Basically
through the years there have been a lot of things that has been written on how
to succeed in this industry. Mostly it
was very technical but failed to discuss the most important thing.
Have a clear vision of your target market. One of the factors why most internet cafés
fails is that they are only catering to a particular target market which is
gaming. This is understandable since
this is the traditional target market of internet cafes but if you are going to
go to that market one must understand how to attract gamers who will pay extra
for the services that you would offer. One
of the biggest mistakes of an internet café owner is thinking that there is
only a Php10.00 market and they could not raise their prices on computer rental
per hour. Once your frame of mind is
based on this then you would only attract the kind of market that you thought
that only existed. The challenge is how
to attract those people who are willing to pay extra and not those who are
willing to pay for only a specific amount.
With this in mind it would definitely have a big effect in terms of how
an internet café owner sets up his internet café and this is not only good for
gaming but also for the other target markets as well:
1. Location – most of the time since
computer gaming has a very bad reputation the tendency is to find a location
that is not much accessible. We have to remember that the success of any
business depends upon the number of people who knows about your services and
their convenience. The best location for
any internet café would be in places where there is a lot of foot traffic and
at the same time your target market could be found frequenting the place. Not just
look at the quantity of the foot traffic but also of the quality as well. Are the people who will pay extra for the
services that you would offer could be found frequenting the place? Or is it
just the elementary and high school students who have very limited budgets and
time?
2. Set up big at the start – most of the
time we hear of success stories that started out small with only a few
computers then they were able to expand later but these success stories come
far and few apart. Creating a sustainable business in an internet café requires
that you have the right amount of computer to rent out that would shoulder your
cost of everyday operations. Start off with a minimum of around 10 computers
and work your way up.
3. Ambiance is everything – most of the
time internet café owners spends their capital mostly on computer units that
they did not have enough to invest in the ambiance of their internet
cafes. That is why most internet cafes
that we have are very hot, dark and mostly smells of sweat due to lack of
proper ventilation. Successful internet
cafes are the ones that look friendly to everybody and not just a specific market. High ceilings would help a lot for the proper
ventilation and of course windows if you would not be using an air conditioner. Do away with posters covering the front glass
how would people know if you have units available. If possible have separate rooms for your gamers
and internet only users so that you would have the best of both worlds.
4. Use your internet cafes as a platform to
market your other services – most of the time internet café owners limits
themselves to computer rental as their primary source of business. In fact it should be the other way around. Computer
rental must only serve as a tool in order to let people know that you are also
offering other services that could bring in more money than the computer rental
business. Most internet café owners who
are successful have two or three other business that they are operating to
compliment the operations of their internet cafes.
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