As from March this year we can announce that we have established a new partnership in Durban South Africa where a showroom with a selection of IKC products has been installed in Durban.

Together with local partners who have already been in the business for several years South Africa will now be addressed as new growth market. The concept of Instore Kids Corners and products like ours were unknown in South Africa despite the large retail culture where shopping malls throughout the country dominate the regions.

The www.ikcplay.com platform will be used to explain and attract the local market where also target retailers will be approached such as food restaurant chains, supermarkets, etc. We have great belief in the South African market as the first projects are well under progress and we expect to share the first in-retail results soon.

There are already plans to open showrooms in Johannesburg and Capetown as well as together with Durban these are the 3 large powerful cities to have representative appearance.

The Durban operation will also act as base to accommodate other countries on the South African continent where first interest already has been shown. We look forward establishing a powerful IKC presence in South Africa and have great trust to achieve this together with our partners.

On March 14, 2012 the family Droogh openend an entirely new location of Intratuin in Zevenhuizen. 

This is modern garden center Intratuin number 55 in The Netherlands, The family business is committed to sustainability. Intratuin Zevenhuizen is one of the most modern garden centers in the Netherlands concerning corporate social responsibility.

Of course, this garden center had a good Kids Corner, along with the manager, Instore Kids Corners composed a children's play area that suits their image and the perception of the customer. Playtouch computers, wall boards and various seating options are added.

All walls are surrounded with their own style image which fit within their vision. This children's play area can be found at the catering facility of the garden center. When parents come with their children they can enjoy a tasty snack and a drink while the kids play in this playground.

Click here for more pictures of this Kids Corner.

Happy Island is IKC's main distributor in southern China and concentrates on design, production, sales and distribution of children playgrounds and educational and amusement products.

Happy Island is accredited by several national and international authorities and rewarded for their innovative designs, with high quality and safety standards. After several meetings in both Guangzhou as well as Jiaxing, IKC and Happy Island came to agreements where Happy Island will actively distribute IKC’s kids corners and play area products.

We are certain that establishing this partnership with Happy Island, IKC can commit stronger to meet the Chinese market demand. Happy Island recently finished their new showroom with a fine selection of the IKC products at the Happy Island head office in Guangzhou. Later this year Happy Island shall also open a showroom in their office in Wenzhou to support the growth of their sales activities. 

In the further search for expansion throughout the world of the Instore Kids Corners concept and products we can confirm the cooperation with our new exclusive distributor for the Japanese market JoyPalette from Japan. 

Joy Palette is located in Tokyo. As supplier of shopping carts under license of famous cartoon characters such as Miffy, Disney, Hello Kitty and Thomas and Friends, JoyPalette already has sales channels that can be used to offer educational kids corners. The IKC product range is an added value to JoyPalette’s business and widens the range of services that Joypalette can offer to their excisting clients as well as it offers JoyPalette the opportunity to approach new markets and expand their business. 

For JoyPalette one of the most important topics for assuring a commitment with IKC is that the products need to meet the highest standards within quality. After several desktop audits, a factory audit from the JoyPalette quality team was organized where all requirements were met.

More information about JoyPalette can be found on www.joypalette.co.jp (Japanese only). 

Being aware of the great potential with the Japanese market we are certain the cooperation will enhance the IKC Concept further more globally where the Japanese market is of such caliber that we can only conclude further growth of our company to be a matter of time.

Statoil Fuel & Retail is a leading Scandinavian road transport fuel retailer with over 100 years of operations in the region. Statoil has a broad retail network across Scandinavia, Poland, the Baltics, and Russia with approximately 2,300 full-service (fuel and convenience) or automated (fuel only) stations. Statoil Fuel & Retail is the market leader in Scandinavia, welcoming 1 million customers to retail stations every day.

During the developement of the new future store concept it was understood and decided that all areas have to be covered and with this insight a spezial Kids Play Area was decided to be part of the concept. Together with IKC staff a design proposal was made based on the experience of IKC what is and would be needed in the Kids Area. A specific area near the main restaurant seating area was chosen were parents can have a good sight on the children when they would be playing in the Kids Area. The content of the area was sourced to have a high educational level of entertainment with a target for various age groups varying from 3 to 8 years. This has resulted in a very attractive surrounding area where several wall mounted Play Modules have been installed as also the BeadsTree Table Set. The area looks attracting and invites children to play leading to the benefit of the concept :

• Children in a relaxed state of mind
• Parents relax and taking more time for extra consumption
• Brand related loyalty, parents will Stopp at Statoil knowing the children have a spezial play area
• No damage to the due to loose components
• More free time for Statoil staff to focus on their own work and not having to look or watch for children

This concept future store will be monitored coming months whereafter this new concept might be considered rolled out throughout the markets where Statoil is active in.