IT started as a modest blog created by a busy parent – but it’s becoming a favourite source of suggestions and tickets for parents seeking a day out.
Bournemouth-based Picniq was devised by former head teacher Claire Skerrett as a platform for day trip ideas and reviews.
It now sells tickets to many of the attractions on the site.
Claire, 39, was a head teacher at New Milton Infants School and was on maternity leave with the second of her three children when she had the idea.
The site, which started in 2013, was built on personal engagement with its users, she said. “It soon saw it had traction, particularly in terms of social media and our blog. The size of the following was growing quite rapidly and so was engagement with the followers,” she said.
“We’ve got 675,000 Facebook followers. We’re talking to a lot of parents all the time about things they can do with their families.”
The site quickly progressed from offering listings and reviews to promoting special offers, with the intention that the user should not be able to get a better deal anywhere else.
Attractions on the site include Longleat, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, the Tower of London, London Zoo, Adventure Wonderland and Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. It recently began selling tickets for Disneyland Paris and sold more than 4,000 in the first two months.
“We work really, really hard to secure those great deals for our parents so they can do these things,” said Claire.
“We’re always looking out for attractions that get amazing reviews or that we’re getting feedback about, and working with them to develop offers to get more families through their doors.
“We’ve sent more than 250,000 people through the doors of attractions that we sell tickets to. We’re looking to double that this year.”
The business, based in Oxford Road, Bournemouth, now employs a team of 12, who cover all aspects of the site including marketing, customer service and a constant presence on social media. Picniq has a five-star rating on the review site Trustpilot.
The market for sites offering such special offers is “massively competitive”, Claire said.
“I think where I feel we’re different is that we are the small, super-friendly team who are genuine and trusted by parents,” she added.
“When we built our ticket site, the question I was asking myself was: Can I walk around the supermarket while talking to two children and use my phone to buy some tickets in about two minutes on a website that is super-easy, super-safe and super-trusted?”
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