Making sense of KidZania business model

I am sure most of us (especially the ones based in Mumbai) have heard about KidZania or may even have visited it at the R City Mall. Well! Few days back I did some interesting piece of analysis about their business and wanted to share the same with fellow readers of my blog.

Did you know that the KidZania Mumbai center with an annual attendance of 700,000 people and an average ticket price of INR1400/- (for children) and INR500/- (for an adult) could be generating annual ticket sales of whopping INR90 crores.

That’s not all!

KidZania Mumbai center also earns money through individual or corporate partners who want to put up their brands in the mock-up city. The center has nearly 40 corporate partners, namely, Amity University, Big Bazaar, Birla Sun Life Insurance, Cadbury’s, Central, Club Mahindra, Coca-Cola, Costa Coffee, DHL, Furtados School of Music, Hardy's, Hyundai, Kellogg's, Mad Over Donuts, Nerolac, Pepperfry, Radio City, Star India, The Times of India, Yes Bank, among others. It is believed that KidZania’s franchise partners’ (in this case ImagiNation Edutainment India Private Limited) generally manage to recover a significant part of their initial project cost from such corporate partners.

Hold on! There is some more. KidZania Mumbai also earns money through sales at the souvenir shop and F&B outlets located inside the center.

KidZania has come a long way from time it opened its first center in Mexico City in 1999. Today, KidZania has grown to nearly 20 centers, mainly through franchise. KidZania is operational in countries like Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, UK, among others. In India, the second KidZania at New Delhi is currently under construction and expected to open sometime next year.

• Project cost: INR100 - 130 crores 
• Average size: 80,000 sq ft 
• Target audience: 4-14 years children 
• Average ticket price: INR900 - 3000 (for children in India - Japan) and INR500 - 2000 (for adults) 
• Annual attendance: 500,000 to 800,000 people per year (or 1400 to 2200 per day) 

KidZania is an edutainment indoor theme park scaled and built specially for children from 4-14 years. KidZania offers a unique blend of role play in ultra-realistic, kid-sized city environments. Every KidZania center offers a minimum of 80 role-play adult occupations including that of pilots, doctors, healthcare professionals, police officers, reporters, photographers, engineers, fashion model, and artists, among others, in a miniature city that includes a Bank, Hospital, Police Station, Fire Station, Aviation Academy and Theatre.

The concept was developed by Xavier Lopez Ancona, a former GE employee who even had a short stint at Booz Allen and Hamilton.

Well! KidZania business sounds great, doesn’t it?

PS – The above data is purely based on secondary research and may differ from actual