More than a thousand Internet cafes in Guangzhou are facing the transformation into online cafes.

Most of the emerging Internet cafes are spacious and bright with a comfortable environment. Photo taken by Guangzhou Daily reporter Su Junjie

More than a thousand Internet cafes in Guangzhou are facing transformation in urban-rural fringe areas and urban villages.

With the popularity of computers, Internet cafes have "fallen" into the sunset from the sunrise industry in the past. With the emergence of a series of new Internet bar models, such as Internet cafes, the industry continues to coruscate new vitality. Internet cafes are no longer dimly lit and smoky, but bright and elegant and bright. The function of Internet cafes has changed from a pure game to a social circle that integrates entertainment, making friends and leisure. In the future, the new type of Internet cafes represented by Internet cafes will focus on building high-end "e-sports halls".

Article / Guangzhou Daily reporters Shen Hui and Qin Song

Internet cafes: an upgraded version of Internet cafes that sprang up two or three years ago

Internet cafes have not been popular in China for a long time, and only appeared in Guangzhou about two or three years ago.

The so-called "Internet cafe", that is, the Internet coffee shop, originated in Europe and the United States. In 2009, "Internet cafes" became popular in China for the first time. Different from the traditional Internet cafes, its initial purpose is to provide a comfortable and fast Internet environment for business people. with the advance of the times, Internet cafes have gradually become a new form of business with both entertainment and leisure functions. In 2012, "Internet cafes" began to appear in Guangzhou, and now there are at least 40, many of which are chain stores.

With the popularity of computers, optical fiber into the home and other reasons, citizens, white-collar workers and college students seldom patronize Internet cafes, and the operation of Internet cafes is becoming more and more difficult. The latest statistics of Guangzhou Culture and Entertainment Industry Association are in 2012, although the economic benefits of some Internet cafes have increased compared with 2011, but the overall economic benefits of Internet cafes are "depressed". The annual turnover was 208.62 million yuan, a decrease of 33.715 million yuan or 13.9% over the previous year.

Having said that, according to Tian Suisheng, director of the Marketing Department of Guangzhou Culture and Broadcasting New Bureau, the number of Internet cafes in Guangzhou has been stable at about 1000 in the past 10 years. He analyzed that this is due to the relatively strict restrictions imposed by the culture department on Internet bar licenses. so a license is still attractive. "so, even if you can't do it anymore, most people will choose to transfer rather than cancel." However, he also admitted, "the number of registered Internet cafes has not decreased, but there are indeed many low-grade Internet cafes transferred to upgrade." In his eyes, Internet cafes after "transformation and upgrading" will become the direction of Internet cafes to break through in the future.

Player: "Internet cafe"

Promote the formation of a new "social circle"

Precisely because of this, Internet cafes that used to focus on "practical" functions have changed to "entertaining", so the consumer population has also changed. A person in charge of an Internet cafe said that people who come to Internet cafes have a strong spending power, mainly white-collar workers and private bosses, who pursue more environment, atmosphere and quality. A store manager even told reporters that he had witnessed a group of five people driving a Ferrari to the store to play games.

Twenty-year-old A Peng (a pseudonym) comes to the Internet cafe to play games almost every day in his spare time, and he is jokingly called "Little fresh Meat" by other players because he is young and skilled. "the environment here is good, and we can get to know a lot of friends. Only when we discuss tactics together can we have an atmosphere." A Peng admitted that he spent almost as much time in the Internet cafe as he did at home.

He said that after making this group of friends, everyone will also go out for sports and parties. "in fact, by playing games, a group of like-minded people can form a new social circle." A Peng said that he usually spends about 40 yuan a day. "however, compared with watching movies and eating, it often costs hundreds of yuan, and it is relatively cheap to go to Internet cafes for entertainment. You can stay for an afternoon with just a few dozen yuan."

A number of responsible persons of Internet cafes told reporters that in order to meet the needs of customers, Internet cafes in the future will focus on building high-end "e-sports halls" to provide better quality and closer services to customers. In addition to forming players' clubs, e-sports stars will be invited to move in and interact most directly with customers.

Business status: invest 5 million yuan 150 computers with a monthly income of 600000 yuan

In the Tianhe City business district, a net fish net from Shanghai has opened two stores with an area of more than 500 square meters. Compared with the dimly lit and smoky Internet cafes in the impression, the Internet cafe looks bright and elegant. In an area of 600 square meters, there are 156 brand-new Apple 21-inch computer screens. Although it is Monday afternoon, the attendance can still reach more than 90%.

Near Changgang subway station, a local Soku Internet cafe in Guangzhou, also on Monday afternoon, has customers waiting for seats. The leisure area of the Internet cafe is also full, and some customers are chatting while drinking milk tea made by the Internet cafe. Like the Internet Fish Internet Cafe, the computer configuration here is also very good, and all kinds of home accessories are scattered.

Investment in these "high-end" Internet cafes has also risen. For example, a newly opened Internet cafe with an investment of up to 5 million yuan is estimated to be the most "expensive" Internet cafe in Guangzhou. "the investment per seat is 15000 to 20, 000 yuan."

If you burn money like this, can Internet cafes make money? Compared with traditional Internet cafes, Internet cafes are relatively more expensive. Internet fees range from 4 yuan to 15 yuan per hour, and each person spends about 35 to 40 yuan. They can stay for most of the day, which still has advantages over restaurants and cinemas.

The person in charge of an Internet cafe told reporters that although the revenue is not as good as the most popular restaurant, but as long as the location is correct, the profitability of Internet cafes is still "leveraged". He takes an Internet cafe with 150 computers as an example, with an initial investment of about 4 million yuan, a monthly investment of nearly 300000 yuan, including rent, labor, broadband and other costs, and a monthly turnover of about 600000 yuan.

Although there is a new situation of "Internet cafes" as a breakthrough, in the view of Hu Bingguang, president of Guangzhou Culture and Entertainment Industry Association, the trend of "transformation and upgrading" of the Internet bar industry is still slow. "the overall situation of the Internet bar industry has not changed much in recent years, and it has improved steadily on the whole." He hopes that the emergence of these Internet cafes will lead more Internet cafes to think about breakthroughs.