Mices Ltd

Mices was the trading name of a chain of Lan Gaming cafes that operated between and 2006. Mices provided friendly, high quality, low cost public walk-in Internet access for communications, recreation and business. During 2001 new back office systems were developed, later to form the Mices RP (Retail Platform), and a new atmosphere and culture was developed. Every function of the business was examined in detail and automated where sensible. Around the same time Virgin opened their first Virgin Space (internet shop) outlet in Oxford and sought to acquire market share from the previous local market leader Internet Exchange through an aggressive price war. Initially the price war between the two largest competitors hit Mices hard, but by April 2001 Mices had established itself as market leader. This position continued for several years, despite Virgin still operating at a lower price than Mices during morning hours. Key to these changes was the realisation that subtle retail strategies backed by solid management information needed to be used to ensure consistent use of all available resources. The invaluable experience of achieving a turnaround in Oxford’s fortunes was to be re-used in future branches. Despite the first branch operating only a small 503 sq ft premises, during the twelve months to April 2002. Mices served some 119,191 customers.