Reason Why Your Cybercafe Business Is Not Going Well

We have been in cybercafe solution provider for more than 10 years and still counting. So, we would like to share with you guys about a few common problems happen to the cybercafe business, which leads to cybercafe closing.

WHY SOME OF THE CYBERCAFE CLOSED DOWN?

[scenario]

“I want to open a cybercafe.”
“Do you have money? Because I wanna open a cybercafe too, I need some extra capital.”

“No, I got no money.”
“Hey, if you don’t have the capital for opening a cyber cafe, how do you still intend to open one?”

“I have technical knowledge to manage your cybercafe.”
“Oh… why not join me for opening one, but you’ll need to pay a sum of money for your share in the business though.”

1. Partners or Staff’s Credibility

Cybercafe operators, do not consist of one person. They had partners to overcome the financial issues and technical issues. Usually, there are some partners who contribute the most for finance, while the others are for technical. This itself is a problem. How much can you trust your partner in handling the operations when you’re not around to observe and manage it or know how to manage it?

Some businesses close down because of partnership. They had doubts about each other’s trustworthy. Those partners who’re good at technical tend to siphon the money into his own pocket without being traced. Even the cashier also takes advantage of the billing system. For example, some of the customers who paid a package rate of $10 for 10 hours who left before the timer is up, say he played only 6 hours, the remaining 4 hours were given to other customer and the cashier charged him for $2 per hour, therefore the cashier has siphoned $8 out of that PC.

Some billing systems had a loophole, hack-able by customers, cybercafe owners who always opt for software that is free, or cracked version will have lesser revenue. Even paid version will also be hacked as well, this probably happens when the owner stored his million-dollar bank account somewhere in the cybercafe.

Nobody is hardworking. Even the boss is also slack sometimes!

2. Bad Staffs Working Attitude

Some business has staffs that are not committed to their work. When the boss is not around, they will be slacking. Lack of supervision or managing will allow them to do whatever they want.

How will this make a cybercafe business fall?

When a customer want’s to complain about their computer, the staff is ignorant about it. That pisses off the customer right away. This dissatisfied customer will never come back anymore unless he has no choice but to come back. Competitors wish that you had more dissatisfied customers so they can earn more profit.

If the staff acknowledges the problem, he will fix it when he has the ‘time‘. However, why is there a complain about the computer in the first place?

Games are not up to date. Staff didn’t update the game when they had the time.
Games are not working. Staff didn’t install the game properly or the link to the game server were inaccurate.
Games are not listed in the game menu or desktop. Staff didn’t install the game AT ALL.

Cheap stuffs ain’t good quality

3. Poor Software Choices

The receptionist who take advantage of the billing system case above was a good example. Although there are software that is cheap, or even free, but they come with risk. Some business suffered loss due to downtime, that is causing by;

using cracked version of software or freeware
update cracked version software
installing new software due to outdated version of cracked software
installing new software due to “no more support” freeware
installing new software that is UNSTABLE or BUGGY freeware

If the business is willing to take the risk to use such ‘troublesome’ software, in the long run, it will ruin the business image. These freeware, or cracked version can be hack easily, as they are not fully stable. When a billing system is hacked, potential profit will be gone as well.

Customer doesn’t have the patience to deal with such unstable software. For instance, the game menu that doesn’t work, the billing system that always crashes and loses revenue records and miscalculated charges.

Imagine that the money that you could have earned went to someone else’s pocket.

There’s no loyal customer in Cybercafe business. If there’s a cheaper rate cybercafe, why would they spend more for the same services?

4. Lack of Maintenance and Software Upgrades

Some business closes down because they didn’t maintain or upgrade their hardware to satisfy the need of the gamer. It became the competitor’s opportunity to open a new cybercafe and capture all those dissatisfied customers. Once the competitor maintained their performance, there’s hardly any chance the customer will return to the cyber cafe which they visit before. Unless it’s a full house at the competitor’s place, but the leftovers from competitors were not able to feed those cybercafes who still have lousy machines. That is why some of the competitors when they are able to open a cybercafe, will make sure that they are able to open a BIGGER one to ‘eat’ other cybercafe’s dissatisfied customers.

In an area with a lot of competition, the best way to beat all the other cybercafe competitors is to offer better service than the rest, at the same rate, and be BIG. Crowned as the big boss in the area, with the same rate, customers can get better gaming experience. Why spend more for crappy, lag, century-old wooden machines that don’t satisfy customer’s gaming needs when there’s a cybercafe who can offer EXCELLENT service at the same rate?

Everybody wants to play with a FAST computer, LCD and BIG monitor screen, SMOOTH as silk tofu internet speed, razor SHARP precision of mouse, and SNAPPY keyboard. Good ambiance, such as lighting, decorations, air condition, background music, and friendly staff plays a part in becoming a good cyber cafe.