Marketing support key to winning tenders

Digital platform EzTenda has discovered that brands are moving away from traditional retrospective discounts (retros) toward marketing spend when negotiating listings with hospitality venues.

The platform – pronounced ‘easy tender’ – helps hospitality venues and drinks brands secure listings through an ‘eBay-style’ system of tenders and bids.

Hospitality venues can sign up for the EzTenda platform and post tenders for free.

Its data showed that brands favour engagement-focused marketing budgets in winning bids. For successful bids, retros accounted for an average of only 9.6% of total brand support, with listing fees, free stock and marketing budgets often constituting the rest of the support offered.

Losing bids were weighted in favour of retros, constituting an average of 17% of total brand support.

EzTenda said this indicates a ‘changing approach by brands and on-trade businesses towards more innovative and experience-driven collaborations’.

Rather than focusing on retros, EzTenda sees marketing budgets as key to winning bids. Losing bids tended to allocate an average of 8% of their total brand support to marketing budgets, while winning bids contributed around 23%.

The company added that the data shows ‘emphasis is being placed on creating memorable experiences and engaging customers in new and exciting ways’.

Sam Showering, founder of EzTenda, said: “Our data is a crucial resource for brands, offering insights that can shape future strategies and adapt to the evolving preferences of the market.

“By understanding these trends, businesses can make data-led decisions, aligning their offers with what truly resonates in today’s competitive marketplace.”

EzTenda was founded in October 2022. Last year, it struck partnerships with UK venues Ping Pong Dim Sum Group and PopGolf London. It also expanded its reach to Australia and Spain.