Here at HSDonline, a commercial baby changing unit is seen as a luxury facility for customers by business owners in today’s poor financial climate. Owners are taking the decision to develop as much space as they have available to retail space rather than offer facilities to customers.
Before talking baby changing unit, let’s talk “Baby Boom”…
According to The Office Of National Statistics, the UK population has been estimated to increase to 73.2 million over a 25 year period to mid-2035 from 62.3 million in 2010.
The interesting fact is that 56% of this increase will be natural increase i.e. more births than deaths.
With this in mind, is it time for business owners to consider installing a baby changing unit in their public areas? With the population of babies & toddlers set to rocket should companies stretch out and offer facilities to families in order to gain loyalty and business over their competitors? If you are a business owner there are a few points below you should consider before making your decision.
Restaurants, cafés, public attractions… : does the baby changing unit depend upon the type of business?
Of course the answer is yes!
Obviously, adult restricted businesses such as Night Clubs and Casinos are not going to cater for a baby changing unit. Family orientated business such as children’s play areas should or need to cater for changing facilities.
The more potent question is should middle of the line businesses such as retail stores, restaurants, cafés and public attractions par-take to sacrifice retail space to the growing need for baby changing facilities.
A way in which you could work this out for your business is to look at Capacity utilisation and profit growth.
Capacity utilisation
Capacity utilisation is a measurement used to tell a business to what percentage they are capitalising on the space they have available. In simpler terms, capacity utilisation puts a percentage figure on the question “Are we making the most from the space we have available?”
Capacity utilisation can be worked out using the following formula:
To relate this back to offering a baby changing table and facilities in a business, let me show you an example:
A café, at its busiest time, fills 6 out of its 10 tables with customers.
- Actual output 60% (6 out of 10 tables)
- Potential Output 100% (10 out of 10 tables)
- (60/100)x100= 60%
The café is not using 40% of its capacity.
If the café were to obtain or perform their own research and found out that they would fill 8 tables at the busiest time by offering changing facilities then they could consider the following. Reduce the number of tables in the café to 8 and this would consequently make room for a baby changing unit to be built.
With the facility in place, the business then fill’s 8 out of its 8 tables as they have now attracted more families to dine at the café. This means the café has now increased business by an extra two tables of customers, at its busiest time, by offering baby changing facilities.
The café, by installing a baby changing unit, is now working at 100% capacity utilisation.
From working out the capacity utilisation for your business it may not be worth while installing a baby changing facility, as you may not need to attract more custom, however by using this calculation if will give you a good indication.
Baby changing unit: How much space do I need?
From many contractors and builders we speak to, who install these facilities for business, are under the impression that a large space is required; this is not the case. A pedal operated bin is another essential aspect of the facility to ensure cleanliness and hygiene levels.
The best selling baby changer we offer is only 565 x 909 x 101mm (H x W x D). When opened the changer protrudes 518mm. Meaning a baby changing facility could be created in a room as small as 2m²!
- The fast evolution of the population makes it a necessity to equip your environment with baby changers. Make life easier for people, make them come back and therefore it will be much appreciated.
If you would like to discuss this article or would like advice on whether or not you should install a baby changing unit in your business then please feel free to contact us.
**Thanks to Matt Fawcus (Senior business development manager) for sharing his knowledge**
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