author: Yishui Han winds, title figure from the original

There is a paragraph in the Internet circle: If this year is called the first year of XX, then XX do not expect to make money this year.

A piece of Internet media published the article “2019, the first year of paid study rooms” the day before, which described the paid study rooms that originated in Japan and South Korea. In 2019, they expanded rapidly in major cities in China. It has already opened more than 80, and there are also 60 in Shenyang, Xi’an and Chengdu. “The economy is declining, and the AI ​​wave is fast. Many people worry that they are unemployed at middle age. Females account for 70% of learners. The high-education and high-paying groups pay more attention to improving themselves.”

On public comments, there are 3 paid study rooms including Magpies, Circles, and Yueyue in the building of SOHOA, Dawang Road, Beijing. There are also 20 shops in the Wudaokou-Zhongguancun area concentrated in universities Various paid study rooms.

There are more than 20 paid study rooms in Huangzhuang-Wudaokou, Haidian, Beijing alone

One of the main feelings is the need and anxiety of most consumers, but the business account of the paid study room is not calculated. Coincidentally, the author also recently inspected the paid study room project with friends and conducted various investigations. Interviewed some consumers and operators, and took this opportunity to share some of our experiences and conclusions.

Single user: someone who sprints for exams

If we use an ethical view of business, it can be simply divided into a business that meets desire, a business that meets growth and progress, and a business that meets the needs of daily survival.

The business that satisfies the desire is mostly the habit of inducing addiction, tobacco, liquor, mahjong, luxury, games, etc. We do not evaluate right or wrong; and business models that grow and progress, such as fitness exercises, paid education, music Art is often crowned with the halo of dreams, feelings, and positive energy, while neglecting the advantages and disadvantages of business.

The hotness of paid study rooms in Japan and South Korea depends to a large extent on the local social environment: a small country area, a highly concentrated population density, a noisy environment with multiple children in a family, fierce competition for talents and employers Attention to qualifications. Except for multiple children, all other social conditions are very similar to those in first-tier cities in China, so it is logical to shift the service of paid study rooms.

Japanese in the movie “Bottom Hot Girl”

Korean student Kim who is studying at Shoujing University and I revealed that Korean students who love to study often pay for study rooms in high school. Seoul charges about 500 to 1,000 yuan per month. The service is also quiet and independent. Environment, “but Beijing is much more expensive.” The fees for study rooms in Beijing Dawang Road, Wangjing, Wudaokou and Zhongguancun are 12 yuan to 18 yuan per hour, 50 yuan to 70 yuan per day, 250 yuan to 350 yuan per week, and 1,000 yuan to 2,000 yuan per month.

Why choose to go to a paid study room? Classmate Jin replied, like most Chinese, “in order to avoid the temptations of the outside world. There are meals, entertainment, and chores in the home to keep people distracted. You need a wall to cut off the connection with the outside world. , Concentrate on learning. “There is a point in the” Wuhezhong “Human emotions and behaviors are imitative. When everyone around you is learning, you will also have the herd behavior of learning.

Different from shared space, it is not suitable for long-term office and communication, and the price of shared office space in Beijing is more than 3,000 yuan per person, which does not overlap with those who pay for self-study.

But in fact, Paid study rooms are more like learning gyms. They are a dream created by entrepreneurs and consumers: I paid for a wish and I can have a good result.

The audience of paid study rooms is very single: people who sprint to study for an exam. Users have short-term and volatility. The pre-examinations of graduate exams, judicial exams, CPA exams, and TOEFL IELTS are the peak periods of study rooms. The study room of Dawanglu sometimes fills up after work; and after the exam is completed, Most consumers wo n’t choose to go back after they have achieved their goals or abandoned them—unless they fight again next year, consumers will generally not repurchase.

Freelancers do not choose paid study rooms. Ms. Li and the author, who are engaged in the creation of online novels, revealed that she prefers to write in a relaxed coffee shop. Music, sunshine, sofas, and better drinks and cakes will inspire writing. “When you get inspired, don’t care about the noise around you.”

Students who want to master a foreign language will not come from study. If you only take the exam, you still need to learn by yourself, but you must master a language, dialogue, listening, and exchange of ideas. These needs can not be met by paying a study room.

Chinese high school students have less time for study rooms because of their own academic pressure. Why are university students naturally possessing libraries and study rooms?

Although the remaining consumers who are taking exams have learning needs, they have many choices besides paid study rooms. Although there are many people who can’t grab the location and some are far from home, the atmosphere is good and almost free; the cafes are noisy, but it is not difficult to find a quiet cafe outside the CBD in a big city. There are people everywhere; although there are many people in the family, most of the wage earners live in rented houses. Finding a quiet room will solve the environmental problems. If you really want to learn skills, there are still such as EF Wall Street Suntech Training institutions, also paid a table and chairs benches.

Second, and most importantly, to cut off external interference, it is more useful to move the device than to go to a quiet place. We have seen more learners playing cell phones, reading magazines, sleeping, and being dazed in university study rooms. A good environment for paying does not change laziness.

So the paid study room is more like a gym: the boss said that IIf you are in a good environment, you can focus on achieving your goals; you think you can achieve your goals by spending money on a good environment. Learning is a spontaneous, internal driving force-driven behavior. In a large city, it is easy for a calm person to find a desk. A person with an unwilling heart can be disconnected everywhere.

While low cost and a single profit model

The study room is essentially a simple business for renting space

For the old Li who opened an Internet cafe, the paid study room is simply a more wonderful business model than the Internet cafe: the same semi-closed space, the same sofa, the same tea and beverage service, the same store area, and the Internet cafe is removed. The desktop computer creates a quiet environment. The original Internet access fee of 8 yuan to 10 yuan can be changed to 12 yuan to 18 yuan an hour for self-study fees. You don’t need to worry about the Internet cafe operating license and you don’t have to bear high bandwidth costs. No need to worry about fights and fights, but also help people to study and improve every day, it is awesome.

However, Lao Li found many minefields in the site selection. First of all, the surrounding residents must not be too old. The old alley in the Second Ring Road should not have many potential customers, but they should not be too close to the school. They have free study rooms and libraries. In CBD, rent and area are a problem, but in the daytime, office workers in CBD would rather go to a coffee shop and not come to study; the best way to get out of the traffic is the subway, and not many people from Xixi drive by themselves.

The cost of opening a study room is not high. It is mainly rent, decoration, and daily manual operation of water and electricity, but the only way of revenue is to buy time. Most of the study rooms provide paid use of space, free tea and beverages. Increasing profits can only attract more customers and increase prices.

The new idea is to increase marketing costs, and the cycle of testing civil servants every year is fixed, and the source of customers is stable. Moreover, this group of consumers is very price sensitive. If you want to do a good coffee charge, it will cause usersLoss-After all, rich people can study in their luxury homes, find a tutor, or report to various high-end training classes, without having to aggravate themselves in the space where the pressure is on.

He Jingping, the founder of the self-study room reading space, said in an interview with Lieyun.com, if the cost of decoration and other rents is not calculated, it will take 10 months for the first store to realize the revenue balance. If you want to recover the rent and decoration, Initial estimates are at least three years later.

The founder Zhang Wenliang of another Beijing study room, Zhang Wenliang, said that the trial business opened one week and attracted more than 40 customers. The main purchases were long-term stored-value cards and monthly and weekly cards, most of which were 200 yuan to 500 yuan. .

Moreover, once there are signs of profit, many competitors will follow in the same area-there is no threshold to open a study room, and users have no loyalty. As mentioned earlier, there are 3 study rooms in the same building, including SOHOA, in the same building. Before seeing profit, the market is already in the Red Sea.

“It’s better to go to fund wealth management products”

Less than a year after operating the study room, Lao Li turned the store out, and turned the next study room into a coffee shop.

“Some people say that the study room is a sharing economy. The term is too exaggerated. In my opinion, like Internet cafes or self-service gyms, after renting a store, they will attract users to make a difference through decoration and value-added services.” Old Li calculated for us: the minimum per capita seat required for self-study is 2㎡, the classroom space for a 50-seat study room is 100㎡, and at least 150㎡ ~ 180㎡, including public space, aisle, bathroom, storage room, etc. Taking Dawanglu SOHO as an example, the commercial rent on Anju is 5 yuan to 6 yuan per square meter per day, and the rent cost is 22,500 yuan to 27,000 yuan. At least one employee is required for daily maintenance, cleaning and cleaning, and 7 days a day. , Calculating the monthly operating cost of hydropower supplies is 32,000 to 36,000 yuan.

“It doesn’t seem to be expensive, but if converted into income, at least 36 people need to get a card of more than 1,000 yuan per month to get back the money. It may be possible during the postgraduate period, but in the off-season, the customer source is very unstable . With this spare money, it is better to buy money. “

The way to increase revenue is to increase the turnover rate. This is particularly important in the gym, Internet cafes, and catering industries. The same area and the same equipment can be used for multiple batches of consumers. For operators, net profits are generated. Discounts allow consumers to stagger the peak period and make full use of the investment equipment.

However, it is difficult to increase the turnover rate in the study room. Restaurant meals usually take 1 to 2 hours.You can also generate income through take-away; gym equipment is diverse, users are less likely to occupy a piece of equipment for more than an hour, a fitness equipment can be used by multiple people in turn, not to mention a variety of paid personal education programs; study room consumers often sedentary to ensure themselves The benefits of the weekly card and monthly card are maximized, and it is impossible to complete consumption and leave within 1 hour to 2 hours. And if the study room is full, and later consumers see that there is no place, most of them choose to turn around to find alternative scenarios such as cafes. They will not line up like restaurants and will not find idle equipment as easily as gyms.

Lao Li introduced to us, “There is a word in our circle called card game. The owners of gyms and training institutions have a dilemma for consumers who have weekly or monthly cards. They hope that consumers will come. , And I do n’t want him to come every day, and I do n’t want him to come or leave. ”

“Operators will want consumers to come. Only when there are many people in the store will they have a popular atmosphere, will they attract new users, and staff and teachers will be motivated. But if consumers come from the store, they will always occupy the equipment. If you do n’t go, we call it Taiwan ’s domineering, which seriously affects the turnover rate, so we do n’t want consumers to stay too long.

The gymnasium and restaurant are rarely dominated by Taiwan. Internet cafes are charged on time. It does not matter, but in the study room with weekly card and monthly card, many hard-working students sit for at least half a day to a whole day as business. They admire their hard work, but they did affect their income. “

Although the investment is small and the operating cost is low, the pure self-study model is greatly affected by the fluctuation of customer sources and the single profit model. Even in the place of origin, Japan and South Korea always remain in the stage of individual entrepreneurship. However, the way to break the situation in Japan and South Korea is to transform from a single study room to a tutoring school. It is divided into tutoring students, and most of them are tutoring students. ; And mainly retired teachers, the purpose of cultivating students’ wide range of interests, hobbies, and improving skills, such as teaching music, art, sports and other “interesting tastes.” Use guidance and training as a profit point, create a learning exchange environment, and get rid of the single business model of relying solely on rental locations.

Common” Learning Cards “in Japan

Actually, how good is the learning effect of the study room? The author believes that the self-study room is born of problem-solving elites, exam-oriented students, and research crazy people. These people may have good results in sprint learning exams, but in the future workplace, can these problem-solving skills really bring advantages? ?

Most of the frustrated people in the workplace lack communication skills, communication skills, creative skills, and thinking and analysis skills. These abilities cannot be given to you by the study room.


author: Yishui Han winds