Marketing Research Report (Shisha)

2. Market in Brief

The smoking market is gradually decreasing, as the number of people smoking in the UK fall every year, but no radically as some people might think as only a small amount of people kick the habit annually

Almost a third of the 12 million adult smokers’ claim that they are smoking less cigarettes and one in five claim that they smoke more at home as the smoking ban affected their socialising life in pubs, clubs, etc...

As the decrease of the number of people smoking in the UK may affect ASL, but realistically it wouldn’t be a radical effect, as only a small portion of people tend to quit smoking annually.

The smoking ban does affect Shisha businesses, but they could be the new socialising place for smokers as they will be allowed to smoke where as in pubs it is illegal to smoke. However the age of smoking purchase is raised from 16 to 18, this could be seen as a minor effect, as ASL already took that on board and identified their target customers, 18+.

The government has introduced nicotine products that help people who are trying to give up an extra push to their self motivation, but Mintel states “the success of these products is clearly limited, otherwise cigarette volumes would have dropped away quickly at an alarming rate. The cigarette market is here to stay, albeit smaller than before”  

This analysis the power of the smoking market regardless of the nicotine products the government has introduced. This will benefit ASL as Shisha is not really addictive as it only has 0.5% tobacco in a 500g portion of flavour which can last for 5 hours. Smokers will be encouraged to smoke Shisha more than cigarettes as it brings back their social life of smoking in a lounge.

3. Internal Market Environment

• Legal age for buying tobacco products raised from 16 – 18
• Shisha bars have to have their roof at least 50% open for the air to circulate
• Smokers fight the anti-smoking lobby by protesting the “right to smoke.”

The number of people smoking in the UK is falling, but not radically, and this is due to the affects of the smoking ban, and eventually because of people not finding a place to smoke, this goes in ASL’s favour as they consider themselves as “a place to smoke and socialising atmosphere”

Below is table showing a survey result based on 25,000 adults

Source: Figure 3, “Mintel Report” appendix B, page 6

This table shows the percentage of cigars, hand rolling tobacco and pipe tobacco smoking over a 5 year period (2003-2007) and the overall changing point. However the pipe tobacco smoking has not decreased radically, as its changing point is 0.1% over the 5 years. Older people tend to be pipe smokers and they are the very consumers who support the smoking ban.  This table shows the results in a more clear way by showing the type of smoking and percentage over the five year period and finally identify the % point change.

This table analysis the most of the pipe smokers are fans of the smoking ban, which shows that the smoking ban hasn’t affected the Shisha environment radically, which is good news for ASL as they wouldn’t have to worry about losing their consumers as you don’t have to smoke cigarettes to smoke Shisha.

There are smokers out there who are fighting for their rights to enjoy tobacco, which gives ASL a general idea that there are people out there who are anti-smoking ban. FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco) is the major organisation representing the rights of adults who choose to smoke tobacco and non smoking adults who are tolerant of other people smoking.  

This could be seen as a great advantage for ASL as these people would be taking any chance of smoke socialising places such as Shisha cafes and lounges, as there are people that smoke Shisha and don’t smoke cigarettes, or don’t smoke at all as some people just attend to socialise with others and that means the people there are people who are tolerant of other people smoking.

3. Pub Visiting – UK – November 2009

This report will enable ASL to gain general understanding on how socialising places like pubs are affected by the smoking ban, alongside the market in brief, which will analyse the market current state and any further growth. Moreover this will enable the business to identify the number of visits to pubs in the UK (November 2009) and it will have some relative aspects of smoking and socialising issues in the pub which will relate to ASL business operation. The data provided is looking at the UK market overall, but there are factors within the report which prove to be national and that will relate to local market aspects.

1. Issues in the Market

This section of the Mintel report examines the current issues and affective factors; this enables the business to identify the current state of the market and what is facing it.

The current issues in the “Pub” market are:

• Pubs facing a long term decline due to the smoking ban and recession
• Licensing deregulations

Due to the smoking ban, the licensing has changed within the “Pub” market as they cannot have a smoking license.

The smoking ban plays a big role in the long term decline of the market as people tend to smoke more at home due to the smoking ban. The number of visits to the pub has decreased over the last three years as people that smoke don’t visit the pub as much as they used to do.

This can be seen as a great advantage to ASL as the number of smokers who tend to not visit or less visit the pub will be encouraged to visit the lounge as they like to smoke and socialise with friends. So therefore ASL taking into account growth areas will see them thrive to success.  

2. Market in Brief

This part of the report will enable ASL business to identify highlighted factors of the market, alongside factors affecting the market, suggestions to keep pubs afloat and legislative factors.

Businesses within the market (pubs, cafes, night clubs) are affected by the smoking ban, and some are trying to overcome this issue by trying out new trends, where as other outlets are just fighting for survival as the recession and the smoking ban are major factors that affected them severely.  

Pub visiting habit has fallen over the last three years; the smoking ban is seen as the main factor behind this aspect, alongside the recession. It is now seen as a habit for around a fifth of adults that visit the pub once a week or more often and this indicates that going to the pub is a regular thing for them. However around a half of all adults visit less compared to before, they visit less than once in three months or never. This indicates that there is more to consider in this market to engage more consumers to visit more often.

This helps ASL consider factors that can encourage more consumers to visit within this market, they will have to consider the following:

Location and convenience: the location is seen as one of the important issue, if the business is located in a place where target customers are rare within the area then it is going to see the business fighting for survival, so therefore choosing a suitable location can affect the number of visits. Moreover the convenience of the location must be easy to access because if the access is hard and/or dodgy then less people will find it appealing.

Value for money and/or promotion: the issue of value for money attracts and encourages more consumers to attend, moreover the use of promotions e.g. 2 for 1, buy one get one free (BOGOF) influences the consumers and encourages them to visit more regularly and may also acknowledge friends/family to visit.

Finally there are legislative factors facing the market such as the VAT reverting to 17.5% on January 2010, which will cause even more difficulty for those businesses out there who are affected by the smoking ban and recession. These outlets will be fighting for survival. The pricing will have to increase in the market (in pubs, cafes, clubs) and ASL will have to address these issues as the pricing may affect their competition from supermarket firms.

3. Internal Market Environment

This data within the report show the market environment, which asses the affects within the market, e.g. whether the pub visiting decline is a temporary blip or a life style change.

The market is affected by several issues but most blame goes to the door of the smoking ban and latterly the recession. However these are the familiar factors where as other issues are becoming a concern as people who usually visit the pub for a meal, tend to visit less or never. The businesses within the market will have to adapt different marketing issues to encourage more visits.

This will enable ASL to consider factors that may face them, such as the recession and find ways in which they can tackle the arising issues, for example consider the location and make it convenient and easy accessed which will appeal to more people.

The table below shows the “Agreement with lifestyle statements, 2005-09”

* % point change is for 2007-09
Taken from the TGI survey of around 25,000 adults

This table shows the lifestyle statements over a five year period. The purpose of choosing to display this table is to show how these lifestyle statements will affect the market as more smokers tend to stay at home rather than visit the pub.

The highlighted sections within the table are related to the ASL business as it displays the lifestyle statements of “I spend a lot of my spare time with friends every day” and “In the evening I often go to a bar (cafe, pub, club)” these two sections of the table identifies the percentage change over the five year period for those who like to socialise with friends and/or visit pubs, cafes or clubs.

There isn’t a significant or a radical change compared to other figures in the table which shows that the market is still alive and if there is anything affecting it then it is going to be the long term decline.

This table enables ASL to consider the lifestyles and identify the needs of these people to find a way to fight against the recession or any legislative factor that may face the business.

The affects of the smoking ban may have removed the enjoyment of going to pub for some smokers, which can be seen as an advantage as ASL allow the enjoyment not to just smoke, but socialise too.

Moving on, the “Internal Market Environment” highlights the trends in the price of utilities such as gas and electricity bills that have been a major concern lately as the pricing is significantly hitting businesses within the market (pubs, clubs, and cafes).

The diagram below shows the trends of “Utility prices surge upwards”

* excluding the Climate Change Levy
** Q2 only

During the previous five years, the utility (gas & electricity) prices have been a major issue for leisure operators. The biggest increase has been seen in the price of electricity followed by gas:

Electricity – Increased by 136% (in other words more than double)

Gas – Increased 105% (again, meaning they have doubled)

The purpose behind displaying this diagram is for ASL to highly consider the surging prices of gas and electricity and identify how it is going to affect its operation and how it could prevent this as being a major issue for their business.

4. Market Size and Forecast

Market size and forecast section of this report enables the business to identify the size of the market and any growth areas alongside the forecast of how the market is going to perform in the future and a forecast of any aspects that may affect the market as a whole in the near future.

The reason for the decline has been a combination of different aspects that hit the market such as the smoking ban effects and the recession alongside higher overheads which influenced businesses to be out of business.

Mintel Forecasts that the worst is overcome as they estimate that the market will economically recover in current price terms in 2011 as the economic recovery takes hold.

The outlets of the market that are facing survival or have gone out of business will see the remaining become more profitable with turnover per outlet set to rise by 10% between a five year period (2010 and 2014)

The future looking brighter for this market as the country are gradually moving out of recession; the national minimum wage will face a low increase, meaning a smaller increase in staff costs for operators and this could be the signs for utility (gas, electricity and water) and food prices going back on level terms or even face a down turn.

On the other side the rise of VAT in January 2010 is going to influence the retailers increase in prices, and this has a knock on effect on the competitiveness of the sector due to the higher prices charged making any increase look bigger than it will in the off-trade.  

This information will enable ASL to take a general look at the current status of the market and the future influences on the market which will make them consider the influencing factors so that when they hit the economy or the market they are well aware of them and have a plan. On the other side, this can be seen as useless at times at it is only a forecast, but it is good to be well prepared and aware of any future influences.

5. Frequency of Visiting a Pub

This section of the Mintel report identifies the reasons behind consumers visiting the pub. This will enable ASL to identify the type of lifestyles or consumers that visit the pubs.

Visiting a pub doesn’t have to be “visit to drink” it can also be a socialising place or a place to eat a meal. However as the smoking ban hit the market, socialising hasn’t been the same as before as less consumers visit pubs.  “I might go in the pub once a week, sometimes more. We like to eat in our local pub but never go there for a drink” (over-55 ABC1 female) this quote shows that pubs, clubs or cafes are not just for smoking or drinking maybe for eating a meal or mainly socialising.

This allows ASL consider the smokers and no n smokers as they may have different reasons to visit as the previous examples, which gives them the fact of having more than just the smoking audience, and will help ASL target more consumers.

The recession has made an impact on the number of visit to the pub, as one example of a way that this has made an impact is that people usually tend to go on a shopping trip and combine it with a visit to the pub, but as the recession hit people are more considerate with their money, they tend to save more than spend, this is a quote from an over-55 ABC male “We tend not to go to shopping as often now so tend not to have as many meals out and that has reduced our use of pubs as eating places”.

Another important factor is the H1N1 virus (swine flu) as people tend to be more considerate with their socialising, e.g. consumers going to the pub to watch a live game; people will be more considerate to watch the game as their will be loads of people and viruses are easily spread.

This will enable ASL to consider the recession factors and place them self in a suitable location where it could be easily accessed. Moreover consider the danger of the H1N1 virus and make sure it is not a major issue to their business operation.

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National Statistics (Solihull - B91)

By using the National Statistic’s “neighbourhood” feature, will enable the business to find statistics specifically for Solihull. This will allow ASL to find the following:

• Population
• Age range
• Religion
• Social Grade
• Smoking in Solihull

 

By using these statistics it will allow ASL to identify the types of people living in Solihull, their religion and social grade alongside how many people smoke in the region. Solihull is known to be a wealthy middle-class area and the listed statistics will help ASL prove this.

1. Population

This table shows the number of people living in Solihull which represents 199,517 people living in Solihull. This table also displays the population of the West Midlands and England. Moreover this table will enable ASL to identify the people who are resident in communal establishment or communal establishment of which people sleeping rough.

This information will enable ASL identify the population they are locating in and provide their service to.

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2. Age (April 2001)

This graph shows the age group population in the Solihull area. This will enable ASL identify the Males and Females living in the Solihull area with different age groups as the blue on the left side represents “Males” and the pink on the right side represents “Females”.

 

This small table shows the total of people living in the UK between the age group of 18 to 100+. The information on the individual age, year by year population in Solihull is found in “National Statistics, Appendix E” 

The population of different age group will help ASL identify its main audience and target them effectively by understanding their needs and expectations. On the other side, these statistics may prove to be unreliable as the last census took place in “April 2001”.

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3. Social Grade

This table shows the statistics of the “Social Grade” in Solihull, West Midlands and England. This table displays the social grade of the people living in Solihull and it shows that most people living in Solihull are of AB and C1 social grade. This shows that Solihull is a wealthy middle-class area. Therefore ASL should consider the risks of targeting these types of customers. This will enable the business to identify that the area of Solihull is above the national average of disposable income and this contributes to fining out that people within Solihull will be more than willing to buy Shisha.

4. Smoking in Solihull

This table shows the percentage estimate of the people smoking in Solihull. The results show that 20.1% of the Solihull population smoke in Solihull. Moreover the table enable businesses to identify the upper and lower level of confidence interval.

ASL will be able to identify the number of people smoking within the Solihull region. This will give them a better idea of the number of their target audience.

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5. Religion

This section of the National Statistics allows Arcadian Shisha Lounge to identify the faiths believed within the area they are going to locate in (Solihull) they will then relate this to the culture of the Shisha history.

This table shows the number of people that believe in a religion, no religion or religion not stated. This identifies the figures of all faiths. This will enable ASL to calculate the most believed in religion and that is Christianity. This means Christianity is the main faith followed, in Solihull. This table relates to the culture of Shisha as Shisha is most smoked in the Middle East, and it is originated from the Islamic cultural aspect. This will give ASL a general idea of how many Muslims in specific live in the Solihull area.

The table below, however, shows the percentage of each religion in Solihull:

This allows ASL to calculate the overall percentage faith followed in the Solihull area with ease. As this table displays that Christianity is the most popular religion in Solihull with 78.19% followed by non-believers with 12.05%.  

Surrounding and Competitors

1. Location

The property is situated near an active parade with various retailers and local traders. Shirley is the most convenient place for ASL to locate as it has the similar factors of retailers and local traders located in the area and with ASL respectively locating there.

Rent cost:

£12,000 per annum, on the Stratford road, Shirley.

2. Main Competitors

This section enables ASL to identify its main competitors and where they are located. Being able to find the location of the competitors ASL will identify their closest competitor as the addresses are included. Finding out about the main rivalries is important as it will keep ASL aware of their competitors operation, sales of goods and service; Arcadian Shisha Lounge need to be aware of this if they are to be and keep competitive.

• Shisha Lounge Hallgreen – (this is the closest lounge to Arcadian Shisha’s location) – Stratford Road, Hallgreen, Birmingham, B28
• Hookahs Lounge – 478 Moseley Road, Birmingham, West Midlands, B12 9AN
• Moon Lounge - Cotwall House, Wrottesley Street, Birmingham, B5 4RT
• Red Sea Lounge - 73 Pershore Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B5 4RW

  Primary Research

This type of research will enable Arcadian Shisha Lounge to analyse factors that are not available in secondary research, such as:

• Competitors’ prices
• Awareness of Shisha in Solihull

Observation (Shisha Lounge Hallgreen)

The observation will allow ASL to find out about the following

• The average number of people entering the lounge (60 minutes)
• Competitors’ prices
• The most bought tobacco flavours
• Average spent on Shisha

Number of customers over the period of 60 minutes

This table shows the number of customers that entered the “Shisha Lounge Hall Green” over the 60 minutes by showing the entrance of customers every 10 minutes to make the data easy to understand and easy to analyse.  This information will allow ASL to carry out and work out the median, mode and range.  The observation was taken in the peak time of college ending time, from 16:30 to 17:30 and was carried out on a Wednesday the mid week period.

Frequency of customers:  0   ,   2   ,   3   , 3    , 4    ,   4

Median

To calculate the median, the frequency got to be in order then the middle number is the median.

Median = 0, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4 = the median is 3

Mode

The mode is the most occurring number, so in this case it results in two numbers being the mode

Mode = 3 & 4

Range

The range is calculated by subtracting the highest number with the smallest number.

Range = (4 – 0) = the range is 4

The table above shows the total of 16 people entered the lounge over the observation period.  However not all 16 customers bought Shisha as some entered in groups.

The graph below shows the total number of people and whether they bought Shisha or not.

This graph enables ASL identify the total number of people that ordered Shisha. The table clearly identifies the number of people who didn’t buy Shisha and people that did. This information is effective as it will allow ASL to generate a ratio or forecast of how many Shisha is bought in between people, for example, 1 (Shisha) : 2 (customers)

Shisha Flavours

This pie chart shows information on the types of Shisha tobacco flavours and how many times they were purchased over the observation period of 60 minutes. This data allows ASL to identify that “Double Apple” is the most purchased flavoured tobacco bought by customers during the observation. However this gives Arcadian Shisha Lounge an idea of the most popular flavours of Shisha, so that the business don’t find it hard to choose which flavours they should purchase.

Observations prove useful to organisations, but on the other hand it is time consuming to carry out. Moreover it is difficult to create effective measures as the number of customers vary in terms of the time of day, weather and days.

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Observation (Competitors’ Prices) 

This observation will enable ASL to identify the competitors’ prices and enable them to price their goods considering the competitive factors. this observation included 3 lounges, Hookahs, Red Sea and HQ.

The table above shows the prices of standard and special Shisha prices. This will keep Arcadian Shisha aware of the prices of their competitors and this will motivate the business to keep competitive if they are to succeed.

This graph shows the prices of all three main competitors’ “Standard Shisha Prices”. ASL is able to see that Hookahs & Red Sea lounges are selling at the cheapest price of £7 compared to HQ Shisha lounge that sell at £8.

ASL needs to consider the pricing to keep competitive.

Questionnaires

The questionnaire will allow ASL to ask consumers direct questions about the awareness of Shisha. Moreover will enable them to directly identify the amount they will pay for Shisha. This will prove to be vital to ASL as this information is not available in secondary research data so therefore will be effective to the ASL business. Further questions will be focusing on the number of people smoking tobacco, ethnicity and whether they think Shisha is unhealthy.

20 questionnaires have been carried out to enable ASL to ask direct questions to the people living in Solihull.

The pie chart below shows the percentage number of whether people in Solihull are aware of Shisha, Hookah or pipe smoking or not.

The chart enables ASL to identify that there are 70% of the people who participated to take the questionnaires are aware of Shisha, Hookah or pipe smoking. This data shows that ASL doesn’t have to do loads of work to get people within the area of Solihull to become aware of Shisha. On the other side some of the 70% have only heard about it, where as the other 30% have no idea about Shisha which can be seen as a disadvantage, so therefore ASL must make sure they increase the number of people to be aware of Shisha, which will encourage customers to visit ASL as they know what type of place it is.

However the 70% of 20 people that are aware of Shisha will be the main factor of promotion as they will be telling their friends and families about Shisha. Moreover these people are more likely to visit Arcadian Shisha Lounge and may sometimes bring people who are not aware.

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Moving on, a further question in the questionnaire focused on the other or alternative reasons for visiting a Shisha lounge, the graph below displays the data:

The results show that more people visit a Shisha lounge for the purpose of socialising besides smoking Shisha which indicates that a Shisha lounge can be a good place of socialising. This allows Arcadian Shisha Lounge to understand that a Shisha lounge is not just for smoking Shisha but other reasons such as socialising, spending free time or even enjoying the cultural atmosphere, so therefore they should consider making the lounge a suitable socialising place and also highly consider the cultural aspects to suit the decor of the lounge to present cultural aspects of Shisha to other people.  

However as there was 30% not aware of Shisha only 9 participants participated in this questionnaire.

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This line graph shows the number of people who took part in this question and the amount they pay for Shisha per month. This graph enables ASL to forecast the average amount customers spend on Shisha monthly, which will contribute in making it easier for ASL to forecast their sales and expenditure.

Moreover this line graph will enable ASL to have a general idea of how much an individual pays for Shisha in the Solihull area; moreover this will also help them with the pricing of the Shisha.

However this information is not really effective in terms of the result as the same number of people spend £7-£14 spend £30+, this will be seen as difficult to analyse but as it is primary data it is reliable.

Moving on, ASL needed to ask a direct question to identify the most visited Shisha lounge visited by the participant of the questionnaire. The graph below displays the results:

This graph will enable ASL to identify it rivals as they asked the people who took part in the questionnaire, what Shisha lounge they usually visit.

This will keep ASL aware of the most visited Shisha lounges as to what they sell, and the service they provide such as entertainment for example, music, games console etc...

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The purpose of this question is to enable ASL seek customer views on Shisha affects on health. This table displays the results of peoples’ feedback of whether Shisha is healthy or unhealthy.

4 people said that Shisha is unhealthy, however, regardless of their answer they still smoke it, which shows that even that they are aware of the harm Shisha could affect them they still smoke it, as they classify it as the factor of socialising. So ASL should not worry about the 4 people who said no, but rather be concerned about the 4 people who answered “I don’t know” as most of their answer could relate back to them not being aware of Shisha in the first place.

This pie chart allows ASL to identify that most people disagree with the statement of Shisha being unhealthy which is a great advantage, but at the same time a disadvantage as they might not be aware of the effects, so therefore ASL must make sure all their customers are aware of Shisha effects.

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Further down the Questionnaire, a question asked whether participants smoke tobacco and the following results was gathered:

This enables ASL to identify that 60% of the people who participated in their Questionnaire do not smoke tobacco. This could be a vital disadvantage for ASL as they are focusing on the smokers to be smoking Shisha as it will be a new experience, not in smoking but in a different type of tobacco.

However 30% of the people who stated that they don’t smoke tobacco, smoke Shisha, which reflects the idea to ASL that you don’t have to be smoking tobacco to smoke Shisha as it is a friendly smoking flavour that contains only 0.5% tobacco in every 500g flavour.

However the 40% that answered yes to this question all smoke Shisha or heard of it and want to smoke it, so therefore this will allow ASL to widen the range of target consumers of not just the people that smoke, but maybe add on the people who like to socialise.

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Moving on, the surrounding of Solihull (B91) holds a great deal of shopping centres, points of interests and places like colleges and educational centres, so this means people from all around the region will be visiting Solihull. A question within the questionnaire asked for people’s ethnic background to identify their culture and the most ethnic background found within the area.

 

This graph allows Arcadian Shisha Lounge to identify that most of the people living in Solihull are of the White – British ethnic background. This graph shows a smaller percentage of people who are from another ethnicity such as Black – African Caribbean and Asian – Asian British, this shows that there are other ethnic minorities within the area or visit the area on a regular basis, for example, student visiting college daily and people who go work in Solihull centre of Shirley shopping parade.

This proves to be a great advantage for ASL as people will become more and more aware of ASL, but this will depend on the location of ASL as they will have to consider the 4 marketing Ps. They will have to find the suitable location where it will be identified and accessed easily, as it will be more appealing for their customers. Locating ASL on the main road (Shirley, Stratford road) will be very suitable as there are 2 shopping centres (touchwood & Shirley), 3 Colleges and public places such as parks near by the location of ASL which will target more customers, and more importantly people will find it more appealing as the location is effective. On the other hand, locating on the main road, Shirley is costly as it is on the main road and in Solihull. So therefore ASL should consider both the positive and negative factors before locating.

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Finally one of the last questions on the questionnaire asked participants if they would be interested in visiting a Shisha lounge in Solihull, and the results are in the chart below:

The results enable ASL to identify that most of the people who took part in the Questionnaire (75%) are willing to visit if ASL was to be opened in Solihull, which shows great interest in Shisha within the area. On the other hand, the people who answered no (25%) are mostly the participants who are not fully aware of Shisha which can be seen as a disadvantage but, with 75% interested it wouldn’t be a vital issue.

ASL should consider legislative factors as the smoking ban affected several Shisha lounges within the West Midlands region. Moreover ASL must always keep aware of their competitors, news, prices and mainly their company report if they are to succeed and keep competitive. Looking over a competitor’s company report will enable ASL to find out the sales and revenue of their competitors, contact information and location, their information and policies which will contribute in making ASL aware of their competitors’ run. Moreover it will display graphs and diagrams of sales or other statistics which will enable ASL to compare their statistics and make sure they are competing effectively.  

However if Arcadian Shisha Lounge is to succeed then the business must take into account any possible areas of growth and expansion such as introducing new products (Shisha flavours), and if they are successful over time, they may consider extending their lounge to create more space, or making another branch in a similar area (Chemsley Wood). Adding on to that, ASL must always consider customer needs and expectations, as customers needs vary from age to age, gender to gender etc...

Considering the social grade statistics in this report relates to two aspects of the marketing mix strategies, price and place. Looking at the social class of the area will support ASL price their products dependant on the social grade, i.e. if people were of the D or E social class then there is no point of aiming to have luxury appearance and service as the prices will be seen as expensive by the local surrounding. As the majority of people living in Solihull is C1, enables ASL to identify the class of people; professional, junior managerial classed; and this means that they going to have to make sure that they meet their needs as they will be asking for luxury appearance, service and quality, this is seen as the main attraction for these customers. Moving further on, ASL can adapt the pricing strategy and decide on making a unique service/product i.e. make their own unique and luxurious Flavour mixture and call it “Arcadian Special” this will create uniqueness about the product and encourages luxury customers to purchase this as it is a unique and exclusive product. Moreover the social class will also affect the place strategy of locating ASL, if they were to locate in a D or E class area then the rent will be cheap and area will be of lower classed people. As ASL is going to locate in the B91 area, they have a general idea that the rent will be expensive, but looking on the bright side of this matter the area will be clean, known and most importantly the people will be of high luxury social class. This also contributes in supporting ASL target their customers.  Customers they are going to be targeting. So therefore a luxury appearance, service and quality will attract these

As Shisha is seen as a socialising factor, ASL must consider all the socialising factors and make sure they are considered in their lounge appearance and service, for example, lay out the seating in a socialising way by putting seating close to each other, moreover have music in the background to sit the mood of the cultural act of Shisha. ASL may even consider having other entertainment factors such as games consoles as it keeps up ahead of competitors and implements luxury service as to where they are located. Moreover considering the needs of the target audience which are of a high class, they might not feel comfortable being around other people, so therefore having a VIP area to make them feel a step above or private socialising rooms for couples, parties, friendship groups will fulfil these customers needs. Finally as ASL are aware of the social class of the people located in the area of Solihull, they will identify that most of these people are going to have vehicles so therefore having a rear car park for customers will ease the access and target customers who drive as well as keeping ASL ahead of other competitors with the luxury service.

However ASL must consider that customers see the Shisha as being a cultural factor so therefore must make sure the atmosphere they provide is cultural by considering ancient and cultural related portraits and art work, and may even consider an Arabian seating area to give customers the full taste and enjoyment of the cultural act of Shisha.

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