News Motorway service area

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Motorway station : How to improve your visibility on Kids Friendly sites

On the way to their holiday destination, motorway stations are a welcome break for families. But with children, these stops can be stressful for parents who need to find ways to keep their children s entertained and safe. For this, Kylii Kids interactive play areas are the ideal solution. They provide a fun and stimulating experience for children while allowing parents to relax.

However, it is not enough to offer these interactive children’s areas, they must also be promoted to travelling families. This will allow parents looking for play areas for their children on the road to come to your motorway service area to enjoy such facilities. How can you improve the visibility of your motorway service area on Kids Friendly websites? Which websites are the most popular with families? How can you build customer loyalty with children? We tell you everything!

Optimise the referencing of your website

To increase the visibility of your Kylii Kids interactive playground, you can rely on your online presence. In order for your address to appear at the top of the search results, you need to work on the referencing of your website. To do this, it is useful to produce regular and relevant content by adding keywords related to your children’s playground.

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Make sure your website is well structured and easy to navigate for users and search engine spiders. Also make sure you optimise meta tags, images and internal links to make your site more relevant. Finally, encourage inbound links to your site by partnering with other web pages related to your industry.

Use social media to promote your interactive playgrounds

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In addition to your website, you can also use social networks to promote your interactive playgrounds. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can help you communicate with parents. This way, you can regularly inform them about your activities, special offers and other news about your children’s areas. Social media is also a way to increase the visibility of your business by creating a community of customers and followers. Be active and responsive by responding to comments, sharing relevant content and encouraging interaction with your audience.

Work with local authorities to promote your children’s play areas

You can also work with local organisations to raise the profile of your interactive play facilities. Contact the tourist offices to make your facilities known to travellers passing through your region. You can also organise occasional events in collaboration with local businesses to attract more families to your motorway service area.

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Collaborate with local producers for an authentic experience on the motorway service area

Another winning strategy to set yourself apart from the competition: partner with local producers! You can offer fresh, quality food to your customers, while supporting the local economy. For example, sandwiches made with fresh bread and locally grown vegetables. Or dishes made from local meat and dairy products.

Producers can also provide artisanal products for sale in your shop, such as honey, jams and cheeses. This approach benefits you on two levels: it gives you a competitive advantage by offering a unique experience to your customers, and it reinforces your brand image as a sustainable and local player.

Create partnerships to offer benefits to families

Finally, to build customer loyalty and attract new visitors, you can also offer benefits to families. For example, establish local partnerships to offer discounts on family activities around your motorway service area. Or run promotions on products in your shop or catering services for children.

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Also consider creating family packs or special offers: you can include snacks, drinks and entertainment for children. In addition, you can organise family events such as craft workshops, drawing competitions or board games: these are all opportunities for families to relax and enjoy each other’s company while taking a break at your service area. These small gestures can make a big difference to families looking for a good deal and encourage their long-term loyalty.

Provide a quality experience to retain families and attract new visitors

The success of your recreation areas depends on the quality of the experience offered to children. Quality facilities, a variety of activities and safe, stimulating play areas can encourage families to return. Families are often likely to praise their positive experience and recommend your business to other travellers. User comments are quickly relayed to Kids Friendly sites, which are popular references for travelling parents. They provide practical information on destinations, accommodation and family activities. All this helps to raise your company’s profile and attract more visitors to your motorway service area.

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To improve the visibility of your motorway service area on Kids Friendly sites, publicise the wealth of your children’s facilities. To do this effectively, you need to do several things. Firstly, promotion on the internet through your website and social networks. Secondly, working with local organisations to attract more visitors to your petrol station. Finally, offering a quality experience to children and parents alike. Kylii Kids interactive playgrounds are perfectly suited for roadside service stations. They provide exciting and safe entertainment for children, while allowing parents to enjoy a quiet moment.

Motorway areas with children

Motorway areas: new places to go with children?

Here we are. It’s summer! And like every year, thousands of tourists stop by motorway areas with children daily. Even if, at first, there was only petrol available at these stations. The service areas on motorways are being transformed into real places to stay. Especially because of the waiting time for electric recharging (about 30 minutes). There are now shops, restaurants and services for all the family.

Set up interactive children’s areas in motorway service stations to meet families’ expectations

With approximately 4 billion families worldwide representing half of the population, the family target is definitely a strategic target for service station operators.

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According to the Novachild cluster study, “1 in 3 parents have already left a sales outlet because of their child. That’s millions abandoned visits per year”.1 Children are both specifiers and disruptors. Therefore, they become a major focus for these motorway service areas and their businesses.

Motorway areas with children : From travel stop to family destination

In order to be perceived as more than just a  stop but as a real destination, service station operators must renew their services and offer more services and experiences to their customers.

“Four million people pass through our toilets every year, but only half of them buy something,” regrets Géraud Visinoni, the person in charge of the Areas site in Assevillers.2

Going to motorway areas with children without dedicated structures or areas with appropriate interactive content is complicated. Families get back on the road faster and shorten their visit. And this naturally reduces the shopping budget of the on-site stores.

Improve waiting time management for children during electric power recharging

Habits are changing and more and more families are equipping with hybrid or electric vehicles. And petrol companies are adapting to market trends. “They are investing in setting up electric charging station networks. For example, Total already has 18,000 charging points in France and more than 100,000 in Europe.”3

Just as shopping habits are changing, motorway stations are evolving from transactional to relational marketing.

For example, Total Energies, Argedis, Shell, Thevenin Ducrot, Picoty Avia, Autogrill, Areas, Sodiplec, Gridserve… All these companies have equipped their motorway service areas with Kylii Kids interactive areas to manage children’s waiting and excitement.

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When the break is required and takes time, their interactive children’s areas have a double role to play:

  • Turning a mandatory moment ( gas up or toilet stop) into a recreational moment ( playing and experiencing with the family).
  • Turn a casual visitor into a loyal customer. Managing children’s waiting time (30 minutes on average per reload) allows parents to increase consumption and the average shopping basket.

Business case: With Kylii Kids, children play while the car is charging at Gridserve

While the parents enjoy their coffee and charge their car… Gridserve and Kylii Kids have everything under control! In this new generation electrical station, powered entirely by solar panels, children play and learn with interactive games about ecology and nature.

Motorway areas with children

See the full article on the Gridserve interactive children’s area.


Références
1 . Novachild – Children’s role in distribution places
2 . https://www.capital.fr/entreprises-marches/restos-d-autoroute-un-duel-au-couteau-422654
3 . https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2020/04/08/les-petroliers-passent-a-l-electrique_6035977_3234.html

Shell children's playgrounds

Shell children’s playgrounds are going phygital!

A new design, a new concept, and of course… new Shell children’s playgrounds! For a few months now, the Shell stations have been wearing their most beautiful shades on their motorway areas!

The Kylii Kids interactive tables and touch desks are shining in Shell stations in a lovely sunny yellow! The new children’s play equipment shines in the motorway areas. And even when it’s raining outside 🙂

To meet families’ expectations more efficiently…

The same old song in the family car! ” How long?”, “I have to pee”, “I’m hungry”, “I’m bored”… That’ s why families are looking for the best motorway service areas before starting their trip. The ones with dedicated services… Like the Shell children’s playgrounds for example! That’s why they are deployed!

And, because children have new digital expectations, these corners mix physical wooden games with the new interactive Kylii Kids games.

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Make friends during the stopover!

On the menu at the Shell motorway service area: stretch your legs, shop around, have lunch, drink a coffee before setting off and then, most importantly… let the children make new friends around the Kylii Kids touch table!

The Kylii table is a collaborative game that can welcome up to 6 players simultaneously! A new interactive activity to play together, make new friends or have fun with your parents. It offers a catalogue of games on intelligent themes such as science, nature or the environment…

The Kylii table takes a central role in the Shell children’s play area. Next to it are two touch desks. These desks are equipped with more than sixty interactive games on playful and intelligent themes (sport, food, nature). The first desk is equipped with a seat. And the second is adapted for children with reduced mobility (PRM).

Finally, a wooden game hanging on the wall adds a physical touch to this Shell children’s playground concept.

Shell children’s playgrounds: a deployment that is fast growing!

You can now find our Shell children’s playgrounds in the Les Haras area, the Villeneuve Vauluisant area, the Keskastel West area, the Villeneuve l’Archevêque area and the Vémars EST area 🙂

And in other Shell motorway areas very soon!

Get in touch with Kylii Kids

Would you like to install interactive children’s playgrounds in your motorway service areas?

Contact Kylii Kids at sales@kylii-kids.com. We will be happy to hear about your needs and answer your questions!

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Digital kids corner Gridserve at the first Electric Forecourt® in the UK !

While parents have a coffee and recharge their car, at the digital kids corner Gridserve, all is done to make sure the kids learn something new and have fun. Thanks to Kylii Kids UK, children discover new and exciting experiences at the first Electric Forecourt® by Gridserve in Braintree, Essex. (UK).​

Powered by clean solar energy and clever battery storage technology, the site is the first one over 100 Electric Forecourts® being built by GRIDSERVE over the next five years. In this new concept, customer experience and quality service for everyone is a key point. Kylii Kids UK worked hand by hand with GRIDSERVE to make sure the best experiences are provided to ths kids.

Digital Kids Corner GridserveToddington Harper, Founder and CEO of GRIDSERVE said “Charging has to be simple and free of anxiety, which is why we’ve designed our Electric Forecourts® entirely around the needs of drivers”.

GRIDSERVE’s purpose is to provide spectacular charging facilities at the same time as delivering an awesome customer experience. That’s why they decided to use Kylii Kids’ services, as the leader in interactive children’s areas, to install the best digital kids corner in their new concept.

Digital kids corner Gridserve : A whole interactive area dedicated to children

A dedicated area has been mapped out for children by Kylii Kids UK in this digital kids corner Gridserve. In this play area, children have fun with many different interactive game experiences offering adventure and education. Two touch panels, a virtual reality tower, an augmented reality totem and a tactile table provide active and interactive activities. Kylii kids supply over 180 interactive games about several subjects such as ecology, science, healthy food…

Digital Kids Corner Gridserve

About GRIDSERVE

GRIDSERVE’s purpose is to deliver sustainable energy and move the needle on climate change. GRIDSERVE develops, builds, owns and operates solar energy and battery storage solutions for critical power infrastructure. GRIDSERVE’s team have been responsible for the development, construction and operation of more than a gigawatt of solar energy and energy storage solutions, including connecting over 100 utility-scale sustainable energy projects to the UK grid. GRIDSERVE is interested in exploring new electric vehicle charging and sustainable energy opportunities, including new hybrid solar farms, Electric Forecourts® and remote power solutions.

About Kylii Kids UK

Kylii Kids UK has been the first partner to join up with Kylii Kids. They distribute Kylii Kids’ interactive children’s games throughout the United Kingdom. Before this exciting project with Gridserve, Kylii Kids UK had already worked on innovative concepts and large-scale projects such as the Primark Cafe with Disney concept.

You are in the UK and you have a children’s space project? Please, feel free to contact the Kylii Kids UK team who will be happy to answer you!

D14 Metropolitan Park
Greenford London – UB6 8UJ – ENGLAND
sales@kylii-kids.co.uk – Tel : +44 (0)20 3488 3602

AREAS kids corners

AREAS Kids corners, let’s go on holidays in Spain !

So that the journey is part of the holiday and that the road is a pleasant experience for the whole family… Areas, the travel catering specialist, is providing interactive games at two first sites in Spain! Currently, two AREAS kids corners have recently been equipped with Kylii Kids games. The restaurants at the Penedes (Tarragona) and Montseny Norte (Barcelona) motorway service areas are now ready to welcome families!

Keeping children busy on the road, a well-known problem for families…

Anyone who has ever travelled in a car with children knows how complicated our dear children can be on the road.

As soon as you start the car, you hear “I’m bored…” or the famous “Are we almost there?”

Dedicated services at rest areas to better welcome families are essential for everyone to relax. This is why AREAS has chosen to provide interactive and fun activities that match children’s expectations in its restaurants.

AREAS kids corners, play and exercise after a good meal before getting back on the road…

Stopping at a motorway service area with children can be stressful. If children are bored, parents grab a sandwich and leave. They may not take the time to eat in a restaurant. That’s why you have to manage the children’s energy! Areas has chosen to install a Kylii Air totem in one of its stations. This Augmented Reality game is controlled by gestures. It stimulates both physically and intellectually the kids. The children interact with their body movements and all their energy is called into play

Interactive games, a thought present in several countries…

Last year, Areas already deployed its first interactive games area with Kylii Kids in France. So, since December, the restaurant in the Vironvay motorway service welcomes children with an interactive multiplayer floor. The children can run, jump and play on the projection which is animated under their feet! Another fun activity to stretch the legs before getting back on the road!

About Areas

With an operational presence in 12 countries around the world, Areas offers a very wide range of catering services to meet the expectations of travellers and concessionaires, in airports, railway stations and motorway service areas.

Eurotunnel

Waiting for the Shuttle is a breeze!

A fun and memorable Eurotunnel travel experience starts in the waiting area with integrated Kylii Kids interactive solutions.

Since the launch of the Channel tunnel in 1994, England is no longer really an island. The Eurostar shuttle travels under the sea between Calais-Coquelles in France and Folkestone in England.  The shuttle is used daily by nearly 60,000 passengers including families excited at the prospect of a journey to another country.  Conscious of providing an enjoyable and quality service Eurotunnel chose Kylii Kids solutions to manage the waiting time before boarding.

Touch panels and interactive floor

A dedicated area has been mapped out for children where they can have fun before boarding the shuttle.  Four touch panels and an interactive floor provide both active and interactive attractions with numerous games available in several languages. Disability access has been incorporated to accommodate all audiences. “Many families travel with the Shuttle. It was important for us to offer them a fun, educational and innovative moment for a travel experience that starts in the waiting area!” says Yves Szrama, Customer Experience Director.