Business And Economy Archive
Thread: Merchant Bazaar Advertisements
These adds would cost on the order of 20k a week to place and would be linked to a particular vendor and allow players to view and purchase items from that vendor while at the bazaar. They could be put in the Advertisements section or any section of the bazaar the merchant chooses.
I would prefer that this ability be as low as possible in the merchant skills but I’m sure most merchants would demand this be a master skill, which I could live with. I think the price to place these on the bazaar should stay pretty high. At least 20k per week and maybe even tied to the number of items on the vendor. They should have to be re-placed every week.
The high prices and necessity to keep placing the item would be to make it more likely that you don’t have a huge amount of adds for empty vendors cluttering up the advertisement section. This would make the feature more useful to the consumers and more advantageous to the merchants that do use it.
ObiQuixote wrote:
Minus the ability to just search through player vendors from the bazaar, something I would like to see is an advertisement section and a special merchant crafted ads that can be put in them.
These adds would cost on the order of 20k a week to place and would be linked to a particular vendor and allow players to view and purchase items from that vendor while at the bazaar. They could be put in the Advertisements section or any section of the bazaar the merchant chooses.
I would prefer that this ability be as low as possible in the merchant skills but I’m sure most merchants would demand this be a master skill, which I could live with. I think the price to place these on the bazaar should stay pretty high. At least 20k per week and maybe even tied to the number of items on the vendor. They should have to be re-placed every week.
The high prices and necessity to keep placing the item would be to make it more likely that you don’t have a huge amount of adds for empty vendors cluttering up the advertisement section. This would make the feature more useful to the consumers and more advantageous to the merchants that do use it.
An interesting idea, but there are several flaws I see from the onset:
1) 20k as a pricing point. Good idea that it will limit all but the serious merchant. However, I wouldn't tie it to a purchase ability from the Bazaar. An Ad is a mechanism to bring in customers - The Ad idea as you have presented encourages sales, but not customers. Put in Ad section by all means - Leave purchases at the Vendors, where the sales belong. I like the Ad being tied to the actual item advertized - it insures that the item is in fact on the vendor they will go visit. Make the ad vanish once item is purchased from vendor.
2) Allow advertising ONLY in an Ad section. The Bazaar already is crammed full of Ads masquerading as an Auction. Give players an option to see ads only if they wish.
3) This allows for a true domination of sales by those with Merchant. Many in the threads have been seeking ways to spread the abilities of the Merchant around - you have actually gone in the opposite direction.
Instead of an Ad section on the Bazaar, I believe a tweak to the Planetary ad section is a better option. Make it so vendors with over a set number of items (Arbitrary number of 25) appear on map as Green. Under the item limit would appear as Red. Make it that vendors that are linked to the planetary map actually have items of the type listed - No more listing as a Weapons vendor and you get there to find Loot on the vendor only. Somebody also suggested a Number system added on the Planetary map. IE - If there are 25 items for sale, the number would read 25/1000 (25 actual items of 1000 usable slots)
Only advertising in the add section is another neither here nor there type of thing. But from consumers point of view if I’m looking for a weapon I would rather go to the weapons section and get adds from the weapons section because they would more likely be advertising weapons vendors. If all adds for everything are in a generic adds section then that’s just a lot more clicking and searching for consumers which is why other advertising in this game, like world maps doesn’t work. It’s too much of a hassle and leads to many empty vendors and wasted time.
BTW a sale implies a customer, if I buy something on Amazon am I not a customer? Does the fact that I didn’t go to the distribution center and pick it up myself mean I’m not?
ObiQuixote wrote:
BTW a sale implies a customer, if I buy something on Amazon am I not a customer? Does the fact that I didn’t go to the distribution center and pick it up myself mean I’m not?
Yes, a sale does imply a customer - But a purchase through the bazaar interface makes that a one time purchase. An Ad truly represented as a means of building a customer base and increasing sales would bring the Customer to your physical location - I am using the "traditional" sales method as my example. Amazon and other Online companies are a "faceless" entity, and to stay true to the spirit of the game and the "Artisan" style of manufacture - The customer would have to visit the actual location, and not have it delivered.
That being said, a version of "Internet sales" could be quite interesting in game - But at this point, I believe it favors the "established" crafters over new ones - Quite simply, we long timers already have an in game customer base - For a few credits more in advertising, we can solidify an "online" market as well simply because many of us already have a stock, and already have the credits to out Advertise any newcomer.