5 Ways to Increase Revenue at Your Indoor Adventure Play Venue

Short on time but eager to boost your revenue streams? We’ve got five strategies to get you making the most out of your entertainment centre.

Read on if you’re an owner of an indoor playground, family entertainment centre (FEC), or trampoline park….

1. Increase demographic, reduce quiet time

As an owner or manager of an entertainment centre, your working schedule tends to fall in line with school timetables - with weekends and holidays being your busiest and most profitable times of the year.

But, getting as many people through the door as possible is crucial when looking at ways to increase revenue, because let’s face it - rent, overhead costs, and salaries aren’t cheap!

Tailoring products and activities to a range of customers can boost revenue by appealing to wider audiences and help drive up visitor numbers during quiet periods. Here are some ideas:

• Babies and toddlers – Host baby sensory classes and toddler groups during school hours
• School children – Run after-school sessions, birthday parties, and seasonal events. Partner with local schools and clubs to increase awareness
• Older teens and adults – Group bookings are a popular social activity for older customers which can fill quiet weekday evenings and a great way to upsell food and drink. Think UV nights, corporate team building and DJ decks

SkyPods Duo in a softplay

2. Offer more = charge more

Give customers a reason to spend more at your site!

If you’re offering the experiences that your competitors don’t have, or that customers can’t experience at home, they will be more willing to pay an increased ticket price to visit your venue.

Invest in new, exciting products

Your customers are paying for a unique experience! Investing in new and exciting products makes you stand out and creates an experience people are willing to pay for and return to.

Plus, new activities encourage customers to share their visit on social media, giving you a greater reach and attracting future visitors.

PowrPlay® Transformation at AirHop

Provide food and drink options that both kids and parents love

Tired parents and hungry children don’t make for a happy day out. So, providing proper coffee, and tasty, affordable food, is a must when looking to increase revenue through your venue’s café.

Refurbish and upgrade

Venue looking a bit tired? Design and branding starting to feel dated? Refurbishing your venue, upgrading outdated products and equipment, and boosting your brand image, all add value to your site, meaning you can charge more.

Also, putting time and money into your site communicates to your customers that you care about their experience, that you’re current, and ultimately, ‘on-trend’.

Fun and fresh branding at Sky’s The Limit

3. Increase customer capacity

Whether you have the challenge of a small space or issues with staffing levels, increasing customer capacity might feel out of reach. However, we have a few suggestions that will support you in opening the doors to more customers, and in turn, increasing revenue.

Low-maintenance products that facilitate large groups

Having products that can be used with little to no supervision frees up employee time and allows for larger groups to get involved without needing multiple members of staff. In addition, consider products that don’t require time-consuming cleaning or replacing, such as foam or ball pits.

Optimise site layout

Is there a corner of your venue that’s gathering cobwebs? Do you have a product that takes up a lot of space, without attracting many customers?

One of our trampoline park customers put a Trailblazer interactive climbing wall into an unused space and increased its capacity by around 50 customers per day.

It’s time to change things up! Consider how you can fill these wasted spaces to make the most of your venue and be able to expand capacity, especially during busy periods.

TrailBlazer Traverse

Cater to more customers

As we discussed in tip No.1, building on what you offer to different demographics will fill quiet time and offer more money-earning hours to your week.

4. Drive repeat visits

What motivates your customers to come back to your venue?

Maybe it’s the convenience of your location, the perfectly brewed coffee, or the cleanliness of your facilities. How about considering these elements too:

Gamification

Gamified elements of indoor play motivate repeat visits with scoring and leaderboards, fuelling customers to return to beat their own, or their team’s score!

All Rugged Interactive products are built around the concept of gamification and interactivity, which enhances user experience, encourages competition, and offers physical and audible feedback when playing on them. Read our blog on Gamification to find out why interactives are so important in the indoor fun sector.

PowrPlay Scoreboard

Value for money

Whether you’ve kept ticket prices at a constant or upped your prices due to a new product, you want customers to feel they are getting the bang for their buck.

Spoilt for choice

Do your customers have a reason to come back and try a new activity they didn’t get time for? Having lots to offer in your centre means that kids may not get to have a go on all your products! This motivates future visits and higher revenue through repeat customers.

Our rule of thumb; less than 12 activities? You’ll benefit from adding more.

5. The Power of Parties

Whether it’s birthday parties, sports clubs, or work Christmas dos, group packages for indoor adventure venues have huge revenue-boosting opportunities.

Parties for older teens and adults can also utilise quiet evening hours, and for 18+ parties, you can offer alcoholic drinks that’ll really bump up the spending.

Group bookings also offer great marketing opportunities for your venue and happy customers might be inclined to post the event on social media, getting your venue and party packages visibility. Don’t forget to make your social handles visible for customers in your party marketing materials, and why not try running a ‘best social post’ competition for customers who share their event online?

Many Rugged customers host Freedom Gaming birthday parties, our interactive tag challenge game for indoor play. Running around a soft play frame can get boring, but with interactive lightpods to find and hit, a team scoreboard, and some friendly competition, you can keep customers engaged, excited, and eager to revisit your venue!

Freedom Gaming Party

Rugged Interactive solutions

From gamifying your soft play structure by incorporating a Freedom Gaming Arena to adding FreeStyle Duo over your trampolines, or adding TrailBlazer to an unused corner, Rugged has interactive solutions to keep your venue bringing in customers and encouraging repeat visits.

FreeStyle Duo

Gamification has the power to excite, challenge, create great memories, appeal to wide demographics, and diversify your park. ALL of these elements get customers visiting, spreading the word, and coming back for more.

Whether you’re looking to invest in interactives, or seeking further advice on increasing your revenue streams, our gamification experts are here to help! We frequently help customers explore their options for new revenue-generating ideas.

Contact us at sales@rugged-interactive.com or call us on +44 1726 981 123 to find out more.

By Grace Cupper, Marketing Project Lead.