Spare time a gold mine for arcade-game entrepreneurs

(ECNS) - Claw crane machines, telephone box-like mini-KTV booths, and Virtual Reality game trials are among new businesses booming around China’s shopping malls, cinemas, and restaurants exploiting people’s spare time, Worker’s Daily reported. 

Such toys or facilities are usually automatic and devoid of any labour costs, and they are quickly being promoted in places with a large flow of people. 

Insiders say this new trend of turning people’s spare time into a profit-making business is possible thanks to the advance of the Internet, which means mobile payment options can be fast, easy, and pay-as-you-go. 

Claw crane machines, for example, have been found to be popular among both children and women, so shopping malls are a prime spot for them. Each year China adds 200,000 to 300,000 such vending machines to the market, with their total number having reached 1.3 million to date. 

The total operation costs for such businesses can be very low as there is often no need for human workers, according to a manager in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. 

Experts also believe these new options fit well with the need for individualized consumption choices.