easyEverything: Overview

Surfing Away at the World's Largest Internet Café
Entrepreneur Mr. Haji-Ioannou, who prefers to be known as Stelios, founded the easyJet airline in 1995. Born into a Greek shipping family, Stelios has built up his business into a profitable operation with 28 routes and 18 new aircraft. He has waged highly public battles against established competitors who have resisted his attempts to introduce low-cost fares. Stelios was one of the first entrepreneurs to understand that the Internet was a natural addition to a direct-selling operation based around telephone-based call centers.

The Internet is at the heart of all easyGroup's business strategies. easyJet seats sold over the Internet reduce company administration costs, which are passed onto customers. The easyEverything chain of Internet cafés gives the public access to the Internet at very low prices. Both easyJet and easyEverything use variable pricing strategies that maximize aircraft resources and expensive retail locations.

Another new Internet venture has just opened in London and Barcelona. The easyRentacar business offers Mercedes* A-class cars for rent at very low prices that vary according to the time of day and demand. An easyBank is planned for this year as well.

Sip Coffee, Surf the Web
In June 1999, easyEverything opened its first Internet café opposite Victoria station in central London. It immediately set a new standard for public access to the Internet since it had 400 terminals spread over 10,000 square feet, making it the world's largest Internet café. Since that successful opening, the company has opened four other stores in prestigious retail locations in central London with a total of 2,300 seats. The largest store now has 600 terminals. Over the next two years it has plans for 75 stores across Europe and New York.

	"The Internet cafés are aimed at the people who are fed up with the worldwide wait on the Web, and the 85 percent of people who do not have access to the Internet at the office or at home. The cafés will offer fast, cheap access and advice on how to find what they are looking for in a friendly and secure environment. We expect to attract around 6,000 people per day." Maurice Kelly, Chief Executive Officer, easyEverything

Stelios decided to launch easyEverything after dropping into a conventional cyber café one day, and realizing that the Internet access on offer was too slow and too expensive. "The Internet cafés are aimed at the people who are fed up with the worldwide wait on the Web, and the 85 percent of people who do not have access to the Internet at the office or at home. The cafés will offer fast, cheap access and advice on how to find what they are looking for in a friendly and secure environment. We expect to attract around 6,000 people per day," says Chief Executive Officer Maurice Kelly.