Difference between revisions 1089841 and 1096493 on enwiki

#REDIRECT [[user:H. Jonat]This is a place where I put various notes and thoughts that I expect to move to other parts of Wikipedia.

== Cyber cafe concepts and ideas ==

* Key overall issue: '''Think digital, act analog''': do things efficiently, cleanly, and quickly but use the personal touch.  Answer the phone, focus on customer service, make computers less-scary.  There's a tendancy in digital business to skip over the important human element.  To assume that everyone is tech-aware like us.

=== Possible target markets ===

==== Primary market ====

* Primarily college students and the college-services crowd.
:* Eat/Drink - the coffee acheivers, the fancy-coffee drinkers who eschew regular coffee.
:* Study - read in a quiet environment with option to eat/drink
:* Be social - people seeking human interaction after individual study time
:* Relax - either by playing games or going in the cafe

'''Negative''': This market may be flooded.  Key outsider element: the only cybercafe/computer gaming location in ALL of San Marcos.

==== Secondary market ====

* People not looking to consume alcohol (some seeking an alternative).
* Technies - looking for reliable, unfiltered, high-speed Internet connections and strong systems.  The most discerning customers.
* Romantics - couples always spend more money than individuals
* Families - taking a cue from supremely successful enterprises like Disneyland and Wal-Mart appeal to the family unit and the all-ages entertainment sector.

'''Negative''': People don't go to the square looking for these types of services - we can't rely on passers-by marketing; this service will not sell itself.

=== Competative cost benefits ===

Versus other entertainment activities:

* Arcade-type games often cost $1 for only a few minutes of play and are far less entertaining / visually stimulating.
* Lack of alternative services: Pool and darts get old.  Bowling just plain sucks.  Both often cost more than 1 hour of Internet gaming.  However, unlike bowling and pool, computer gaming is often a non-social activity.
* Movies - around the same cost per hour but no interaction
* Multiplayer networked games are addictive - as one of the most involving, sensory-intensive experiences, players will often lose track of time spent playing

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=== Ideas ===

* '''Fill the computer seats concept''' sell a limited number of high-cost initial setup ($30-40) for low cost ($2-3 per hour) membership types upon the condition that users bail if the place starts to fill up (50% of seats taken)
:* '''Pizza Night''' ... make a deal with some local pizza place for a LOT of pizza for cheap.  Do only with a strong expected draw (much like the clubs do on Fri/Sat).
:* '''Lock-ins'''  Good for drawing the below-18 crowd.  If 14 people show up at $30 (for the whole night), that's $420.
:* '''Birthdays''' - get two free hours of gameplay on your b-day (ID required) - just another gimick.
:* '''Post-Semester specials''' (blow off steam and reward yourself for working hard without getting wasted)
:* '''Gaming is addictive''' - get them in the door cheap ... they'll come back.  "Free" might attract the wrong kind of customers.
:* '''Promote in nerd-friendly areas''' - post in the CS and other computer labs - note your top-of-the-line equipment and no-nonsense gameplay.  These guys already have computers and play these games - they just aren't playing them on the best possible systems.
:* '''Clans''' - like "league" night at bowling alleys, give clans but try to avoid filling ALL the chairs and thereby turning away customers because all the computers are full until off-hours (1-2 a.m. on Sunday night for instance).
:* '''Competition''' - cash prize to the best individual player of a given game.

* '''Fill the espresso seats concept'''
:* '''Study-friendly''' - Allow/encourage people to come in and study.  Make the environment somehow study-friendly during off-hours and then study unfriendly as things start to pick up (louder music, dissassemble the larger tables @ specified [and posted] times).  People who come in and study will inevitably buy stuff and provide a relaxed environment but when they fill up the joint can scare away patrons who will probably only walk all the way to the back of the cyber store if they're sure they get a consistant product.
:* '''Cheap, very good coffee'''.  Make little money on this - instead rely on individuals to pass by a whole retail setup in the computer area as well as accessories like candy, CDs, bottled water, etc.
:* '''Coffee tasting events''' - free, unique flavors of coffee from around the world and locally.  Will draw a more mature crowd that's probably independant of the cyber cafe but willing to make the trek.

* '''Simple, simple, simple''' concept - it makes it a more fun, easier place to work but isn't very innovative.
:* '''The power button is a land-mine'''  Computers are already scary enough to most people outside of our immediate age group - focus on simplicity and customer service.  (Very important in light of the shitty service at your competition down the sidewalk.)
:* '''Consistant Money Flow''' - Find a working money concept and stick with it.  Make changes gradually.
:* '''Spelled out & no BS''' - All aspects of work everyday should be clearly spelled out with easy-to-follow processes for all employees.

* '''Cafe-Computer Gaming Duality'''
:* How to communicate to customers your basic functions?
:* How to maintain flexibility and not be pigeonholed?
:* How to get more than just nerds in the door?
:* How to get multiple age groups in the door?  Or, if focusing on just one, pack them in?
:* Focus on what would scare customers off as well as what would draw them.

* Retail concepts
:* '''Never''' make the customer wait to pay
::* '''Don't kick them off''' Is there a way to auto-charge a customer's credit card instead of kicking them offline everytime they go over minutes?
::* '''Automated systems''' Soda machine so employees don't always have to be behind the counter?
:* '''How are we doing?''' Solicit customer feedback (especially repeat customers)
:* '''Hello ___ how are you?''' Learn your customer's names and be friendly but don't be afraid to take their money.
:* '''Generic''' Mimick other retail services so that your store matches people's expectations (we don't work in a gymnasium -- we obey civilized behaviors here and screaming 4 year olds are right out) and then be able to say "yes" to even casual questions ("why yes we will build you a system just like this one").
:* '''Tie into holidays''' - The spirit of gift-giving does wonders for retail gift buying and marketing, and there's always an event to tie into. Doing something unique--above and beyond just a standard gift-giving theme-- always good.
* '''Reward loyal customers'''
:* Provide some kind of reward for logging 50, 100, 200, and 500 hours in-store.
:* Create sense of accomplishment and treat the best players as icons - the very best players should have some kind of honor role both for the sense of accomplishment and acceptance as well as a sense of competition (e.g. "if you beat Striker99, you're a badass").

:: Often, doing very well in a given Internet game is very transient because excellent players are coming and going and can make or break a team.  This can make what looks like a streak of excellent play one moment look like pure chance from one moment to the next.  Local Area games have a much clearer sense of winners.

* Innovations:
:* Stop selling computer games and coffee.  Sell products that will make your life more fun, let you live in a futuristic and/or relaxing world -- sell the feeling and mystique, not the product.  "During the early 1990s, the clothing store chain thrived not just because of its moderate prices but because customers enjoyed the total Gap experience: its customer service, store layout, product quality, and hip feel."  [http://www.fiery-foods.com/zine-industry/recession.html Source]
:* '''A print server''' - $.20 per b&w page, $2.00 color (depends entirely on cost)
:* High-quality, high-dollar pastries
:* Wireless Internet
:* Basic computer repair/support
:* Custom gaming computer building (super-easy because you use pre-established system design - customers already know exactly what they're going to get).  Give discounts when they bring their own machine when the other stations are full.
:* Print out and post repeat-customers' gaming screenshots.  Posterize, if possible.

* '''We are "all things computers"''' rather than just gaming
:* '''Internet/computer classes''' during the day when business is traditionally slow.
:* '''Business meetings''' - want to get your whole group together in an Internet-connected workspace?
:* CD/DVD-burning services (I can help with this - can produce 500 CDs with only a few days' turnaround.  DVDs only about 10/day.)
:* Any overclocking services (with better cooling and so forth) should require a signing a contract but could be very lucrative.  The idea that slow computers can be turbocharged with more than just [[RAM]] is a totally untapped market.
:* "Computer maintinence" with [[cache]] optimization, [[defrag]], and turning off "zombie" services is always a winner.
:* Spyware removal anti-virus services are excruciatingly easy and could be very lucrative.  University provides anti-virus software free for students but few know about it.

=== Periphery ===

* Partner with other businesses to make computers run better?  High-speed internet and gaming is only scratching one itch in business.  Can we scratch others?  People may call us expecting that we can.  If we send business to someone, can we get a referral fee?

=== Random, uncatagorized ideas ===

* Have a movie night?  Some off-hours time such as Monday-tuesday night?
* Loose tournament systems - all players submit $5, winner takes pot and like 5 free hours.
* Store usability study:  Have people that have never been in the shop walk in and review what they see as they see it.  Have them note both where they walk, what they think, what they like and what they do not.
* A marketing plan - a series of connected ways to get out information.  For instance, if you use TV spots, expose customers a 2nd and 3rd time with either billboards or flyers around campus.  
* '''Good Problems to Have''' - Aim for problems such as too many people in the store, individuals who stay a long period, and people who come in willing to spend a lot of money but don't find anything specifically to purchase.  These problems create issues like disrupting the very personable atmosphere, individuals not buying anything at all but using the A/C and bathroom, and needing to diversify things we sell.  But '''Good Problems''' can then be managed or solved.  No customers and no one in the store is not a much worse problem.
* Attempt to track customers: over the course of a day, try to watch customers and their habits - do they stay entirely in the cafe?  Are they studying?  This will be easy to do while the store is just getting started and employees have a little extra time.  Later on, this will become harder to track.

Area: cafe / gaming
% of time in both areas: 50/50
# Drinks
Hours
Accessories
Total $ spent with the store

* Social Element - Seek out games that can be done with a people angle.  Team games and turn-based games give players a better chance to interact.

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== Wireless ==

* '''Hashing''', download-search system for higher-bandwidth connections.
* '''Competition''' If you're doing Internet phone service that's incredibly fast, don't just rely on speed as a selling point; find out what other companies (like Grande) are doing and then improve on them.  Both theirs and other services customer service is notoriously bad.
* '''Try before you buy''' Nobody who tries this service for a month will be able to resist it.  Its too delicious to be believed.  
* '''Word of mouth''' Give them a discount if they sign up their friends - word of mouth in this environment would be very powerful.  Grande has zero defence against this type of marketing.
* '''Beta Systems''' - work in a 20-100 user setup for 1-2 months, find out basic needs and then multiply those required needs for however many projected users.  For instance, if 20 support personnel are required for 100 users, then 200 support personnel should be available for 1,000.


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=== Links ===

* [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/076455381X/104-3424945-8167957?v=glance Retail business for dummies]