Merchant Archive

i have a shop and im going to disband for some merchant tents in a player city. what do u all think of merchant tents? are they working out for u?

i still prefer a house to the tents. the house allows you to personalize the shop. add lots of eye candy to create an atmmosphere. plus if you are opening a shopping center in a PC city it gives a few of the players an opportunity to work together and bounce ideas off each other and create a very nice store.

tents are just so impersonal. houses, definitely.

I keep my vendors in malls.. so i guess a house. I know tents are more obvious merchant buildings, but they're nothing against an already popular location.

I have a shop with two vendors in my guild's city on Tatooine, and I am putting two vendors in our sister city's mall on Corellia, but I am aching to set up a tent in a true, tent marketplace somewhere too. I like the variety we merchants have now for selling and displaying our wares. I'm eager to take on the challenge of making an inviting "Shop" inside the confines and limits of a mere tent.

I don't see much sense in having a tent within the same vicinity of one's shop unless it's a branch outlet or subsidiary vendor to one's main merchandise line, but I also have yet to see anyone have a tent city for merchants. Is it just too soon for something like that to have had time to grow or are there not enough merchants with Efficiency IV to create a tent city marketplace?

The main thing stopping our city use tents is the enourmous 3x3 square size (the tent only needs one square). We wanted to make a real market place, and have them close together. Unfortunately, that's not possible.

Being a tailor the tents are totally worthless. But I do use one for my vehicle vendor. It would be ideal if they designed a huge vendor tent the size of a medium house to display our items. The larger tent would then still signify a high level merchant and would be immediately recognizable.

I have three shops... two for the power company in my own PA (built on the power company) and in a mall. I also have a fish & tackle shoppe in a tent beachside. I find the tents nice for that and nice forsome other services that don't require display area. One city on naboo has a nice gathering of six merchant tents stocked with 2-4 vendors each broken up by type of merchandise. It works very nicely for them.. and i enjoy using their vendors.

I would really like to know the true value of displaying items. I've never really found it all that important for sales. I've sold just about every type of item in the game and successfully without a single display model. I had a wall of weapons once but they were all personal weapons (and very old) that weren't for sale. I've sold it all including having a fairly successful Tailor Vendor (short lived only because the Tailor decided she could take the time to keep me in stock not because we didn't sell we sold everything she ever gave me to put in that vendor and not a single item was ever displayed in the store.)

When I go into a store that has clothing displayed everywhere I really never bother to look at it except as a "ooh..and ahhhh" kinda thing. I go to the vendor and see what is for sale.

Do you depend on the display to generate special orders?

I'm not against the practice mind you. My experience is that it isn't necessary to be successful.

I find displaying clothing is very helpful with in store custom orders. They can let me know what style of jacketthey are interested in and in what color. I have over 400 items on my vendor so it way to time consuming for people to open each sale to examine what it looks like. I also display common outfits that sell well together.

I dont display in my shop (armorsmith and misc items) I cant afford it, everything sells either way. I can see why a tailor needs to display though. I would go crazy doing a custom order as a tailor having to keep making differnt jackets till they find the one they want.

I'd like both really. I like merchant tents because they are small, only cost 1 lot, so I can use them to branch out. However, I WOULD like a shop that looks like a shop. I WOULD like a display window. I would better signage.

Tailor displayshelp show the customer a sense of the tailor's style and creativity, as well as lets the customer see some clothing items for the first time, or ones they've never heard of. Many customers have no idea what is available, or in what colors or how to put an outfit together. Some want to look like everyone else. But many want an outfit they've never seen on anyone else. I have many customers that come in, point to a display and want an exact copy of it custom made. Or they view the displays and then go to the vendor and buy all those pieces.

Fashion displaysallow the Tailor to show ensembles that are different combinations of clothes put together in surprising ways or colors. You just can't show an entirely accessorized ensemble on a vendor. People want ideas. People want help putting together a unique look.

We can create a fad in less than a day with a new and original display in a shop. Creative use of colors, combos and accessories can make a Tailor's word of mouth business bust out overnight. Tasteful, creative displays in a wide range of colors, styles, and functions all facilitate brisker vendor sales as well as an increase in custom orders.

Add personal customer service, a cozy shop atmosphere, lively, unique styles on display, and you have a happy customer walking out of your shop. And a happy and wealthy tailor.