Merchant Archive
Thread: Launching a New Business Venture
So I'm through the management line, and halfway through advertising. All my vendors are in my PA hall advertising my low low spice prices. Soon I'll be through slicing 4 (hopefully, need lots and lots of WUK's dammit) and spicing 4 (shouldn't take much longer). By then I'll have mastered merchant (and eventually will drop master and the hiring line, they ain't gotta look pretty just be there and sell stuff).
After that I'm going to launch a series of six shops placed strategically throughout the galaxy in various player towns, outside of major cities, and one in my home town of Agrilatia.
What I need is advice on getting this up and running on a paying basis. I'm going to be selling smuggling supplies, as well as low quality slicing and spicing resources (there's currently no experimentation for either) and whatever else the artisans in my guild want sold. Other than advertising on the global map (hellz ya I'm keeping the advertising line!) and in my sig here on the boards, what else can I do to get this business up and running? How much start up capital should I have? Any other random advice?
Thanks for your help.
With one vendor in each location, be very selective on what you stock. You can stock 50 crates each of WUK's, AUK's, Molecular Clamps, Neutron Pixie and Muon Gold at each vendor (5 items), but if you have 100 different items at each vendor, lazy customers stop looking, and casual shoppers won't support a going concern. In fact, I'd suggest that for 5 different items, you stock no more than 20 each so that they all show up in the first page.
If you're going to stick to these types of items, keep your supply pipeline full. For some reason, smugglers (at least on Bloodfin) stock up on gear in large quantities. You may go 4 or 5 days without selling a crate of Clamps, and then within 3 hours sell them out. You need to have supply ready to be stocked in this case, because nothing kills a vendor faster than someone coming to it and finding it empty. They rarely come back.
As far as startup capital, I don't know the economy on Intrepid. My best reccomendation for these types of items (no stat variation, assuming your smuggler tools are all 96% or better), is to pick a profit percentage and stick with it. For the items you're making, you should easily be able to handle your own harvesting. This keeps your costs flat, and thus you can always offer gear at consistent prices.
That's the secret of the category killer - always stocked, consistent quality, consistent prices. These three things build repeat business fast and keep it.
Advertising? Consistent naming on the vendors for the planetary map, and a barking macro for anytime you're in a populated area. (I had 2 set up, one that ran a simple, 5 minute repetition, and a second that called the first for 2 hours I used while AFK.)
I hope this helps.
Good Luck.
well, the obvious of having a name and being recognized... advertise the fact heavily you have 6 vendors (though i'd start smaller at first and branch out slowly as you get used to it)
Get a good siggy and spam the crap out of the trade boards (but not too much).. try to keep you ad in the first three pages for the majority of the day. Keep adverting on the trade boards so people 'recognize' the name
Sell all 25 lots you have on the bazaar with custom named items advertising your store in the description..
For each item sold.. cut and paste a listing of all your shops into the description.. every single one... this is more advertising and information for somebody browsing your vendor, but they've got to see it.
Alternatively, on your vendor, sell a 'backpack' that you rename in a color like red, with the same information and waypoint locations, it stands out but you only need to set this up once.. but somebody potentially could buy your advertising backpack, so price it high,,, and even then some people will buy it (i did this till i had someone buying my advert items just so it wouldn't be listed anymore *yay for stalkers*)
You'll burn out if you try to open and run six shops all at once. Start with two and expand later, or get other merchants to run more locations. If you do six by yourself you won't have time to do anything but run back and forth to restock everything all day and you probably won't be able to keep every item on every vendor.
Most people would probably rather travel to one well-stocked shop than have to hop between several different ones.
LLJK_Griz wrote:
You'll burn out if you try to open and run six shops all at once. Start with two and expand later, or get other merchants to run more locations. If you do six by yourself you won't have time to do anything but run back and forth to restock everything all day and you probably won't be able to keep every item on every vendor.
Most people would probably rather travel to one well-stocked shop than have to hop between several different ones.
I was just thinking about what people have said, and I do notice a real increase in business since I got the Adv3. Especially when it says "Tailor Surplus" people come from all over to get the crates of cloth etc.
Of course this only works on the planet I'm on, so if you only want to worry about 2 locations, and still attractoffworld customers, put a second tent down offworld. Gget people's attention and have a constant supply (get them hooked in other words), then let people know that your removing the tent in advance.Give them the location of your main shop on your signs before you move.Then move your 'secondary' shop to another world to get more business. Rinse and repeat.
Basically it is advertising and getting people hooked on your product and then getting them to go back to your main store (maybe sell slightly cheaper from home to already encourage them to travel there).
Some people may not want to travel, others will, the benefit to the rotating secondary store is you aren't trying to keep 6 vendors fully stocked, and you are still attracting offworld business through advertising (planet map registration).
You would need to keep the secondary store up for a length of time at each location....but it would work in the long term.
All of these warnings have given me something to think about but then, I am bullheaded and want to try all six stores. Maybe not ALL at once but ramp up to them over about a month or so.
Any more advice about attracting customers?