'The scope for growth is huge'

Manny Coulon, 41, scoured the internet for local attractions ahead of a visit from friends who had two children older than his own. “I thought that the web would solve my problem in minutes,” says Coulon, “but I was astonished at how difficult such an obvious search proved to be.” His frustration with the poor results prompted him to do more research over the coming months. And he came to a simple conclusion: there was a real “gap” in the market that offered a clear business opportunity and so the “Ideas For The Kids” website was born.

As an ex-management consultant, Coulon knew that businesses thrive when their products and services solve problems for customers. “There are 12 million families in the UK and around one million children in each year-band,” says Coulon. “That’s an awful lot of birthdays and days out to find ideas for.”

Coulon spent six months developing his website as a search tool for adults looking for attractions against regions and dates. The early challenge was to populate the website with adequate content and Coulon waited until he had 10,000 venues listed before launching. Venues are offered a free listing but can upgrade to have a larger placing or to feature special events. Hence revenue comes from advertisers, making the site free of charge for users.

Coulon launched his new business by promoting it to everyone that he knew. And, despite the low key approach, word-of-mouth marketing proved very successful and the website had 500 hits in its first month of going live in May 2007. Since then, website traffic has grown to generate more than 250,000 referrals to venues per month. “It’s hard to quantify what business this generates for venues,” says Coulon, “but research indicates that it is more than £1m per month – evidence that certainly helps encourage attractions to advertise.”

Recognition of success came recently in the BT Online Excellence awards: the website came third, beaten only by Disney and CBeebies! “That gave us added credibility,” says Coulon, “although our initial credibility came from our location at the Warwick University Science Park. Apart from advice and support, the university linkage was helpful in persuading attractions to take us seriously.” But now the business’ momentum has created its own credibility and, as Coulon says, “The scope for growth is huge.”

Ideas For The Kids Ltd (02476430370; www.ideasforthekids.com)

^{# More information}

^{For more information on Business Monthly, or if you have any comments regarding the supplement, please write to Business Monthly, The Independent, 191 Marsh Wall, London E14 9RS, or e-mail businessmonthly@independent.co.uk.}

Interesting? Click here to explore further