Over half of working Brits lunch out at least once or twice during their working week, and nearly a quarter do so three to four times a week.
The research from Perkbox, which surveyed 17,736 users across the country, found that only 11% of employees never lunch out during their working week.
This, it says, is an encouraging sign, showcasing that many of us take a ‘lunch break’ from the office on a fairly regular basis, adding the caveat that the rise of delivery services means this may not be the case anymore.
Indeed, it’s no big secret that the High Street is up against fierce competition from the online marketplace in areas from shopping and leisure, to eating out. It’s now easier than ever to purchase goods of all sorts online.
However, 28,000 stores have had to close in the last ten years as a result and consumers are missing out on other great benefits. The company says its new PerksGO product was born to tackle some of these challenges, particularly those linked to employee customer habits.
Firstly, employee consumers walking down the High Street often aren’t aware of what is on offer. In other words, the problem comes down to visibility. For example, amongst the most popular places to lunch out based on respondents of the survey were well known brands such as Subway, Costa and Greggs. However, local chains such as 200 Degrees Coffee and Black Sheep Coffee received a fair amount of mentions too.
PerksGO, which sits on the Perkbox platform, works via geographical recognition to allow businesses of all sizes to make themselves visible to employees in their areas, whether ‘regulars’ or ‘passers by’, helping them overcome some of the most obvious ‘exposure’ challenges. Perkbox takes no commission, there are zero fees attached, and no setup costs or lengthy contracts.
Secondly, many employees don’t have a specific preference on whether they receive discounts from local coffee shops or from High Street chains. More specifically, 37% of working Brits either ‘didn’t mind’ or ‘don’t care’ about what type of business they get a discount from, according to a separate Perkbox survey of 2,000 working Brits. It’s having a unanimous promotion method that works across multiple businesses and locations that makes the difference.
PerksGO, powered by card link technology, provides businesses – large and small – with the ability to improve in this area, by offering promotions with no discount codes, no set up costs, and no staff training. Perkbox users simply have to spend as usual using their bank cards and Perkbox takes care of the rest.
Harriet Green, Business Development Manager at Perkbox, said: “The aim of this initiative is to equip users with the best in class perks, whilst leaving local merchants to enjoy all the benefits of their hard work and dedication. We believe that more support should be shown to our local businesses, and this is both a way of showing our own, and encouraging others in the area to get into the habit of doing the same.”
To find out more about Perkbox and how it’s helping tackle the high street challenges through PerksGO click here.
