The I-Cafe As PC Sales And Service Center

The i-cafe can also function as the computer service shop and PC retail sales outlet in its neighborhood and nearby communities. As a computer service shop, the owner, if he knows how, will perform the troubleshooting and repair of defective computer units brought to his i-cafe. He will have to hire a competent PC technician if he cannot do the job by himself. As a PC retail sales outlet, the i-cafe owner will sell brand-new personal computer units, parts and accessories as an add-on to his business. Depending on where the i-cafe is located, its owner must know where to buy the lowest-priced computer parts, accessories and peripherals so that he will have the cost advantage and be able to give reasonable prices to his customers.

The I-Cafés As Gaming Centers

The i-café as gaming center means a computer shop offering online and LAN (Local Are Network) games to its customers on per half-hour basis. Only a small percentage of i-cafés at present do not offer gaming as one of its services and eighty (80%) percent of the current revenues of i-cafés are coming from their PC gaming services. Gaming i-cafés can be found in almost all areas of the country because they are a lot easier to operate in terms of manpower required in tending its operation. An i-café owner only need someone (normally himself) who knows how to play online and LAN games to operate a gaming shop.

The I-Café As A Cash Remittance Center

With millions of Filipinos working abroad in order to support families that they left behind in the country and thousands more needing to transfer money from city to provinces and vice-versa, cash remittance is really big business here in the Philippines. The big bulk of the money transfer business are being served by domestic banks and specialized multi-national companies like Western Union, Money Gram and some local companies like LBC Express and Lhuillier Pawnshops. They have branches in different locations in the country but there are still areas in far-away places that are still unserved or underserved at present.

Pawnshops, telegram and cargo companies had already entered the business long time ago but still, I should say, there are rooms for others to join the fray and i-café is one of those qualified to become a cash remittance center. An i-café has all the requisites to handle money transfer transactions. The establishment is always online and all that is needed is a web portal provided by principal money transfer company where a transaction can be verified before cash is given to recipient of the transfer. With enough additional capital for the business model, an i-café owner can engaged in both sending and receiving money for its customers.

Online Sales Of Prepaid Credits At I-Cafés

Online sales of prepaid credits or the more commonly known "online loading" is one business model that many existing i-cafés are already offering not only to their customers but also to the general public. As the name implies, the sales transaction is done online or over an Internet connection which all i-cafés already have. Online loading is one business model that an i-cafe owner can have to augment his computer rental business. The percentage income on the online sales transactions can go as high as twelve (12%) percent depending on distributor's price and product sold.

The biggest advantage of online loading business over the prepaid cards is having many products in a virtual inventory. An i-café owner who registers as a retailer of an online distribution company will be provided with a web portal where he can make the sales transactions of all the product lines that the distributor carry. Among the products or prepaid credits that can be sold by an i-café to its customers are:

Printing As Revenue Earner In An I-Café

Computer rental at its current rates of PhP10.00 to PhP15.00 per hour is not enough for an i-café to survive as a business. An i-café owner has to find other sources of revenue and printing service is one of first that should come to his mind. Printing as service in an i-café is logical and feasible because the cost of investment for a good digital printer is not that much and demand for such service come in naturally from his existing customers doing research, encoding and other related activities. Some i-cafés have enough volume of printing jobs such that the revenues from the service account to as much as 20 to 30% of their gross revenues.

The printing service that we are talking here is basically the production of hardcopies of the encoded data and images that i-café customers worked on either in i-cafés or in their homes and offices. This is the black and white printing of documents using inkjet or laser printers on a bond paper which was averaging PhP5.00 per page in the past but is now reported to be costing as low as PhP1.00 per page. Printing color images in ordinary bond paper or some cases using special paper is also common nowadays in some i-cafés. While some i-cafe owners are happy with their added income from their printing services, others are just not so lucky because competition has really pulled down their profit margins in the venture.

Desktop Publishing As A Service In An I-Café

Another service that an i-café can offer the community where it is located is one called desktop publishing (DTP). Desktop publishing entails lay-outing a page that contains graphics and texts that has to be printed on a quantity not big enough for printing press shop to economically handle. DTP requires a skilled computer operator who must master a desktop publishing software in order to come up with a page layout that would satisfy a customer's need for a business card, invitation cards for birthday parties, wedding and other occasions. Other DTP products that an i-café can include in its services are brochures, newsletters, flyers, posters, logos and letterheads.

Digital Photo Printing As A Service Of An I-Café

With very stiff competition going on among i-cafés especially those functioning as entertainment centers, the need to engage in services that could add revenue and income is getting to be a must for those already in business. Among the many services that can be added to an i-café business is digital photo printing. Aside from the not so big additional investment needed, the skill required for one to do the service is not high and the demand is always there in many areas of the country. Filipinos are known to be fond of keeping souvenirs of celebrations and events and with the prevalent use of cellphones with camera (camphones) and digital cameras (digicams)nowadays, digital photo printing as a service is a logical choice for an i-café owner to consider.

The I-Café As An Entertainment Center

The internet café as an entertainment center is the most common business model for i-cafés nowadays. By entertainment, we mean the customers coming into an i-café for the purpose of doing something affording pleasure, diversion or amusement for themselves. While the earlier internet cafés were established mainly as information exchange centers with productive results expected out of the activities that the customers will do in its premises, recent ones were mostly catering to the leisure needs of its clients. The customers of i-cafés functioning as entertainment centers come in to play online and offline games, chat online with friends and relatives, check and reply to their emails and do social networking.