News

The wheels of the HOPE van keep rolling!

The success story of HOPE Benefiet continues. Towards the end of 2019, IKC and HOPE Benefit were able to provide another three healthcare institutions with the HOPE on wheels. This to the satisfaction of the youngest patients of these institutions. A nice collaboration with a nice result HOPE wants to give people with a disease a purpose in life again. We are happy to contribute to this within our sphere of competence. By taking children out of their daily lives for a moment and allowing them to enjoy our play concepts, we want to give them the boost to keep fighting for a healthy life again.   In cooperation with HOPE Benefiet, the HOPE on wheels has been developed to stimulate the imagination of children and to take them to a bright future. The free-standing eye-catcher is placed plug-and-play at healthcare institutions, after which children can enjoy themselves in and around the bus through wall games and an interactive play system. Do you want to know more about our products for HOPE Benefit?  Check out the HOPE project Contact us know!  

Kinderen thuis vermaken met makkelijke activiteiten voor kinderen thuis

15 April 2020

Five easy tips on how to entertain kids at home

Are your children currently at home because the schools are closed? How are you going to entertain your children at home during the Corona crisis? You are not the only parent wondering this.  We can lend you a hand in this because we regularly add classic play elements to our play corners. After all, child's play is the same everywhere. It makes no difference, whether the kids' games are enjoyed at home or in a shop.  Below we will give you five ideas that you can use as a starting point to come up with activities for children at home. So, your kids can play at home in a fun, responsible and educational way! 1. How to entertain kids at home with traditional kids' games People often don't realise that child's play is very simple. Children can easily keep themselves busy. Just think back to the old days. Back then, there were far less toys and fewer digital means for passing the time. How did you enjoy yourself back then? And what games did you play? These days, many traditional kids' games have been lost to time. For instance, playing with wooden blocks and pinning the tail on the donkey. Even now, children would still enjoy these games.  Make it more challenging by getting siblings to build something together. Or organize a tournament for the family with all kinds of classic games. The kids can help in the preparations by crafting their own donkey pinboard or decorating the bags for a sack race. You can also use popular outdoor play activities as inspiration to entertain children indoors. For example, setting up a treasure or scavenger hunt or playing Capture the flag. With this last game, everyone hides a flag somewhere in the house, the one who finds a flag first wins the game. 2. Allow children's imaginations to run free One of the most important elements of playing is fantasy. Through their infinite imagination, children will be able to enjoy themselves at home. You can encourage this imagination by giving children the freedom to create their own little world to play in. In a professional setting we do this by incorporating a theme in a play corner, for example with fences and wall designs. At home this can be done by giving children the opportunity to do crafts and create and build their own world. For example, let them build a play hut or fortress from cardboard boxes and sheets. Or collect old clothes and jewellery for a costume party and encourage the children to prepare a play. Additionally, you can work together to create your own kids' games for at home. For instance, drawing out a racetrack, making hand puppets or transforming a shoebox into a diorama or doll house. The possibilities are endless. 3. How to entertain kids at home in an active way One of the biggest challenges we are currently hearing from parents is that the children have a lot of unspent energy. This is understandable, because they can' t go to school, aren't playing with their friends and can' t go to swimming lessons or football practice.  What activities can you offer children at home that allow them to release their energy? In our play corners we work with climbing and clambering elements, but there are many possibilities to get creative and active at home. You can play more active games with them. Consider, for example, a sack race for brothers and sisters or musical chairs for the whole family. For younger children you can create an obstacle course from pillows and stuffed animals. To refer to children's unending fantasy world, you can also come up with an exciting story about what the obstacles represent. The advantage of the digital world we currently live in, is that you can also look on the internet for free online sports classes for children. There are many YouTube channels that offer kids’ gymnastics and yoga classes.   4. Adding educational elements to all the fun The preceding ideas stimulate creative development and active play. But with the right choices, you can easily incorporate educational elements into child's play.  Like matching the games to the homework, the children get from school. If, for example, the focus of the homework is on language and spelling, you can opt for word seekers and scrabble.  In addition, can also play thinking games such as Memory or stimulate thinking ahead with games like four in a row. Besides that, games like Shuffleboard also fit into the list of educational games. Shuffleboard allows children to work on their hand-eye coordination and motor skills. 5. Digital games to entertain children at home Naturally, digital resources should not be entirely overlooked in the process of optimally entertaining kids at home. Computer games and apps for tablets and smartphones offer a fun, and often, educational experience. An example of this are our IKC games that can be downloaded for free from the App Store or Google Play Store. Many children are already familiar with these games through a visit to a supermarket, restaurant or hospital. These apps are also available for children at home.  In addition to entertainment, these games offer an educational challenge and stimulate the cognitive development of the child. With the help of these apps, your kids can safely play while you focus on your work. Our digital game Unblock now available as a FREE printable version! For all parents that are working from home and for their children, we have made a free printable version of one of our popular Arctic Adventures games: Unblock. Just print out the file, cut out the pieces and start playing! This game is suitable for young and old, because of endless options for levels and difficulties by mixing up the placement of the ice blocks at the start of the game. Who will guide the boat to the exit the quickest? Find out now! Download the printable version of Unblock here

4 tips to design an indoor play area to deal with declining visitor numbers

How do you deal with the trend of declining traffic in physical stores? ABN Amro's retail 2020 and 2021 sector forecast shows that the bank expects that retailers will continue to struggle in the coming years due to the popularity of e-commerce. Retailers need to reinvent themselves <...> Around 55 percent of consumers orientate themselves online before making a purchase in a physical store. said ABN sector economist retail and leisure Paul Metzemakers. He advises retailers to improve the customer experience in order to increase the chance of retention visits. How does an indoor play corner fit into this picture? And what should you take into account? There are several ways to enrich a visit to your establishment and a kids' corner is an excellent example.  Nowadays, the expectations of visitors are much higher when it comes to their customer experience in your business. In addition, price and product are becoming increasingly subordinate to how your visitors experience your services. A kids’ corner contributes to a positive customer experience in your store, for both young and older visitors. A play corner works well in any sector Playing is universal. Child's play is the same in every country and culture. The effect of children playing is also the same all over the world: happy children result in happy parents.  These happy parents are your customers or visitors, who can devote more time and attention to your product or advice because their children are playing. For example, in a car showroom, satisfied children ensure that your sales team can give an undisturbed sales pitch. In supermarkets, a play area will lower the threshold for parents to take children with them during their weekly trip to the grocery store. How can you create the perfect kids' corner for your establishment? Read our four tips to design an indoor play area. The key elements for the ideal play corner remain the same for every organisation.   Tip 1 for designing your play area: entertainment for kids of all ages In the first ten years of our life, we develop rapidly. The trick for you is to create a play corner with fun activities for different age groups. This way, you offer entertainment for three and four years old, but also for their older siblings. While your youngest visitors will certainly enjoy themselves with a beads table, you might have to add more challenging activities for the older children. For example, furniture store Möbel Hesse decided to focus on younger and older children by creating a perfect mix of climbing structures, wall games and digital screens.   Tip 2 for designing your play area:  Provide a recognisable kids’ corner Naturally, it is important that your play corner is recognised by children and that the kids' corner appeals to them. By placing one or more recognizable areas, you will encourage children to start playing.  Children love colour and to appeal to children, colour is often used in children's toys. These colourful play modules can sometimes be more difficult to integrate into your establishment.  This quickly becomes easier when you choose colours from your own corporate identity. Moreover, you can add common aspects from your product range into the play concepts. Consider, for example, incorporating tools into the design for a kids' corner in a DIY store. Or adding a sandwich theme in the play area of a lunchroom. Due to the personalised look and feel, your youngest visitors will always recognise the play area. This will help them to form a positive association with your organisation from an early age. Tip 3 for designing your play area:  : Safety first In addition to fun, safety is also an important aspect of any play area. For instance, when it comes to a safe height for play concepts and reducing the number of loose parts and the effort required to clean the concept. There are several labels that indicate the safety of products. This makes it easier for you to guarantee the safety of your play corner. Products that meet the European EN-71 standard are guaranteed to be safe. For illustration, it is mandatory to add a shock-absorbing play floor if there are climbing elements in the kids’ area that exceed a height of 60 cm. Shopping centre Marktplatz seized this opportunity to extend their kids' play corner with an EPDM floor full of playful elements. Since an EPDM floor is made up of small rubber granules, it is possible to easily incorporate figures and logos into the floor. Making an EPDM floor not only safe, but also a lot of fun! Tip 4 for designing your play area: Take hygiene into account  Hygiene is an essential consideration when designing a play corner for children. The play concepts can therefore be coated with a protective, antibacterial paint. This paint leaves no chemical traces and makes it more difficult for bacteria, fungi and algae to stick to the surface of the play modules. In addition to the paint, it is desirable that the kids' corner does not contain any loose parts. This will save your staff tidying up and cleaning. It is also a lot safer for playing children. Wondering how other business-owners have set up their play corner? Discover it here  

Protecting children against the Coronavirus

In December 2019, the outbreak of the Coronavirus started in China, which is now spreading fast all over the world. Measures are being taken all over the world to prevent further spread. We, as IKC, want to contribute to this as well. Watch and share our Coronavirus video The measures taken to prevent the spreading of the Corona virus, can be confusing for children. That is why we have made a child-friendly video. This video provides a simple explanation about the Corona virus, its symptoms and how to prevent the spread of the virus. By clearly describing the virus and its symptoms, we hope that children will recognise the virus and that they will immediately inform their parents if they feel sick. In this video we also focus on the importance of personal and public hygiene, for example by emphasizing hand washing. Share this video with as many families as possible and reduce the risk of the virus spreading among children worldwide.

Inspiration: the key to success in 2020

One organisation can't keep its head above the water, while others achieve success. The difference in retail today is greater than ever. Why is that? Some organisations have discovered how important it is to inspire your customers, others have not.  Focusing solely on selling your products is no longer the way to run your company. In this article we explain what the most important focus points should be to be inspiring for your customers.   The world of retail is constantly changing. Large organisations are forced to leave the playing field, while smaller retail concepts are rapidly entering the market. Online stores and technology have also changed the market significantly in recent years. What is the norm today, will be surpassed by new ones tomorrow.  Inspiration   Inspiration ensures success. As many as 86% of consumers are willing to pay more for a better shopping experience. Inspiration gives energy and actually directs the behavior of customers. Customer satisfaction increases and loyalty to your organisation increases as well.  The term inspiration for the retail industry consists of 5 different pillars. First you have "offer and range". What a retailer has to offer must be clear right away. A wide choice, good quality and a good price-quality ratio that are important for customers.  When you succeed, the customer knows what to expect in your organisation. Examples of successful companies are Ikea and Hunkemoller.  The shop design is also an important aspect within the term inspiration. A shop in which a certain product is easy to find is important for the customer. Ici paris XL and Bever excel in this.   A unique experience is what the customer expects, over and over again. Retailers who respond to this are among the most inspiring stores in the Netherlands. A good example is Rituals. In their shops they create an oasis of tranquility, in the hustle and bustle of the city centre. This is what they want the customer to experience when using their product.  Of course, contact with customers is also part of the term inspiration. Retailers who are helpful and customer-oriented are seen by consumers as inspiring. Bol.com is a retailer that excels in this section. Their customer service can be reached 24/7 and they also offer delivery within two hours.  The last part of the term inspiration is the identity of your organisation. Openness and honesty are becoming more and more important. What you stand for and how you innovate. Sustainability is of course also a very important part of the identity of your company. More and more consumers are aware of sustainability and are making more sustainable choices.  Inspiration by sector The scores of the various sectors have been mapped out by the companies Synergie and Crossmarks. The drugstores, cosmetics and perfumery companies are number 1. At the very bottom is the supermarket sector. Customers experience supermarkets as the least inspiring sector. Where they do score well in terms of customer contact and shop fitting, they do significantly less well in terms of shopping experience. Profits can also be achieved in other sectors such as fashion and electronics stores.    Conclusion  The most inspiring retailers play a relevant role in the lives of consumers. When a company focuses purely on a low price, they score extremely poorly when it comes to inspiration. The most inspiring retailers look beyond the transaction. The formula of these retailers not only includes having one of an attractive offer, but also according to the wishes of the customer. These retailers know how to offer real solutions for the customer.  Would you also like to work on the inspirationfactor of your store? A kids’ corner will give you more time and room to help customers with children select the perfect product for them. Discover your possibilities. Contact us!

Kids’ corners: higher profits and a longer shopping time with happy children

Grocery shopping together with whining children? Bad idea! Change this to: going to a certain supermarket, restaurant or furniture store with children who are very excited. This is a major opportunity for higher profits. When children are happy, their parents tend to stay longer and spend more money. This is the concept of IKC, an abbreviation for International Kids Concepts.   It is a Thursday afternoon in the Albert Heijn XL supermarket in Tilburg, the Netherlands. I ask the girl, who is about four or five years old: ‘Fun game?’ ‘A lot of fun’, she answers, while continuing the digital memory game on a touchscreen. The parents are nowhere to be seen. This doesn’t matter, because the little girl is having a great time on her own. International Kids Concepts (IKC) emphasizes that their aim isn’t to have children left unattended, but the kids’ corners with digital and physical games have a high entertainment value. The company currently supplies dozens of parties in their own country and abroad. Supermarkets, fast food restaurants, car showrooms, furniture stores, hospitals and DIY stores. Basically, any location where children accompany their parents fall within IKC’s target group. New opportunities for IKC Fourteen years ago, the company was acquired by the current CEO Marco Lankman. Back then, IKC already produced games for children, but not even close to the same level that they do now, with export to thirty countries, including Russia and the United States. IKC’s concepts are designed and developed at the headquarters in Dronten, the Netherlands, while production is located in the Chinese city of Jiaxing. Lankman is especially busy with exploring new opportunities, while the Managing director Frank Heemskerk (photo) is in charge of daily management.  It has been calculated that one minute of extra shopping time results in 15 euros more turnover Frank Heemskerk, Managing director International Kids Concepts A kids’ corner as part of a total concept The term ‘shopping experience’ may be an overused word nowadays, but according to Heemskerk it does depict the opportunities that lie ahead. “Back in the day, a kids’ corner was something extra you added to entertain the kids. Nowadays, a kids’ corner is part of a total concept. That a pancake restaurant wants to entertain children is obvious, but we are seeing an increase in requests from retail- and hospitality sectors. In the supermarket sector we have a market share of about 80 to 85 percent. The physical retail world is diligently looking for ways to add extra shopping experience in response to the rise of online retailers.” No worries about children The key of the business model is that parents don’t have to worry about their children that are playing and having fun. This way the parents can make purchase decisions in peace. “When your child is having fun, you are enticed to take more time to browse in a store. It has been calculated that one minute of extra shopping time results in 15 euros more turnover”, says Heemskerk, who also acknowledges that duration of a stay is not solely determined by play value. “Product demonstrations and the smell of freshly baked bread also add to the shopping experience.” More fun for the children Another example is restaurant chain Fusion Plaza, which has three locations. As a guest at this all-you-can-eat restaurant, you don’t pay per meal, but for the duration of your stay. The restaurants have a large play area for children with products from IKC and even a small cinema. “What happens when the predetermined time has passed, and your children are still playing? You just add another half an hour. This will cost extra, but, of course, you want your children to keep on enjoying themselves. Having children around, that are clearly enjoying themselves, always pays off, in a peaceful atmosphere for the parents and also in extra profits for the location.” A kids’ corner is the deciding factor Heemskerk does not deny that families select a store or restaurant based on whether they have a play corner or not, although this will differ per branch. “Imagine there are two cinemas in the same city that are showing the same movie. If one of the cinemas has a play corner, it can be a determining factor for a family.” This factor will be of less significance when purchasing car or doing groceries. “There are obvious Jumbo or AH fans. These customers won’t switch supermarkets because of a play corner.” New double-digit growth for IKC Since Marco Lankman took over, the company has grown immensely. Heemskerk won’t share exact turnover numbers, mostly because IKC operates within a small niche: all suppliers keep an eye on each other. However, the managing director does let us know that the turnover of the first seven weeks of this year is already at the same level as the complete first quarter of last year. It certainly looks like this year will lead to another double-digit growth for IKC. “You can correlate the turnover probability per country to the amount of residents. If you do this for the regions where we are not yet very active, like eastern Europe, there is a lot of opportunity for growth.”   Schrameyer, H. (2020, 02 28). Kidscorners: met tevreden kinderen langer winkelen en meer omzet. Source: De Ondernemer: https://www.deondernemer.nl/marketing/kidscorners-kinderen-winkelen-omzet~2014586

Swimming centre Rotterdam further expands its play value with more kids’ corners

In 2019, Swimming Centre Rotterdam was looking for a solution to entertain the brothers and sisters of children that came for swimming lessons. For this reason, IKC installed a kids' corner. The sports company and its youngest visitors liked this solution so much that they decided to add play corners at several other locations.  A kids' corner that stands out With an extra customized kids’ corner, children can now also drive through the city with our Nitrodash and watch cartoons on our customized 32inch tv screen. The colourful play corners are real eye-catchers that bring children together and offer them a safe place to play. Are you curious about the custom play solutions we have installed at Swimming Centre Rotterdam?  View them here!  

Child-friendly Whiteboard instruction video about the Corona Virus

The current epidemic situation in China due to the Corona virus does not only have a large impact in China, but also a large influence on the world’s economy. Many families, households and organisations worldwide are affected by the measures that are required to keep the virus from spreading any further. We are glad that the government is taking the necessary steps to keep the Chinese population as healthy as possible. Our factory in Jiaxing and our Asian Pacific headquarters in Shanghai are currently closed to keep our colleagues safe. What to do to prevent Corona? The measures taken to prevent the spreading of the Corona virus, can be confusing for children. That’s why our marketing teams China and Europe created a whiteboard instruction video for Chinese children. We did this in cooperation with Whiteboard video specialists Lucan & Lionel. The most important reason for creating the video, is to explain to children in a child-friendly way what is happening around them. Some of the prevention measures may seem scary to children. Like when the roads are closed off or when their temperature is measured in the streets. By describing the virus and the symptoms, we hope that children will tell their parents immediately that they are not feeling well. We also focus on the importance of hygiene in public areas. Check out the video below:

Physical store needs to adjust revenue model

According to ABN AMRO’s Retail Sector Forecast for 2020/2021, retailers will have to reinvent themselves in the upcoming years. They will have to increase their online visibility. Overall, the forecasts for the Retail sector are positive, according to the bank. ABN AMRO expects a sales growth of two percent in both 2020 and 2021. Last year, the turnover grew by 2.5 percent, this is the sixth year in a row. Since 2013, turnover has grown by more than fifteen percent. However, the growth decreased slightly last year compared to the previous year. This was partly due to the rise in the low VAT rate from six to nine percent. This measure mainly slowed down the growth of turnover for supermarkets (from 2.8 percent in 2018 to half a percent in 2019). Despite the positive forecast for the retail sector, ABN AMRO highlights that the future looks less bright for individual retailers. Fashion and electronics stores in particular are under pressure due to the popularity of e-commerce. According to the bank, the total worth of consumer products sold online has grown with 270 percent since 2013. Website sales now account for 20 percent of the Dutch non-food turnover. This figure is 25 percent when we add foreign online shops to this number. ABN AMRO expects online sales to grow another fifteen percent in 2020 and 2021, partly due to the arrival of Amazon in the Netherlands. "Retailers need to reinvent themselves and increase their online visibility. About 55 percent of consumers explore the possibilities online before making a purchase," says ABN’s  Sector Economist for Retail and Leisure Paul Metzemakers. "An example for increasing online visibility is that retailers can form a community of similar-minded people and organize events." For instance, you could think of a 'cycling clothing store that serves as the location for a cup of coffee before a group ride'. "Customers also appreciate it when the staff is well-informed, knows the story behind products and can empathise with their needs. This - and an inspiring assortment and interior - enhances the customer experience and the chance of return visits". Finally, the bank also advises retailers to consider the changing consumer spending patterns due to an ageing population. Retired people often spend a larger part of their income on household appliances, health, food and beverages and less on electronics, clothing and shoes. (2020, 01 31). 'ABN Amro: 'Fysieke winkel moet verdienmodel aanpassen''. Opgehaald van https://retailtrends.nl/news/59311/abn-amro-fysieke-winkel-moet-verdienmodel-aanpassen  Would you like to improve the customer experience of your store? A children's corner gives children their own place in your shop. While the kids play, you'll have more time to personally help your visitors choose their purchase. Request your quotation here!