Make a Small Business Family Friendly

Ideas for Attracting Parents to a Business

Jul 19, 2008 Katelyn Thomas

Making a business attractive to parents can increase profits.

For most parents of small children, shopping can be a hectic and exasperating experience, especially when the adults need to compare several items to decide which is the best option for them. Some well known big companies have capitalized on the need for parents to shop without distractions by offering full scale child play areas. While few small businesses have a big enough budget to follow suit, there are a few less expensive options that can help them capitalize on a neglected market - parents with kids that hate to shop.

Now Showing

Setting up a movie corner is as easy as gathering together a few comfy child-sized chairs, a DVD player, a television set and a stack of DVDs that would appeal to young children. Make sure that any DVDs you choose are "G" rated to avoid upsetting parents who don't want to spend their evenings dealing with movie nightmares.

Choosing DVDs that are in the public domain is a smart idea for businesses that want to play it safe, since some movie companies may consider a DVD that is playing in a public area as an illegal showing of their movies. A searchable listing of public domain movies is available through the Public-Domain Movie Database.

Coloring Corner

Set up a child-sized table and chairs, a small bucket of crayons and a few coloring books branded with the company name and phone number. This gives children an area to color in while their parents are shopping and allows the business to advertise to anyone who sees the coloring books after the children take them home.

To avoid a lot of mess and clean up in the coloring corner, don't put out too many coloring books or crayons at one time. Some children will scribble on one page in every book on the table. Others will decide to upend the crayon bucket all over an aisle floor.

Set Up a Play Area

For companies that have a spare space with plenty of windows that look into the building, a little play area can be a great idea. Talk to the local child care licensing agency to find out what the legal ramifications of a play area are. Anyone who staffs the play area may need to be trained, fingerprinted and licensed.

If a separate play room is too much for the business to handle, set up a shelving unit or large basket in a corner of the store filled with books, puzzles and child safe toys.

The copyright of the article Make a Small Business Family Friendly in Small/Home Business is owned by Katelyn Thomas. Permission to republish Make a Small Business Family Friendly in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

A DVD Player Can Make Any Store Family Friendly.