Tech Planet (WeChat ID: tech618)
Wen | Yang Xiaohe and Nai Nai
Cover source | Visual China
"Dianping 4.9 points store, 200 square meters transfer" "5 rooms, 2 search rooms, interested parties private chat." ”
In Li Xue's script killing industry group, every three to five years I saw that there were shop owners transferring. She was already not surprised by these things, after all, her shop did not know how long it would last. In Li Xue's view, the script kills stores in batches, the impact of the epidemic is only a superficial factor, the deep level is still too rolled up in the industry, the low threshold for opening stores, the rampant piracy, and the fickle consumption trend of young people are the reasons for the centralized closure of stores.
Two or three years ago, everyone saw that young people's money is really easy to earn, so script killing, escape room, board game bars, paid study rooms, milk tea shops and so on swept the country in an instant. According to data from the Meituan Research Institute, as of April this year, the number of domestic script killing stores has soared from 2,400 in 2019 to 45,000, a three-fold increase in three years; escape rooms have reached 15,000, and milk tea shops have exceeded 600,000. Urban commercial centers, university towns, residential areas and other places are densely packed with these stores.
Whether it is the main business or investment choices, these shops that want to earn coins in the pockets of young people are almost difficult to escape the fate of loss and closure, especially in the case of continuous intensification of industry competition and the impact of the epidemic, most bosses are "paying tuition" for their dreams of opening stores and getting rich.
More and more young people are playing scripts to kill, but shops are becoming less and less profitable
Baotou script killed the shop owner, Wang Xiang
2 years ago, a passion for blood in Baotou, Inner Mongolia opened a script killing shop, at that time, the location, customer flow and script and other factors, felt that the store was foolproof, but did not expect to make money or too difficult.
Because it is located in a third-tier city, the store was selected near the Wanda Center in Baotou, where the customer flow and spending power are good. At that time, I also looked at the location of Wanda Apartment and other sites, but the floor height was not enough. There is an art theater near Wanda, and we rented it out and converted it into a script killing shop. 5 rooms, the total investment does not exceed one million yuan, the decoration is a good area in Baotou.
Since the rent here is not as good as the rent in the first-tier cities of "North, Shanghai and Guangzhou", my rent here is only 150,000 a year. In order to maximize the profit, I chose a lower pricing: 128 yuan for high-end services and 88 yuan for ordinary services. When things are good, you can do 60-80 games a month.
To be honest, the traffic is OK, but my store has not been profitable. Script kills this industry, unlike the clothing and catering industry, shopping may be consumed, our main passenger flow comes from online, good location can only determine his traffic and parking convenience. Of course, the US group's order to draw 8-10% points is actually not high, but the passenger flow transition relies on online, but weakens our offline advantage.
There are many script killing shops here, one across the road from our similar scale, and there are more than 10 in Wanda. I have done research on platforms such as Meituan, and in fact, there are more than 100 stores in the region where customer flow affects each other. This does not include some script killing shops in residential buildings, 48 yuan can play once, the script is not pirated, do not need me to say, everyone understands.
I have 6 DM (script killing hosts) here, the labor cost is about 20,000 per month, and it costs 30,000-40,000 yuan to buy this cost in a quarter, and the operating cost is still quite high. Later, I considered that it would be difficult to make a profit in this way, so we upgraded the store to try to improve the experience of the store and rely on repeat customers to survive.
We used multiple projectors to create a 360 surround projection, which is closer to the real scene than the traditional script shop, which blurs the boundary between the script killing and the secret room, and also to enhance the immersive experience of young people playing the script.
(Source: 360 degree projection script kill)
In this way, our cost will be a little more expensive than the normal script killing, but we have not increased the price, and we are still doing the word-of-mouth stage, looking forward to promoting it nationwide. Looking forward to surviving the winter, the industry can also usher in the spring after the xiao kill.
The 3-year periodic death of the Chamber of Secrets, no one can escape
Xi'an escape room entrepreneur, Aze
I opened a 4,000-square-meter shop in Weiyang District, Xi'an, which integrates secret rooms, script killing, and board games. Among them, the chamber of secrets occupies the main position and is also the main cost component of millions of inputs.
Xi'an is a special city, tourism and Han and Tang culture are more prevalent, so we were also very optimistic about the escape room project. Unexpectedly, the secret room is also the main reason for the difficult situation of the store today.
In our shop, the decoration still emphasizes deep immersion, and the scene layout of "Medical Complaint", "Hundred Paradises" and "Curse" is relatively restored. Because it is a horror theme, young people feel more exciting to play. Even in Xi'an, one of the largest cities in the Secret Room, our business after opening is very good.
I just didn't expect a small oversight at that time, which led to the difficulty of doing business today.
Since I didn't think about it so much at that time, I chose to open the store in the northern suburbs of Xi'an, while the university town was in the southern suburbs. Although this side is a commercial center and the spending power is better, I forgot that the biggest pain point of the script is the freshness that will be lost after playing once. This side is no better than the university town, and the passenger flow is a change every 4 years. In the past 3 years, many young people in the local area have played it once, so the motivation for repeated consumption has dropped a lot.
This year is also a convergence of various unfavorable factors, and the current passenger flow is at least 40% lower than that of the first year. Even if the epidemic resumes, passenger flow will not return to the past. But I also do not plan to re-set the decoration, the decoration cost of the secret room is relatively high, can insist on it, after all, now is also the time when the operating cost is the lowest.
A friend advised me to open another shop in the southern suburbs, but it was difficult to find such a big place there. And I can also see that the business of young people is not an industry that can make a lot of money. At present, the entire Xi'an, the secret room, the script killing and the board game industry survival situation are not good, my board game this piece is almost negligible, the script killing by changing the book is more diligent and can be maintained, the secret room is the main expenditure. I thought about a variety of new ways of generating income such as milk tea shops and restaurants, and finally found that they were all blindly tossing and wasting money.
Therefore, there is no specific plan for the next step, and if you can insist on it, just stick to it. There is no way to persist and there is no way, and no one dares to take over such a big store under the epidemic situation.
I have been doing the study room for more than a year, and I have watched the peers in the group change and change
Beijing study room owner, YangYang
At that time, I was preparing for the exam in the self-study room of the school building, and every day I had to carry a very heavy book to the teaching building to queue up for a seat, and I often encountered the situation of not being able to grab a seat. Even sometimes there are many school classes, and the reserved self-study classrooms will be requisitioned. Those three years of graduate school life made me feel that the industry needs of the study room are relatively strong, and my personal experience also understands the needs of this industry better. So, I always wanted to open a study room of my own. After working, I saved some money and opened a study room in Beijing.
(Source: A study room)
Young people are still more willing to spend on some "small things". At that time, we spent some careful thought on the decoration, and the decoration style was more in line with the preferences of young people. In addition, our price is relatively high compared with the surrounding area, so it is very popular, attracting many repeat customers, and the store has begun to slowly return to blood. Since the customers have chosen this place, I hope that I can bring them the best service. So I did fine decoration and design in my store, and slowly found that the cost of decoration and equipment maintenance in the store also increased.
The previous store was small, thinking that maintenance was also maintenance, so it opened a relatively large, double-seating location in Beijing's Chaoyang District. Because of the accumulation of the previous word of mouth, the attendance rate of this store when it opened was also good, usually about 40%, and it can reach 80% on weekends. We have made 15 kinds of consumption packages, and there are corresponding service prices for hours, daily, weekly, or monthly subscriptions.
I have been doing a self-study room for more than a year, and I have watched my peers in the group change batch after batch, and sometimes my heart is not very tasteful. Especially recently, the transfer news in the group has indeed been issued more frequently than before, and from November last year to February this year, the industry seems to be experiencing a wave of closures.
On the one hand, catch up with the "off-season" of the self-study room examination and the end of the final examination. On the other hand, there are actually many people who do self-study rooms who follow the "self-study room fever" and want to earn the "fast money" of young people. Self-study room this line, the threshold for opening a shop is actually not high, some rent a house, set up a few tables, on the shelves of the US group, also called "self-study room".
Our current store is also profitable, and usually customers book seats or main income. But the traffic is too dependent on the Meituan, Dianping, this online channel is indeed a pain point, after all, the online is still not stable, the platform to you push you have, do not push you do not have. In the long run, I still want to open up some other sources of income, and in the future, the study room may consider doing some cooperation with coffee shops, milk tea shops and the like to broaden the income range. Because, as far as the current situation of the national market is concerned, the line of self-study rooms is in decline. I am actually more worried about the future, but I still want to do my best and insist on creating high-quality products.
In the early stage of the rise of the paid self-study room industry, capital is very concerned, but in the later stage, with the "swarm" vicious competition in this industry, the profit model is single, the profit is thin, and the industry is seriously involved, which has become the pain point of the development of this industry. Similar to the atmosphere that we can do well, the business can still be maintained, and some study rooms are inexplicably not good at "atmosphere", so they have to close their doors.
"Specialty" maid board game shop, let me lose money and difficult to change hands
Beijing Tongzhou Grils Board Game Shop, Tong Qiang
To be a "maid" board game shop, it is not that I want to go off the road, but that I am forced to survive.
Two years ago, I opened this board game shop in Tongzhou University Town, Beijing, a 200-square-meter shop, and the business has been quiet. Later, a year later, it began to be popular with maids, JK women's clothing, etc., which made me realize that these were good ways to attract customers, so I found a few models to come into the store to play part-time, and the business was not bad.
So I started to increase the number of "maids", and there are currently more than 10 accompaniments, half part-time and half full-time. It focuses on board games, and some video games. The business of a few years ago was still good, and many young people came to play. Years later to now, it is good to be able to go to a table every day, and after raising a few years ago, I have made some money to put it in.
My only way now is to wait for the start of school, isn't it just over 10 days before I am allowed to return to Beijing? At present, the store is also fully implementing the cost reduction strategy, all part-time jobs do not work, full-time only take the basic salary, 150 yuan a day.
Now I have this type of shop, is also into the "maid" defeat also "maid". Because, it is true that some of the passenger flow is to find to play with, but because the current policy does not allow women's clothing to accompany the play, I can not do promotion on online platforms such as Meituan. Ordinary board game stores can spend money on marketing promotion, and can also attract online consumer traffic.
The competition here is also more fierce, I can only survive with characteristics, and now the only expectation is that the epidemic will pass quickly, and the current negative operating state will not drag me down, and when the market is good, see the opportunity to get rid of the store.
But to be honest, others don't have my relationship, and they can't do this kind of shop. When those online promotion platforms invite me to move in, they will ask me if I have "connections". I am a regular store, but I can't stand the report of the edge, and the platform does not want to cause trouble.
The current rent is 20,000 per month, plus the cost of labor. I was thinking about this business, should it really be done at that time?
Invested nearly one million to join the milk tea shop, and has not returned the cost for two years
Hebei Tangshan milk tea shop, Zhou boss
There is a saying in the industry: "The poorest are middle-aged people, and the richest are young people." Our generation has a "common disease": it is better to be poor than to be poor with children. At that time, my daughter-in-law and I were living in the city, watching milk tea become more and more popular, young people also loved to drink, with the idea of earning money for young people, I wanted to open a milk tea shop in the university town.
After having this idea, I inquired about the situation of many chain stores and finally chose one to join. The store opened at the end of 2019. But not long after opening the store, the epidemic was ushered in. At that time, my investment there: 100,000 franchise fees, more than 60,000 equipment, plus rent, decoration, training, raw materials, plus some bits and pieces of cost a total of about 250,000, all in vain.
After the epidemic, students return to school, which is also a state of "non-essential do not go out" state management. The delivery platform is still relatively fierce, and the milk tea shops around us are in the cracks to survive, and we can't make ends meet. It didn't take long to transfer it.
I still don't die, thinking that I have some business experience, and I want to rub the heat of the milk tea shop. This time, more than 700,000 yuan was invested in the blood capital, and a franchise store with an area of 85 square meters was opened in the Aegean Sea in Tangshan City. Because the mall has its own traffic, the average daily income can reach about 3,000 yuan in weekdays, and a little more on holidays, which can reach 7,000 yuan. The total income in the first year is about 800,000, and the headquarters also has to draw three thousandths, plus employee wages, equipment maintenance, raw material costs and other expenses, which is a cost input period.
This year's Spring Festival sales are not bad, there are a few days can rush more than 10,000. However, to catch up with the price of raw materials, the price of the lime embellished in each cup of drink has risen to about 28 yuan a catty; the price of the sucrose that is usually used has also increased, and the cost price of sucrose is much higher than that of fructose. Because of the accumulation of more than 8,000 private domain users, customers drink your word of mouth, I will not say that in order to save some money on raw materials and lose the customer group. Therefore, so far in the second year, it is still in a state of loss, and I hope that this year I can work hard to return to the cost.
In recent years, "healthy diet" and "national fitness" have been advocated, and young people are more and more concerned about "body". Our milk tea is directly "beaten into hell", and the entire market is actually going downhill. So a few days ago, I chartered a sign in the mall, and I also invested a lot, and I plan to make a lot of efforts in publicity this year. Milk tea is also half just needed, and I hope that when you want to drink, you can think of us first. Of course, there will also be zero sugar and low fat series.
Sometimes I really want to give up, but I have invested so much, and it is not easy to give up.
Join the exchange group & content reprinting & cooperation related