One Year On: How Club Pret’s Subscription Overhaul Is Reshaping Customer Behaviour

Since its launch in October 2020, Pret a Manger’s subscription service has seen several iterations but none as transformative as the change introduced last year. In a bold move, Pret shifted from a £30/month model offering up to five free drinks a day (plus 20% off food), to a leaner £5/month subscription that gives customers 50% off up to five drinks daily.

Now, a year into this new model, Fable Data has tapped into its rich consumer transaction dataset to explore the real-world impact of this shift. Has Pret succeeded in attracting more subscribers? Are customers spending more or less? What ripple effects has this had on competitors in the food and beverage space?

This analysis offers a fascinating glimpse into how pricing strategy and perceived value can reshape consumer behaviour?  What other brands might learn from Pret’s bold experiment?

Subscriber Dynamics: A Year of Adjustment

Following the shift to the new Club Pret subscription model, approximately 40% of existing subscribers chose to opt out. While Pret did see some new customer acquisition during this period, it wasn’t enough to fully offset the churn resulting in a net subscriber decline of around one-third.

Despite this, what followed was stability. In the months after the initial drop, subscriber numbers plateaued, suggesting that Pret has successfully established a new, loyal base of Club Pret members who found value in the revised offering.

Customer Value

The shift to the new subscription model is materially reducing customer value. Average monthly spend per subscriber has fallen by roughly one-third from £45–£50 to just £30, signaling that the decrease in monthly subscription cost has not been sufficiently offset by increased spend in-store

Impact on Competitors

The decline in value extends beyond active subscribers. Customers who cancelled their Club Pret membership continue to spend at Pret, but at much lower levels around £20/month, down from over £40 previously.

While competitor gains have been limited, Starbucks has absorbed the largest share of displaced spend, now capturing close to parity with Pret among churned customers.

Get in touch if you’d like to see the full analysis or understand more about our Pan European Consumer Transaction datasets covering the 5 major European economies.