ii. Abstract 1. Introduction
2. Clubbing & Technology 2.1 Edinburgh Nightlife 2.2 App Technology 2.3 App Features 2.3.1
App Marketing
2.3.2
App Costing’s
3. Conclusion
4. Future Development
5. Bibliography
6. Appendices
I
This report covers the development and level of research required to produce an app that can provide users with a new experience and guide to the clubs in their local area. Each section breaks down the type of industry that the nightlife commerce is how the app world has become a new heaven for developers and the risks and costs of the app world which can be avoided through the help of cleaver marketing. As well as this, a basic interface has been designed to give the app a more realistic feel and a breakdown of the functions that the app will perform once it has been developed and placed on the app stores for all the compatible devices. The method and way that this report was put together was through the help of market research blogs and websites that have gathered a selection of useful and interesting facts and statistics that show the dangers of rushing into the development of an app.
ii
This report will cover the purpose and proposal of the app that we propose to develop and provide a new, innovative product to an ever growing app market for tablet and phone devices. The app itself will be used to give the customer an idea of what club to go on what night out and to give them a place to turn to if they are stuck for ideas to where to go out alone or with a group of friends. The apps main objective is to act as a gathering tool, and to collect information about all the local clubs and bars in the local area and display this in an easy read format for potential users to browse through the app as easy as possible. This report will cover the key basics and the methodologies adopted to come to a final conclusion. This report will provide our extensive research into the ideal graphical layout, the initial and in-depth costing’s required to set up this app and make it accessible to the public and also the method of marketing required to gain initial interest and allow this app to become a success and a potential profitable application.
1.
Especially in the UK, Clubbing has always and continues to be a very popular activity for a large number of people. Because of this, the industry has grown and now includes various different organisations, businesses and other related industries. IBISWORLD have conducted some initial research into what defines nightlife in the UK as of 2012. (1) From this, it displays how vast and ever growing this particular market is. Without one of these industries, the industry of nightlife would be lost. The diagram shows how important the Economic drivers and the supply industries are to ensure a great consumer experience. The great positive is the (A) demand is still at an all-time high. However, continuing to read through IBISWORLD’s article on the industry, there has been a decline in growth and shows no increase in growing between 2013 and 2018.(2) Neither the less there is still a demand and the industry as a whole is still profiting. But needs something to enhance and secure the level of demand that it is currently at to ensure a halt to the declining customer base. This industry does rely on several external factors. The most obvious being the customer’s disposable income. The increasing competitions form other companies expanding or using this market as a conglomerate and a factor that is out of the nightclubs control, weather. It also is very interesting to see the statistics regarding how popular the types of music played affect the type of club and market people will go to. Dance music and Pop music dominate the charts at this current state, therefore this is what the people like to listen to so therefore clubs that play these types of music tend to have a higher level of footfall – which leads to increased profits and hopefully if they create the perfect customer experience, have a repeated customer base that come back again and again.
(B)
2.
Although there is predicted to be a 0% growth rate, an app that will enhance this market and provide the customer with a wide variety of information regarding their local clubs, will hopefully increase attendance, boost profits and keep the customer and the industry profitable and remove itself from the declining stage of its life cycle.
Unlike the nightclub industry, the app revolution has exploded with life. According to the blog, Mobile App Testing Blog, It has gathered information regarding the booming industry. There are more android phones being activated than babies born. (3) This shows how vast the mobile device is growing and is set to do so over the next few years. Because of this, the levels of apps that are available are limitless. However the app market is a difficult one to enter due to the fact there is so much already available there is a high chance that the app will never become a successful. At the moment, 1 in every 4 apps downloaded are abandoned after their first usage, and almost 60% of all apps on the Apple store are never downloaded at all. These are grim statistics but if you consider your target market and conduct appropriate advertising, then the app may just become the next Angry Birds.
(D)
(E)
(C)
Another source that provided some statistics of the market was macspoilers.com (4) they have gathered similar information on the gradual increase and demand for new apps and also some grim numbers regards the abandonment rate and failure of most apps. It also shows how difficult it is to create an app to not only interest your niche market, but also consider the interest of your external market groups. A gaming app is very popular with most market groups, whereas the market of a club app is generally aiming at the 17-24 age groups. Therefore deciphering what this market segment want will ensure a success for this club Tracker app. The benefit with apps over physical products, feedback can be generated by the consumer and instantly received through the ratings function. If the consumers use the app and have suggestions of improving the app in anyway, then we as the developers can change and alter the application to improve the user experience, increase the satisfaction rate and give the app 3. a better recognition in the app stores across the devices.
Edinburgh is traditionally known for having more pubs in a square mile than anywhere else in the UK. As well as the hundreds of pubs, there are over forty nightclubs in the city according to the ‘viewedinburgh’ (5) website. Therefore for our app that we are wishing to develop, this would be a perfect city to trail run the app. The benefit of trailing this technology in a small area is because we can view the app being used and gather a variety of information on the small market usage, to enhance its performance. The good thing about Edinburgh nightlife is that it is congregated in specific parts of town, which will be a good thing when clubs are getting involved with the app. The club culture is very ‘follow the leader’. If one club signs up with our app, the idea is that the rest will follow. If this is a success in itself then it will enable the app to progress onto a larger market across the UK. Because Edinburgh is a very diverse and very student based city, the choice of clubbing is endless. There are the national based clubs such as Cav and City, as well as clubs that are famous attractions to people in Edinburgh and outwith and been tagged with the reputation of clubs that you must visit at least one, such as Hive and Cabaret Voltaire. There is also a range of clubs targeted at a segment of the market depending on the aesthetics of the venue and the music they play. For instance Base markets the Rock music lovers, whereas clubs like shanghai tend to play chart music – to increase their customer market. Therefore, the app we are going to develop should include all the nightclubs in the area to ensure that a market segment that will want to know about clubs playing specific music are not missed out.
RATING 0-5 (According to www.viewedinburgh/clubs.co.uk) 5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 Rating
0
4.
Bacaro Base The Bongo Club Cabaret Voltaire The Caves Citrus Club City Club Tropicana Cruz Dalkeith Miners Club Edinburgh Famous Burke And… El Barrio Espionage Hive Picture House The Lane Cav Liquid Room Lola Lo Lulu Madogs Night Club Medina Mood Opium Pepper Club Potterrow Rat Pack Sapphire Rooms Shanghai Stereo Studio 24 Voodoo Rooms Why Not
0.5
According to sources gathered by visual.ly (6) It takes on average 18 weeks to produce a functioning app that follows all of the design stages correctly from start to finish. The costing’s of this will be covered in section 2.3.3 – app economics. In some cases, you can achieve so much more, such as building 13 Boeing 777 aircrafts, or fly Apollo 11 to the moon almost 40 times! Nether the less over 1.5million apps have been created across Google and Apple stores so the rewards much be there to grasp. Therefore an idea for this app to work, we must ensure the design stages are followed as best as possible to ensure a successful output.
(F)
The club app that we are wishing to produce heavily relies on the participation of the clubs in the Edinburgh area initially. We as the developer will need to contact the clubs requesting their participation in the app. After this stage and we have gathered the appropriate information such as basic contact information and bar menus, then we will need to develop this information into app form. Our app consists of a range of features that will enable the user to find out as much information about the club they are browsing about as possible. From this we will be developing two versions of the app, a free and a paid version. The free version will have restricted features and more adverts on the interface, whereas the paid version will have no advertising and much more freedom of information, including a live counter of how many people are in each club, which will be provided by a sensor with we will provide to the clubs to capture footfall on a nightly basis. ‘Live guest count’ button:
‘Drinks deals & Promo’s button: This button will lead the user to current drink prices in their chosen club, for example, ‘£1.00 drinks’
5.
When this button is clicked by the user, it will bring them to a live guest count feed of their preferred club
In the centre of the page is a list of all the night clubs accessible on the app. The stars indicate the current ratings chosen by club goers. These may change depending on the popularity of the club. The user simply clicks on a club logo, which will bring them to the clubs page with all the relevant information needed.
To use the scroll bar, the user simple touches the bar, and flicks upwards or downwards – depending on the wanted direction. Scrolling downwards will provide the user with a greater selection of clubs and ratings
The bottom of the page (1/4) will consume a small border for sponsored advertising. This will primarily fund the app, therefore is essential. For example, this advertised might be for Red Bull.
The app we will be develop is set to have a range of initial features to meet our consumer needs at this moment in time. The benefit of apps is that they can be updated and restyled at any time. However this must be done with how much it may cost to update. The first main feature that will give this app its edge would be its Live Club Count. If a footfall device is not already installed in the club entry, then we will place one and use the counter to measure people entering the venue. The information will feed back to the server and refresh the set page ever couple of minutes. This will provide accurate footfall information for clubs, who can track how busy the venue is and how close they are to capacity. It will also help users to see where is nearing its limit and where is quiet – which will hopefully spread business across the different clubs open. This app also will contain the essential information about the clubs for the user to browse through. It will be a basic interface that will show the locations and contact details. It can also be linked to a mapping service that will pin all the clubs in the local area, allowing the user has approved the app to use its GPS quality. There will also be a comparison page which will enable the user to browse through different drink prices and see where is cheap and who has any promotional offers on. As well as these functions, there will be the opportunity for users who have been to a club to rate it using a star rating. There will also be a comments section once the icon has been selected to provide people who are interested, the opportunity to post reviews about the venue. A map with all the locations of the clubs in the area will allow for a much more relatable interface for the customer, as they will want to know where the clubs are. This will be useful for people who are not familiar with the area and help them get from their location to where they want to be. These are features that will enable the user to make decisions about where they can go out and help then enjoy their night out that suits them financially and demographically. 6.
DRINK DEALS & PROMO’S PAGE
CLUB NIGHTS HOME PAGE At the top right corner of the page there is a refresh button which will refresh the page for the live guest count so it is constantly getting updated.
The club name and logo will be situated at the top left corner of the page as a large icon so it is clearly visible and recognisable to the user.
In the centre of the page is a vague description of the guest count, entry prices and drink deals/promos for the club. If the user were to scroll down – events and DJ listing would be Advertising situated in below. the border at the
Below this there will be a small icon of the club tracker logo. This will also be the main app logo which will appear on the front screen of the user’s phone.
bottom of the page
EVENTS & DJ’S PAGE Club Tracker logo situated as a border at the top of the page – becomes more familiar to the user
In the top left corner will be the club logo Advertising situated in the border at the bottom of the page
This is how the club tracker logo app would look on the home screen of a smart phone. As can be seen the logo suitably fits in with the rest of the icons, making it fully visual as a realistic app – as well as functional.
7.
This page is the drinks deals and promos page – hence why the box is larger than the other as it is in current use Club Tracker logo situated as a border at the top of the page – becomes more familiar to the user Horizontal scroll bar to access drink prices In the centre of the page there is each drink and its price – relevant to the club. To view the range of drinks and its prices, the user simply scrolls This page is the drinks using the scroll bar to deals and promos page – the left or right. hence why a ‘click’ area is highlight with the triangle On the centre of the page is the main graphic advertisement for the DJs and any events on in the night or upcoming week.
To ensure that the launch of our product is successful, there needs to be a set marketing strategy in place from the very early stages of the design process. One advantage this app has is that it stands alone against other apps and is a unique project that is made to fulfil a user need. The user market segment is of the 17-24 market so the app needs to be functional, aesthetic and provide the user with a great all-round experience. And by being exclusive, will do exactly that.
(H)
Because our target market is online, having a large social presence is essential to ensure a successful marketing campaign. By using the blogging world, and hopefully grabbing the attention of people with links such as celebrities, then this will provide you with instant recognition and begin to build up a user interest. Also remembering to target blogs, reviewers or websites that focus in the industry of clubbing as these contacts will be the most interested in the app, and be able to endorse it through their resources.
(G)
What is needed to ensure that an app is well marketed is that it is talked about during all of the design stages. Enhancing the social media industry to market your product prior and during the lunch stages are an excellent way to promote the app. It is low cost and if marketed correctly, can reach a large target audience, especially when most of the clubbing market is online. Especially with Twitter, having a limitation on word count encourages a strong and punching pitch that should be made highly tweetable.
(I)
The rule of app marketing should always be hype early, big launch. This is to ensure that there is a customer interest at an early stage and use the media to your advantage. Inform the eager customers of the launch and give them the opportunity to pass on the word of the new app. The main aim is to create raving fans that will spread the word all over the place. (7) (J)
8.
(K)
The design of the app is going to make a greater difference in the overall ROI and user experience. Investing in a good design is easily the best way to increase the margins on a 2 year timeline it would be possible to use a web designer, but often the ideal solution is going to be finding a mobile app designer that understands user flow and the space restrictions. 0 App designs usually come in packages, much the same way development does – ideally, buying a “suite” of .png and PSD files that can fulfil all your needs. This includes all necessary screens and icons. It is surprising how many different pieces there are as the icon alone needs about 4 different sizings for a universal app (iPhone and iPad). Here is a rough breakdown of costs: iPhone only (usually the base line is not done for the retina display, as seen in the iPhone 4 as they require higher resolution files) – $500-10,000 – This will get you a base level design that you can send over to the developer who will be able to add these images into the code. HELPFUL TIP: ask the developer what they want the files named and do that for them before sending. It will save you both lots of time and headaches. IPhone 4 Compatible – Add 25% to above cost - these images will be sized at 960 x 640px heights (twice the 480×320 for the regular iPhone) IPad – Add 50% to above cost – this is assuming that the layout is very similar and user flow is also similar. In many cases you will have to create alternate functionality to accommodate for the iPad size and speed, which requires new designs. Development for iPhone apps deal with the programming side of the process. With most projects, an app development firm is going to roll up the design into the entire project since it is difficult to try and piece together images into an app, unless you build the entire project dynamically and through XML via online databases. One thing to note is that these costs can vary depending on what devices that are developing. It is important to question the developer on the project that is being developed – basic iPhone, iPhone 4, iPad or all of the above. For this, we shall provide every piece of content, image, writing and sound. The cost is going to come from creating the logic within the app and architecting all the usability and content. The content will usually be placed in and then positioned accordingly. These projects tend to be front heavy since the data is what is driving the entire content forward. As well as essential elements to consider whilst costing, there are alternatives or extra functions that can be added into the development. Web Services – $1,000-$5,000 – This is taking the content to a remote access point so that can update the app with an XML files instead of raw code changes. The degree to what you need varies but it is recommended having this conversation with the developer before getting too deep, as it may cause problems later on.
(L)
9.
Share Capabilities – $500-$1,500 – This is mostly for social media such as Facebook or Twitter, but there can be other integrations. Word Press websites, for example, may be one. Lots of options and most of these platforms have robust APIs to make it work well.
Cash Flow Forecast Monthly
Yearly
cash in credit sales
£995
£8,358
£299
£3,582
cash out Apple Deduction app development wages
opening balance Net cash flow Closing balance
£25,000 25,000
0 -25,000
-25000 696
-24,304 -20,224
-25000
-24,304
-44,528
Estimated total product for development of tracker app Database app takes 12 weeks to launch (4-8 weeks to develop) costing on average £25,000 for design, development and testing. On average, £4,000 for design, £15,000 for development of the app and £6,000 for testing Additional features that can be added to this app add to the price, such as if you want to integrate a way to share information to social networking sites, this will cost on average £700. To launch the app on iTunes, Apple takes 69p and a further 30% of each sale. The best price to sell the app for is £1.99 for the amount of information and time that goes into the development and this should give us a reasonable profit overall. If we were to sell the app free - £1, this would not gain a profit, even there are a large amount of download as apple take a portion of that cost off, leaving you earning an average of £500 a year. If the app were to be launched at £1.99, we would hopefully be looking at about an estimated amount of 500 downloads a month. This would bring the total a month to £995 and Apple takes 30% of that which leaves us with £696.50 In a year, the app would have earned £8,358. To start earning a profit it would take 3 years to earn everything back spent on the development of the app with £74 profit on the second year. 10.
The Club Tracker app, from what has been discussed, has got a future to succeed, even if it would take a few years to progress to a purely profitable app. But with careful consideration of the market that the app is aimed at, and the method that the market receive the information about this new app is essential the the future success of the Club Tracker. As discussed, clear interface and ease of use are indispensable. The application should be very much user driven and rely on the operator driven which, in turn will lead to a unique and popular application for the entire mobile and tablet devices. In review, the market for producing an app is very popular at the moment due to it being seen as a method of getting rich quick. However in many cases this leads to a quick removal from the market, or not even making a single download. Therefore by employing the correct marketing tactics and accepting that the cash flow forecast may not be as healthy as the ideal person may wish. But this will enable a successful output that is user friendly and will lead to a healthy profit gain in the long term.
11.
For the next stage of the club tracker app, the main things to do would be to analyse the costing of the app and come up with methods to reduce our expenses and increase the income form the app. It is also a good idea to register what the users think of the app and to act upon what they are thinking are the good and bad points of the app. One key area that always needs change would be the interface style. Every once in a while, subtle changes to freshen up the app are greatly appreciated. Although these changes shouldn’t be drastic, as loyal users would feel unsettled if the entire layout were to change. Thus, updating the graphics, colours or fonts are usually always welcome. It would also be a positive move to move the app to a completely new area demographically to allow for a new type of market to try out the app which would make the feedback received more realistic and more reliable if it is tested in a larger scale. Finally, working on developing new and innovative features to increase the customer usage and satisfaction and find ways to further enhance the relationship between the app and the nightclubs of the area to give them extra benefits, more business and lead to the whole market showing a growth once again.
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