3 key issues in running escape rooms
Opening a business always thrilling and frightening. A person tries to calculate expenses and benefits and decide whether it would be flourishing. The VR market seems very promising. It makes large steps in its development and attracts crowds of people. That is why many people think about making business closely connected with VR. Making initial steps in this direction it is necessary to analyze key moments. Let’s delve into details and pay attention at possible pitfalls:
- Ways of raising capacity.
- Expansion of the business.
- Staying afloat despite market challenges.
Raising capacity
Having chosen an escape room, it is necessary to calculate the area needed paying attention at the placement and rental price. It is significant to compute the space that would be enough for a fully-fledged game as it greatly influences the success of your business. Extra meters will lead to loses. The more participants will be deployed in the small area the more profit you will have. Having figured out the needed space, think whether you can place an additional player. Remember that every client gives you additional revenue but do not forget about the players’ comfort.
Making steps in the right direction you will get enough clients. With time, you will have groups exceeding the capacities of your room. At first, you can find the solution to the problem in division clients into two groups. Later on, you will think about renting a new room or even a location.
Do not fall into the trap thinking that the larger area you have the greater profit you will inevitably get. Ask yourself whether the margin will increase with the larger space and capacity? Can you say that every square meter is used rationally? Are you sure that there is no excessive space in your room? Calculate the profit for every square meter bearing in mind the rent cost, number of players.
Escape room expansion
Starting a business, every owner dreams of its flourishing and expanding in the upcoming years. Doing everything right and getting into the swing, the business will develop successfully. For the owners, it means the creation of an additional room. You can try new genres and formats, choose a new place. You have an option to enter into a franchise.
Once succeeded you probably have thousands of great ideas stuck in your head. One is dreaming of adding smart decorations, or hiring talented actors, buying intricate updated electronic devices, etc. Stop dreaming for a while and think whether you will get a positive ROI in the long run?
Then try to calculate the escape room startup cost. Bear in mind depreciation costs. Being popular and attracting crowds of clients you will have to maintain wear and tear issues as nothing lasts forever. Maintain the room and equipment up to date.
Every year the room expenses are composed of startup cost plus depreciation costs. Calculating the cost analyze whether there is a sense of creating an additional room. All these issues are very important. They are a real difficulty in the market of virtual reality. That is why expanding the business is not so ease-to-do as it may seem.
Staying afloat
When a person wants to have a prosperous business for a long period of time (not just for several years) it is important to keep in step with the times. VR sphere advances at an astounding pace, and it is necessary to observe modern technologies and implement great ideas into your business. Room expansion can be planned beforehand but it is impossible to imagine the look of the escape room in 5 or 10 years.
Follow the evolution of business in this sphere from other countries. It appeared in the US, later in Japan was created the SCRAP building market with the idea of great activity. There was no room building but various facilities that provided large-scale events including games that comply with the concept.
What city do you think is considered to be the heart of escape rooms? The answer is Budapest with its wonderful Parapark. It was noted for outstanding rooms with ultraviolet, locks and keys. Other companies follow their example.
In Russia, we could immerse ourselves in exciting entertainment with Claustrophobia and others. The next wave brought a bunch of intricate things such as moving walls, electromagnets, Near Field Communication systems, etc.
Players are eagerly awaiting new technologies, but what does it mean for business owners? The constant development and the race for novelty. They should create modern rooms, buy up-to-date equipment. To remain afloat, keep pace with the times. Every day the competitiveness increases as well as the value of the room. It can reach €50 000 and it is not the limit. For many businessmen, the creation of an escape room is too expensive and, supposedly, not cost-effective. It leads to closing. Others remain up and running.
You should think over these problems today so that to overcome them in upcoming years and be among those who continue running the business. Analyze possible ways of business survival. Perhaps, it is necessary to buy new products for your roster.
You should be resilient. To do this, there are many formats to go for. Mobile escape rooms are a good option to provide immersive entertainment at clients and city-based games for the bigger audience. You can create a room for families with children, for example, quizzes parties, etc. By the way, such type of activity is more cost-effective than others.
If location-based entertainments seem to be attractive, open a rage or a sports room, with actors or a booming VR room. Ask yourself about the preferences of the niche audience. What can you offer to your clients to win the competitive battle?
Running a business is full of hassles. To turn up trumps, it is necessary to be in the loop of novelties. VR is a boon for business. It may help to solve the major issues. Most modern companies such as Avatarico, Zero Latency, etc. give a host of options (like franchises) for your business to flourish. Surely, VR cannot guarantee clear-cut success, in some cases, nothing can save. Choose the product carefully and analyze your business development.
About the Author, Anton Zaitsev: Anton started in 2014 with writing real-life escape room scenarios, launching real-life escape rooms as a creative director. He was involved in opening 10 real-life escape rooms in Saint Petersburg, Russia. His company hit the top-3 in terms of bookings per room. And now there are rooms under the brand in Barcelona and Madrid.
In 2015 Anton launched the first VR escape game in the world. He started selling Avatarico VR escape games to escape room owners. Now he is the CEO of Avatarico.
Avatarico created 5 VR escape games and sold them to more than 100 locations across the globe. Since 2015 more than 200,000 customers played these games.
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