If you were a brewing company and you wanted to try to get women to drink more beer, how would you go about doing that? In South Africa, the world’s second largest brewer is going directly to the local bars and trying to make them more female-friendly.
SABMiller is boss in South Africa and controls 90 percent of the market there, but last year was tough for them as they struggled to grow because of inflation and increased competition. They know there’s some good potential for bringing in female drinkers, so they’ve set their sights on making that happen.
Working with small bars like Susan’s Place in Tembisa, SABMiller is chipping in the funds for some major facelifts to encourage women to stay a while and drink. Last year, according to Bloomberg, Susan’s Place was able to add extra couches, drinking glasses, a thatched roof, and a sparkling clean ladies room (Susan hired a regular toilet cleaner). Due to these changes, sales are up 20 percent and she’s selling more of SABMiller’s Flying Fish, a citrus-flavored beer, and Castle Lite. The company has been brewing products that are slighter sweeter to appeal to women and they are also providing glasses as many women do not like to drink from bottles.
“We come here because Susan keeps improving this place, it’s safe and the toilets are very clean,” Kgomotso Mbatha, 19, told Bloomberg.
How much does the drinking environment that you’re in affect how long you’re going to stay and how many drinks you’ll consume?