Virtual Christmas-Themed Café Decor Using AI Editor

Wiki Article

Being an owner of a café with slim profit margins I encounter a dilemma every holiday season. I know customers want a festive and Instagram worthy environment but there is limited money available to create a Christmas vibe with physical decorations in my café. Last year I spent roughly IDR 15 million on everything including Christmas trees, decorations, lights and garlands that were used for around 6-8 weeks. This year though, using AI technology I am going to be able to create a “virtual Christmas café” as an alternative marketing platform to spending a lot of money on physical decorations.

I want to make sure you understand what the costs really look like to create seasonal decorations in a café. To create the feel of quality Christmas decorations requires a considerable investment. Quality Christmas decorations must create an impression on customers and generate social media traction. My breakdown of costs from last year’s decorations is as follows: a 3-meter-tall artificial Christmas tree with ornaments IDR 4 million, string lights and fairy lights IDR 2 million, wreaths and garlands IDR 2.5 million, table decorations and centerpieces IDR 2 million, window decals and signage IDR 1.5 million, miscellaneous props IDR 3 million.

Totaling fifteen million dollars, this does not include the cost of labor to install and dismantle the decorations at the end of each season, represents a huge hit on the profit margin of a coffee house (which averages between eighty and one hundred million dollars a month in sales).

The worst part? At the end of every season, I have to rent storage space for all of the decorations I purchased. By the time I need to use those decorations again, many times they get broken or go out of style. Consequently, I have to purchase new decorations every season, creating an endless cycle of making and spending money as I operate a small business.

Virtual Decoration Strategy with AI

Instead of creating more decorations for the cafe, I have decided to focus on increasing everything I do digitally with the assistance of VISBOOM (an excellent AI photo editing site with many functions including background replacement) online marketing this year.

The idea I am using with VISBOOM is to create a virtual festive cafe that showcases my business­ using my cafe as a venue to create the festive decorations that will surround my business. The actual cafe has minimal Christmas decorations, thus allowing customers to still have a nice atmosphere when visiting the cafe; it will also not be a 'Instagrammable' restaurant, meaning customers should not expect something out of the ordinary!

The total cost of the physical decorations was just $4 and I will be able to reuse them for years to come!

For all of my marketing materials, social media content, and digital menu displays, I can use VISBOOM to create the illusion of a fully decorated festive café using the background swap feature. I have taken pictures of multiple angles of different areas throughout the café and have used the background swap feature to add elaborate Christmas decorations digitally.

Execution and Results

My process is orderly. I have chosen 8-10 locations throughout the café that are either most popular with our guests or the best locations for shooting. For each location, I'll photograph it without any added decorations as closely as I can to its current state. I then upload the images to VISBOOM and apply a variety of Christmas-themed background treatments.

VISBOOM produces fantastic results. The AI technology creates realistic, three-dimensional Christmas-themed backgrounds complete with brightly lit, beautifully decorated Christmas trees appearing to be perfectly placed and in a natural, realistic way; long, elaborate garlands hanging from the ceiling and walls, a snowy atmosphere out of the windows; and even a fully functional virtual fireplace complete with mantel decorations and stockings.

I have created a minimum of three versions of each image: daytime cozy Christmas café, nighttime romantic Christmas feel; and bright cheerful holiday décor. Each version is used in a different marketing application: Instagram feed, Instagram story, Facebook, Google Business page, digital menus.

Customer Perception Management

One of the big questions we often hear from our followers is - Are we misleading customers? We believe that there should be a balance in how we communicate with our community. Rather than just saying, "Here's a picture that we edited", we choose to share informative posts that explain our current offerings by saying something like "Find Us at Christmas Vibes & a Holiday Menu" - A message that comes from our belief that we do provide a great offering during the holidays. Our holiday menu is a product of the season, and so too is the cozy Christmas feeling in our café, even though it's not quite as extravagant or extensive as what you see in the product photos posted to social media.

Surprisingly, we received a great deal of positive feedback from our customers about our holiday photos on social media. Customers really enjoy the many great images of our café that are shared on social media, and enjoy coming in to experience the winter menus and seasonal beverages while experiencing the warm and inviting Christmas atmosphere in our café. Many customers even share their images of our product offerings taken at various angles that create a beautiful holiday atmosphere despite using only basic decorations used in our café

Financial Impact

Calculating the return on investment (ROI) is relatively simple when you consider that the cost to purchase a Visboom subscription and the minor cost for decorating our cafe is roughly 5 million. Compared to what was spent last year of over 15 million, this represents a savings of approximately 10 million that we can use for purchasing more inventory, providing bonuses to our employees, and making other improvements that will assist in growing our business over the long haul.

Despite what seems to be declining returns this year due to our use of the Visboom subscription, it is important to highlight that we have gained 40 percent more engagement via social media since we began using Visboom’s image service. Traffic into our stores this holiday season is at the same level as it was during the 2021 season, but we have incurred significantly lower overhead costs this year for decorating purposes.

As small cafe owners, we must be resourceful with our limited resources to survive as small businesses. The Visboom app helps us to build a strong marketing presence with minimal financial investment, and focus our resources on the quality of our product, the service we provide, and the genuine hospitality we provide to our customers. We allow technology to create that initial visual attraction and give our customers a positive experience to keep them returning.