Continue reading
Baby Bust Continued into 2012
The latest statistics just released by the IRS show that the baby bust has continued into 2012. Continue reading
Social Stratification of Location-based Entertainment Spending Continues
The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released for the very first time consumer expenditure data on a mid-year basis, for the twelve months from mid-2011 through mid-2012. The data shows that the social stratification trend is continuing. Continue reading
Is the baby bust the death of children’s entertainment centers?
What does the recent baby bust mean for children’s entertainment centers? Continue reading
Foundations Entertainment University Attracts 63 Attendees
The 28th Foundations Entertainment University held in Las Vegas March 18-19 in conjunction with Amusement Expo attracted 63 attendees. The next Foundations will be held in Chicago July 16-18, 2013. Continue reading
2002-2011 Changes to Household Location-Based Entertainment Spending
The world of entertainment is evolving and toppling old models. . . The changing landscape of entertainment is having an adverse impact on location-based (bricks ‘n’ mortar) entertainment. Continue reading
What age households are the big spenders for location-based entertainment?
It’s the older age households that have the greatest aggregate out-of-home entertainment spending, not younger age households that marketing myths have us believe. Article includes infographic and historical trend data. Continue reading
Get unstuck; It’s really all about social-tainment!
The location-based entertainment industry has paradigm paralysis, continuing to believe build the entertainment and they will come. Get unstuck with social-tainment. Continue reading
The Potential of the Stay-at-Home Mother Market
Many businesses, including entertainment facilities, fail to recognize and capture the potential from the stay-at-home mother market. Continue reading
Infographic on entertainment spending on trips
Infographic illustrates the changes to household entertainment spending on trips by quintiles of income Continue reading
Out-of-home entertainment spending continues to decrease
Decreases in out-of-home entertainment spending since the start of the recession are only part of a longer term trend. Continue reading
Social Stratification of Out-of-Home Entertainment
An increasing share of out-of-home entertainment spending is shifting to higher socioeconomic households Continue reading
Video Games Taking Share from Out-of-Town Entertainment Spending
Analysis shows a definite trend of entertainment spending shifting from out-of-home entertainment venues to video games and software. Continue reading
Household Spending for Out-of-Home Entertainment and Restaurants Seriously Declined in 2010
Household out-of-home entertainment and restaurant spending saw a serious decline in 2010. Continue reading
Software is eating the bricks-and-mortar world, including entertainment venues
The value chain of many industries, including location-based entertainment, is being eaten by software and the digital world. Continue reading
Climbing the wall of FEC success
There’s a financial hurdle that all family entertainment centers need to meet if they are going to have long term success rather than become road kill. Unfortunately, many FECs fail to make it. Learn about many of the reasons why FECs fail due to inadequate budgets and investment. Continue reading
Attracting Millennials to location-based entertainment venues
Attracting Millennials to location-based entertainment venues is a challenge. Learn some of their unique qualities and some pointers. Continue reading
Upscaling the guest’s LBE facility experience
Most independent FEC and LBE owners fail to understand the importance of the quality of design and ambiance of their facility to their success. Continue reading
Bowling: Death and Rebirth
Bowling is undergoing a significant change with the decline of league bowlers and bowling alleys and the emergence of upscale bowling centers catering to casual open-play bowlers. Between 2007 and 2010, the number of serious bowlers (13+ x/yr) declined 22%. Continue reading
Chuck E. Cheese’s Leaking Bucket
Learn how Chuck E. Cheese’s has the highest new customer defection rate of almost any restaurant and how restaurant defection rates are now improving post-recession Continue reading
Be aware of guest homophily
When it comes to applying the concept of homophily to location-based entertainment, it is critical to know what socioeconomic/lifestyle group you want to attract. Continue reading
The Architects of Service
Poor customer service experiences are often not the fault of frontline staff, rather the blame falls on the architects of service who design the customer service procedures, staff training programs as well as the actual physical facility. Continue reading
Feasibility studies – a combination of art and science
A feasibility study for location-based entertainment is both science and art. Properly prepared, it becomes the strategic plan for the entire project. Continue reading
Community-Based Eatertainment Venue Sales on Increase
Comparable store sales at a number of public eatertainment companies are showing increases, indicating an increase in consumer spending at community-based entertainment-oriented venues. Continue reading
It’s time to kill the family entertainment center industry
Now don’t panic. I’m not suggesting we close the centers. What I am suggesting is that it’s time to do away with the inappropriate industry term for the type of venues that the FEC industry claims to represent. Using family … Continue reading
It’s All About the Expectations
Give Your Customer the Minimum They Expect During Every Encounter With Your Business (Nothing more and Nothing Less) Continue reading
Know the market you are targeting, but don’t forget the adults
Know the market you are targeting, but don’t forget the adults Continue reading
Chuck E. Cheese’s joins the Multiverse
Several of my recent articles have discussed that to prosper in the future, community-based entertainment, including family entertainment centers, will need to use digital technology to fuse the real and virtual worlds by embracing the Multiverse and its eight-realm matrix … Continue reading
Don’t count on cabin fever to drive attendance
Relying on people having cabin fever to drive attendance at a family entertainment center type facility is wishful thinking. The world of out-of-home entertainment has changed dramatically in the last decade or so. Several decades ago, short of playing Monopoly … Continue reading
Why so many FECs have marginal success or fail
Over our company’s 22-years working in the location-based entertainment (LBE) and family entertainment center (FEC) industries, which include bowling and other community-based out-of-home entertainment venues, we have been retained by many clients to analyze their poorly performing centers and develop … Continue reading
Thoughts on the Future of LBEs & Digital Out-of-Home Entertainment
Recently Kevin Williams, publisher of The Stinger Report, an ezine that covers the digital out-of-home interactive entertainment industry, contacted me and several other industry leaders and asked about our take on the future of location-based entertainment and digital out-of-home entertainment. … Continue reading
The importance of both value and values
The Great Recession has definitely made the consumer far more value conscious in their purchasing decisions. Today value means far more than the price, it means what you get for the price you pay. Often the less expensive items don’t … Continue reading
Is your out-of-home entertainment experience better than nothing?
Location-based entertainment facilities (LBEs) often compare themselves to the competition down the road and worry, “Is my facility better than theirs? Is my entertainment better? Am I competitively priced?” etc. Well, those other bricks-and-mortar LBEs are not the only competition. … Continue reading
