Architect Archive
Thread: Catalog Vendor
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Stownhart
Tue Apr 26, 2005 5:51 am
#1
I have added a new feature to my shop that so far has had outstanding success in benefiting my customer. I thought I would share this for the interest of all the clientel of all of us. What I have done is placed a vendor titled "Catalog". In it I place one of every item I am able to craft, priced at 99,999,999 so as not to sell. As I place each item within I include in the description section what my standard price is for the item, which vendor it can be found in, whether it is a standard schematic item or looted schematic, and any other pertinent notes about the item. This allows the customer to more quickly browse through my entire collection of wares to make their purchase decisions. It also allows them to make orders for out of stock items, and be able to request them by proper name. This Catalog vendor seems to be more beneficial for furniture and tailor items, as it seams a large portion of players do not know what all of the available wares are of these two crafting classes. I admit it did put a huge dent in my actual for-sale stock in regards to structures. But it seems so far to be worth the investment. My return business has increase greatly, And it appears word-of-mouth has gone up to a whole new level. Interior decorating business has likewise shot through the roof.
Of course I am not looking forward to 30 days from now...lol
l33thaxx0rnam3
Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:33 am
#2
That's actually a rather clever idea.
How is that working out with the galaxywide vendor search though?
Sales good?
How is that working out with the galaxywide vendor search though?
Sales good?
Zhundult
Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:14 am
#3
Yeah, the 30 day issue would be a real hassle I think. Still a nice idea though. I've thought about setting up a furniture showroom, so they can see the actual items full scale, not decorated nicely, rather grouped by item type, and sort of packed in there tightly, kind of like a real furniture store would do. Just haven't gotten around to that yet though.
l33thaxx0rnam3
Tue Apr 26, 2005 9:25 am
#4
I went through and tried to decorate my mall with each piece of furniture, in little decorative deisgns,to let my customers see everything.
Then, I go to Elyssa's shop and she's just got EVERYTHING out on the floor of the mall in the main hall, organized by type.
"This looks like absolute crap!" I think. "Everything all jumbled up like this, it looks like... like... some kind of crappy furniture showroom."
/pause 5
/stunned
"Oh my GAWD! That's F-ing BRILLIANT!"
Her Merchant-Fu is mighty.
Elyssa
Tue Apr 26, 2005 9:47 am
#5
You know, I hated the layout from the moment I did it.
I still think it looks trashy.
It is, however, surprisingly effective so I left it.
When my store was in a small house next door to its current location, my plan was to make it look like a RL furniture store where they have absolutely everything crammed into the showroom and the customers just wander around amongst it. Everything was crowded and it actually made you feel a little bit crowded to stand in the store
When my store was in a small house next door to its current location, my plan was to make it look like a RL furniture store where they have absolutely everything crammed into the showroom and the customers just wander around amongst it. Everything was crowded and it actually made you feel a little bit crowded to stand in the store
Then I got a medium house in the current location and tried to organize it by style but I didn't like that you had to walk all through the building to see everything.
When I realized that I owned enough property to replace it with a guild hall and would finally have a nice big showroom, I upgraded. That came just before they increased the number of vendors so I lined 5 of them up against the back wall and tried to recreate my "style groups" from the previous store. That just looked awful with all the empty space.
Then came the vendor number increase and I could finally break everything up by type.
I couldn't come up with anything creative so I just sort of stacked it behind the individual vendors.
When I was done, I realized that I had finally captured that 'crowded furniture showroom' feel.
Now if they'd just give us more furniture so I could fill in the empty areas!
Stownhart
Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:57 pm
#6
Actually I gave conciderable thought to the showroom idea too, But then I thought that the catalog vendor idea had other merits I liked. First being able to put the structure deeds within...kinda hard to shove a city hall into a guild hall...lol (However I do hear that is an effective powerup for the guild hall drop attack on the krayte dragon). Customers may opt to relist the items alphabetically to find what they are looking for quicker. And with the seller description area I can include important information that they may need about the item.
In combination with my low prices on houses bringing customers in from the vendor seach, I have found now that more of them are leaving with packs full of furniture more now. In many instances a customer will spend quite a bit more on the furniture to fill their house than the house deed itself.
Rebbouse
Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:46 pm
#7
Great idea!
Unfortunately I am not a merchant and can't put down 2 vendors...I want at least 2 functioning in separate places and I can only have 2.
Really great idea though!
Unfortunately I am not a merchant and can't put down 2 vendors...I want at least 2 functioning in separate places and I can only have 2. Really great idea though!
bluejanus
Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:22 pm
#8
Zhundult wrote:
Yeah, the 30 day issue would be a real hassle I think. Still a nice idea though. I've thought about setting up a furniture showroom, so they can see the actual items full scale, not decorated nicely, rather grouped by item type, and sort of packed in there tightly, kind of like a real furniture store would do. Just haven't gotten around to that yet though.
I've thought of that as well. Wished I could set up a player city just to show off the player gardens.
mlfilms
Wed Apr 27, 2005 12:27 am
#9
What really makes the store are the 2 Wookiee vendors in the corner selling Smuggler's goods and cool loot. Keeping watch while Elyssa is there. Haveing parties, making long distance phone calls and using the computer for non-work related business while she's gone.
Don't tell her....shes merciless.
Stownhart
Wed Apr 27, 2005 3:38 am
#10
Rebbouse wrote:
Great idea!
You are right, it would be pretty pointless to have one vendor show what only one other vendor has in it. I imagine this idea would only be in line for higher level merchants. I'm a master merchant, so I use 1 vendor to catalog 10 others. Of course the twelth is my storage vendor.
Rebbouse
Wed Apr 27, 2005 7:36 pm
#11
Yeah lucky....I wish I could be a master merchant....I don't have the skillpoints. I want some combat skills so I don't have the skillpoints. I really want to buy a new character for that reason...have him as my combat character and this one as my architect/merchant/some other crafting proffession. But until then I am confined to 250 skillpoints.
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