Family Entertainment Centers – The Growing Trend in India These loyalty programs are used to retain and attract new customers with advertising aid in family entertainment centers
By Seema Masrani •
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Family bonding time – a designated time when the family plans to interact with each other over a group of activities or a major fun project. The concept of family bonding is extremely important across the world. To encourage this system, Family entertainment centers are designed to engage families at reasonable prices. These centers offer a variety of games, arcade games, video games, gaming consoles, machine-based games, and indoor sports. There are options to host birthday parties and to avail gift cards, incentives and bonuses. This encourages customers to visit a specific family/indoor entertainment center.
Entertainment zones have become a favorite hangout for families willing to spend quality time together. Attractions at indoor entertainment centers include trampoline parks, bubble zones, interactive sports arenas, video game arcades, bowling alleys, air shooting, pool, children's play areas, and adventure rides.
Family Entertainment Centres
Family / indoor entertainment facilities offer loyalty programs, which is an important market driver. The program is supported by parameters like visit points, reward points, cards, memberships, etc. These loyalty programs are used to retain and attract new customers with advertising aid in family entertainment centers.
With the increase in work pressure, not many people have the time to spend an entire day at theme parks and resorts. Family Entertainment Centers have provided them much needed entertainment avenues at convenient locations close to their homes. Increasing disposable incomes, coupled with limited leisure time, has led to the exponential growth of FECs.
This Trend is Here to Stay
The concept of FECs is a boon for young parents and nuclear families, and it is definitely here to stay! An indoor area facilitated with toys, games, and equipment for children to play with, an environment that is best guarded and maintained, and an atmosphere that bursts with positivity and liveliness, indoor play zones have a lot to offer to the kids as well as their parents.
In addition, there is a rise in the number of malls across India, enabling the growth of FECs. Mall developers are increasingly including FECs in their plans since they help in increasing and retaining footfalls at malls and increase the number of hours consumers spend in them. New developers have begun to plan bigger spaces in their malls and consider FECs as a USP for them.
There are malls offering over-the-top features including indoor ski areas, indoor theme parks, water parks, zoos, science centers, shooting ranges, and even an underground shark tunnel. They are moving towards play zones, amusement park themes, rides and engaging events, like celebrations, special campaigns, shows, summer workshops music concerts, etc. The FEC concept which petered down from the US to India now is the mainstay of the shopping mall industry.
These substantially extend a mall's draw, lengthen shopper stay and even increase revenue for other tenants. Even Tier II malls are not far behind, creating spaces to bring in more entertainment players.
Here's What the Studies Say
Overall, Family Entertainment Centers, the emerging trend of FECs is replacing the time spent by families dwelling on digital portals, Netflix and cinemas. The entertainment scenario in India is surely progressing and in no time FECs will be dominating every area. In conclusion, FECs are surely emerging, however, one needs to be different to attract the right set of audience – the young and the young at heart.
