Are you interested in starting your own business? An Internet cafe business might be the best for you. Instead of investing it in other things starting your own business is great because it allows you to have an active income and you can control your time.
If wondering if it’s still a profitable business today? Of course, it is! Sure there are a lot of other businesses but a lot of people still go to an internet cafe especially this pandemic to attend their online classes and play online games. Investing in an internet cafe business is great. You can earn a lot of money with the proper management of your business.
For sure you’re asking yourself how can you start an internet cafe business? But first, let’s find out what really the internet cafe is.
What is an internet cafe business?
It’s a place where people can browse the internet with high-internet speed connections, interact on social media networks, play games, It’s really a profitable business because there’s a lot of customers in this kind of business. It’s either students, people who don’t have access to the internet.
I know you’re wondering how does an internet cafe work? The thing is you’ll rent the computer per minute or hour depends on the internet cafe you’re in.
Majority of the people who starts this kind of business is the one who has a general idea on how a computer works or computer maniac.
Pros and Cons
For every business, there are always a disadvantage and an advantage when you’re starting. Here are the pros and cons list when you’re starting an internet cafe business:
CONS
- Time-consuming – You’ll have to focus on your business 24/7 because most of the internet cafes are open 24/7 and it will take a lot of your time managing your internet cafe. unless you have extra money and you can hire someone you can trust to look after your internet cafes.
- Regular checking of equipment – You need to check regularly and optimized your equipment most especially your computers because if it goes broke you’ll have much more headache because fixing computers can cause a lot of money.
- You can’t know how many computer units you need – Choosing the right number of computer units is hard because you’ll never know how many customers you’ll get every day. You can’t scale your business easily unless you operate for 1 year and see what is the average number per day in your internet cafe.
PROS
- Easily get your money back – In the 6-12 months of continuous operations, you can get all the money you spent back and probably more. After that, you can probably expand your business and associate other kinds of services.
- You can easily associate other kinds of business – You can expand your business not just an internet shop maybe a coffeeshop alongside. and any other related services.
- Low budget to start your business – By just $10,000 – $15,000 you can start your business Compared to other business that you’ll need much more money to start you can start here by just buying the parts and monitor
If you’re really eager to start an internet cafe business here are some things to consider:
Location
This is the most important part! the location, of course, you wanted to start a business with a lot of customers that’s the goal, right? that’s why you should consider the location first. You don’t want to start your business in places that don’t have a lot of people or else you’ll just lose your money.
The one important you also need to make sure there’s a fast and reliable internet provider in the area or maybe having multiple internet providers in the area is much better.
You also need to check your competition in the area you don’t want to start your business with a lot of competition in the area you can probably rise to the top but you won’t know when.
also, consider if there’s a school near your location because students go to an internet cafe after school time to make their assignments.
Cost
The cost of starting this kind of business is no joke. Because you’ll have to pay for the place and permits. The equipment itself will cost a lot. The computer set mostly costs around $300 – $600 depends on the specification. The more powerful the more money you’ll spend. You’ll also have to buy the tables, chairs and probably an Air Conditioner. There is a lot of businesses that offer packages which can probably give you a few bucks discount. that’s why you should really research first about it.
The software you will use will cost a lot. So if you’re not gonna take your business seriously just don’t start.
How many units do you want?
Having a large internet shop is great because you can accommodate a lot of people but if you’re tight on budget 10 computers is the best minimum number if you’re just starting.
Choosing the right computer parts
Choosing the right computer parts for your internet cafe business is crucial because you don’t want to overspend and of course, you don’t want your computers to be slow.
That’s why you should really look into the right computer parts. But if you don’t know anything about it, you should go to computer stores and ask them what’s their best computer and that’s how you’ll start to research it.
Internet Service Provider
The most important thing to consider is the ISP. The ISP is the one who’ll give you internet access. This is the heart of your business, without an internet connection, you’ll have fewer customers or no customer.
You need to make sure you have a lot of internet service providers in the area and your internet connection is stable and fast before you start your business because you don’t want to start it then you’ll eventually know that your internet provider sucks.
How can you start?
It’s really easy to start this kind of business if you have the money already. By simply buying a whole computer set and having fast internet access, you can start your internet cafe business. Of course, you might need other things like a business permit and all kinds of registration requirements.
How can you have customers?
If you’re wondering how can you have customers you can always advertise online such as Facebook and some other social media platforms to use to advertise your business. But once you have a customer you need something to make them go back to your shop and probably avail more services. I highly suggest offering some promos.
Internet café business profit
For sure you’re wondering how much can you earn on this kind of business right? There’s no exact answer to this because this kind of business really depends on how much customers will avail of your services. but mostly it averages to $300 – $1500 per month depends on how much customers will go to your internet cafe.
IF you really want to increase your profit you should add some other services to your business.
Internet Café Services to offer
Besides internet surfing, there are some other business ideas you can combine alongside your internet cafe business.
Printing services
Most cybercafes have printing services because most people who go to an internet cafe are looking to print document files and some stuff for their projects. you can probably earn up to $100/month just for this service! Sometimes more if your location is near to schools because you can cater more customers.
Snacks/Drinks
Some of the internet cafes out there have this kind of service. Because who doesn’t want food while you’re surfing or maybe playing games right? That’s why some businesses added a mini-store for you to buy your snacks while having fun surfing or playing games.
You can also start your own mini restaurant besides your internet cafe because some people tend to spend a lot of time in the internet cafe so it’s a good business to add a small eatery beside it.
Typing Job
Typing job is simply converting hard copy documents and making typing them into Microsoft Word or any other text editor.
Game load
You can always offer game load or points, steam wallets because a lot of people don’t have credit card yet to buy something like this. If you have a lot of customers who play games you should add this kind of service.
Top 8 Tips to Start A Successful Internet Café Business
Even though an internet café business is one of the most lucrative ones in the Philippines, thousands still fail. There are a lot of reasons why a business fails. So, if you’re just starting, it won’t hurt to know these top tips:
1. Be competitive in your price
One of the most important aspects that people look at when choosing internet cafés is the prices. Pinoys love to get cheap but quality products/services everywhere they go. This is why you should focus on providing the best low-cost service while still allowing you to profit.
To do this, you first need to study the general prices of the competition in your area. Then, come up with a price scheme that will benefit you both and your customers.
The most popular way to offer competitive prices is by providing discounts. For instance, you can offer a bundle of 2 hours for P25 instead of P30. But there are plenty of other business strategies you can use to entice your customers. Be creative!
2. Get the best internet connection possible
It’s a known problem that the Philippines has one of the worst internet connections in the world. But this still doesn’t excuse you to provide a low-quality service to your customers. After all, this is a business – and it will do you no good if your internet connection is slow and unreliable.
That’s why it’s important to invest in a reliable internet connection at the start. Select one base on your experience. Or better yet, ask the neighborhood and see which providers are the best.
3. Understand business
Most internet café business owners start this business because they love computers. Most of them even play games with customers. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this – in fact, this is a great way to interact with customers!
But if you only know how to play games and not operate a business, you’re going to have a lot of problems. If this is the case, it’s best to have someone by your side who knows the business. This is because you’ll need to think of a lot of things such as:
- How to maximize your time to make the best profit?
- The number of computer units needed to make the best returns
- How to manage bandwidth to improve user experience
- How to have enough cash flow for the business to stay afloat
- How to attract more customers while retaining your regulars
4. Only invest what you’re willing to lose
As in every business, it’s only wise to invest in what you’re willing to lose. If not, you can be gambling away your entire life savings. Sadly, this is the case for many failed internet café businesses in the Philippines.
If you want to succeed, you must make logical decisions always. It’s not good to let emotions run you because you’ve invested too much in the business.
5. Be friendly
Have you ever been to any business establishment and got annoyed because the cashier looks gloomy? In these times, it feels as if you (the customer) are not even welcomed. So, if you know how this feels, imagine how it must feel for your customers if you aren’t friendly.
Even if you’re not constantly in the shop, you need to teach your shopkeeper to always be friendly. This will not only encourage new customers but also keep the regular ones happy. As much as possible, you can even speak their lingo and play with your gamer customers if you can.
6. Download popular multiplayer games
Speaking of gamer customers, one of your biggest customers will be teenagers who love to play. This is mostly true all over the country so it’s best to cater to them as much as you can.
To do this, you can download the most popular multiplayer games in the PCs to attract them. Try to find out which ones are trending at the moment and capitalize on the craze. But as a general idea, here are some of the most popular games to include right now:
- Battle Royale (PUBG, Apex Legends, Fortnite)
- Dota 2
- Shooting Games (CS: GO, Overwatch)
- Other popular offline games (GTA V, Call of Duty, Minecraft)
7. Promote like crazy online and offline
As most businesses are online now, it’s a good idea to do the same. Ideally, you should have a Facebook page for your internet café business. In here, you can do the following:
- Post sale/discounts promos
- Interact with customers
- Reach new customers in your area using FB ads
- Post services to entice customers other than gamers
- Inform customers of opening/closing hours as well as business day offs
But even if your business has an online presence, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t promote offline. It’s still a good idea to have a large signage outside your shop and to promote it with your friends and family.
8. Maintain your computers regularly
In this business, your computers are the main products. As such, you need them to function properly at all times and to have a long-life span. But since a lot of people will use your computers, there are bound to have problems.
However, there are a lot of things you can do to ensure that your computers will stay in tip top shape for years to come.
- Install antivirus software
- Clean your units regularly
- Delete unnecessary files
- If possible, allow customers to save files in one part of your hard drive only
- Block restricted sites such as pornography, torrents and more.
- Have an aircon so your units won’t overheat
Bottom line
Cybercafe or internet cafes will be always relevant especially to the students and people who don’t have access to a computer or the internet because not people can afford to buy a computer.
If you’re still unsure about this kind of business you should probably just save your money. and try other kinds of business.
Because this will eat up a lot of your time and if you don’t have time to spare just don’t start.
But as you know the internet cafe business is real and for sure you’ll make a lot of profit with the right mindset and hard work to follow!
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