Shop concepts/ideas - Pricing

Some of you may know that I'm planning to open a custom computer / gaming center shop here in Fairbanks.  If you didn't know that... well, there it is.  In keeping with my weird brain ideas about such things, it's helpful to gauge public opinion.  I realize that my "audience" here (or on FB, twitter, etc.) isn't huge, and may not reach the majority of folks I'd like it to reach.  So sharing this post with friends or other interested parties would be greatly appreciated, especially if one lives in the Fairbanks area, and even if you don't, opinions are always appreciated.  That being said, I'd like to have some of these ideas down on (non-existent) paper, if for nothing else than to see how they look outside my head.

 Pricing

This covers a few different aspects of the store, and possibly will be the most "visible" part of the business.  As such, having a unique structure is key to being distinct.  Starting with the computer shop aspect of the store, I'd like to do something not seen very often in "smaller" or "custom" computer stores: pre-built price points.  Basically, 2 or 3 pre-built computer "models" (or SKUs, for those of you in the retail know-how) at a set price, that are either already built and ready to be given to a customer right away, or at least have the required parts themselves kept in regular stock as to avoid waiting for parts to ship.  My initial idea was for 3 skus:

1. A "general use" machine, not super powerful, but enough to do more "everyday" things, such as emails, word processing (or other business/school type applications), web browsing, some multimedia functionality, etc.  It'd retail for about $600-700.
2. A more powerful second tier, which would be just a step or so less powerful (if not completely the same) than the machines that would used for the "standard" tier of gaming machines that customers would use in the shop itself.  (More on that later.)  It'd be suitable for HD media, higher-end gaming, some minor video/photo editing, etc.  Price on these would be around $1200-1300.
3. The final tier is the big banana, so to speak.  A massive gaming machine built to handle current as well as future gaming software with very little metaphorical sweat breaking.  I'm talking high-end processors with overclocking and liquid cooling; multiple graphics cards in a SLI or CrossFireX configuration; SSD boot drives alongside typical mechanical storage drives, and more.  The market for these machines isn't huge, and I doubt I'd keep very much of these particular components in stock, but it would be a sight to see.  For about $2500+, it'd better be.

Naturally, these ideas are all subject to change, but I think that's a pretty solid lineup.  I would, of course, also be able to custom build a computer to whatever specs/designs a customer wants.  I've done things like hand-built custom water cooling solutions, custom case lighting, even some case modding (though it's not my favorite thing to do in the world).  These things fall into my proverbial wheelhouse, and I'd like to share these skills as best I can.

Not for free though, which brings me to another point: repair/diagnostic prices.  I find it mildly irritating that so many places want as much as $100 for an hour's worth of work diagnosing or fixing computer problems.  I understand that it's a valuable service, especially for businesses that need their equipment, but at some point it becomes customer gouging, and I just can't do that.  That being said, I haven't mentally settled on an hourly rate for tech services as of yet, but I do know it'll be surprising to a great many people.  There will be flat price points for more common ailments and services; this is a pretty common practice, and I'll be doing my best to stay competitive and fair with those as well.

This brings me to the pricing structure for the gaming center itself.  Common practices are to charge an hourly fee to use the provided machines, primarily for gaming, but also for more general internet usage, printing, etc.  This has worked for a couple decades, along with discounts for purchasing longer blocks of time.  I've even seen "combo" deals, which include a block of time, a drink and a snack.  All good ideas, ones I plan to implement.  However, one thing I haven't really seen much of is something that MMO players have been used to for almost 10 years now: monthly fees.

The concept that I had was this: a customer pays a monthly fee, giving them a large chunk of time to use over the course of that month.  This fee (or subscription, club, plan, whatever) also entitles said customer to discounts on snacks as well as on time blocks, should they go over their monthly limit.  The time in the initial block can be applied to both the "standard" machines as well as the fancier machines for a better, unique experience, which normally cost a little extra to use. (Again, more on this later.)  It wouldn't have to be a recurring fee, of course; it could just be a kind if extended "special" that can optionally recurred at the customer's discretion.  This structure would encourage folks to come into the store more often (possibly bringing friends), if for anything else than to get cheap snacks and use up the time they've got.

That's all I got for this particular subject.  I'll expand more on the computer building, gaming center, and other ideas in later posts.  Comment, folks; either on here or on Facebook.