Internet Cafe Biz 101: Issues and Inquiries~

[Von!-x]

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pricing is a strategy. so internet cafe owners dont have to complain about others lowering their price. When our competitors began to lower their price, we did not. We know that we have our own loyal customers, and their cafe can only accomodate 10 persons at a time. Given that we're both full, mas ganansya kami.

Then came summer. No allowances for kids. We reduced our net games to P15/hr and the other cafes followed suit. Parehas ra kaming puno. We have attendants who are very knowledgeable about the latest games and they're bringin in their group who are also addicts in online gaming. Other kids gather around them and are excited to learn the craft.

[hanex]

gasoline owners in my locality organized themselves and here's how they control their pricing since shell, caltex & petron have diff. prices -they call each other up & base their prices on who has the highest. if petron has the highest price on diesel then caltex & shell will charge the same price. so internet cafe owners should learn from these people. coopetition (cooperation & competition) should be the name of the game.

[janine]

yan nga po ang sinasabi ko na dapat mangyari, isang bayan po dito sa cavite ay may organization ang lahat ng internet cafe sa kanila, thats why all of them have the same prices of internet, rental, printing etc....now, bahala na ang bawat owners sa mga techniques na pwede nilang gawin para maka attract sila ng customers like cool air con, clean facilities, friendly crews....but definitely not lowering their prices. yung organization nila ay legal, na kapag may bagong open, kailangan ay maka meet din dun sa kanilang rules and regulations, one good thing having "samahan" is kapag nag taas ang rate ng electricity, pwede din kayong magtaas lahat ng rate, pare pareho. syempre reasonable price naman dapat.

[Von!-x]

uniform pricing was one of those pushed by ICAC (the association of internet cafe owners in Cebu), but somehow, they were not able to do anything. How can a cafe renting P25k for a place, plus the latest computers and gadgets and priced at P20hr survive, if there will be uniform pricing.

One should not be afraid of competition, but instead strive to improve performance and service. If you know that the demand is high, don't price your service very low.

[polie]

yes this is true for Von!-x...
every cafe has different ways for expenses like most especially the rental of the place. i mean not all of the cafe owners own the place where they cafe stand so in this way it would be of big difference to those cafe owners that own thier place...

i think just strive harder for your maintenance in order for your units to be running smoothly and always up to date with all the softwares or games that's being released.

[janine]

kaya nga po diba tinawag na organization, kase may meetings, open forum, etc...kaya sa meeting, madi discuss ng mga internet cafe owners yung mga problems nila and suggestions. and isa pa po, diba po pag 25,000 ang rent sa place, meaning ay malaki ang place and marami kayong units, u will not rent a 25,000 place na 10 computers lang kakasya diba po? kami our other branch, we rent 22,000 per month, units na kasya ay 35 units. mapapag usapan naman ang best pricing na mag ookay sa lahat. maganda pa po dito, magkaka kilala lahat ng owners, they can be friends pa diba?

[Von!-x]

For me, i am against uniform pricing. Organizations are good only when they serve the interest of the public. Price wars go back to the law of supply and demand. Lower rates is good for the public.

The internet cafe business is in a plateau right now. If not for the DSL and the online games, maybe it had died a natural death.

[etgo]

yes this is true for Von!-x...
every cafe has different ways for expenses like most especially the rental of the place. i mean not all of the cafe owners own the place where they cafe stand so in this way it would be of big difference to those cafe owners that own thier place...

i think just strive harder for your maintenance in order for your units to be running smoothly and always up to date with all the softwares or games that's being released.

yes the rental.. ma o juy maka patay..

[janine]

For me, i am against uniform pricing. Organizations are good only when they serve the interest of the public. Price wars go back to the law of supply and demand. Lower rates is good for the public.

The internet cafe business is in a plateau right now. If not for the DSL and the online games, maybe it had died a natural death.

i do not agree with what u said na if not for the DSL and ONLINE GAMES, "maybe" it had died a natural death (int. cafe). we have another branch of computer shop, 2 years ago and no dsl pa that time, until now open parin sya, strictly no GAMES on that branch, online or lan games is not allowed. hindi lang naman sa games umaasa ang internet cafe, we can fully operate without it. infact, 80% of our sales are from browsing, email, chatting..the rest is from printing, scanning, online and lan games. it is the players who cannot make it without us...lol

[larryloy]

i agree with janine... majority or 70 to 80 percent of my sales here in cebu are from chatting, email, surfing etc. mahina sales ko dito sa games dahil mahina computer ko eh... hehehe... kaya i focus on online services except the games. kasi mahal ang pc na pang games... hehehe... that is why hindi ako affected sa summer. i even doubled my sales ngayong summer due to some pakulo, and others that i made without sacrificing my rates...