Merchant Archive
Thread: Cooperative Mall or Competition Mall ?
Cooperative Malls try to keep varied vendors and avoid overlapping stock, or layers the overlap by using either one master and "apprentices" filling in the catagory items or mutual agreement on stock/pricing.
Competition Malls are free-for-alls. The vendor next to yours may be selling the exact same thing as you.
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What do you feel works better for you?
What kind are you in at the moment?
Are there any merchants left in SWG that still have to pay the Mall itself to place a vendor?
Do you feel Mall Managers shouldgenerally be paid or compensated for their work?
Why are there not more "focused" malls?. Focused as for example a dozen weaponsmiths all selling in the same house. Over time the populace would seem to annoint such places as "the" place to shop for those items.
I haven't seen many malls that have overlapping vendors, but there are a few (usually PA related ones). I'd agree it does have benefits, just as the shop next door selling the same thing has benefits. So long as all parties are sensible, and don't drive prices down so much they don't make a profit. Most of my time as a tailor has been spent with other tailor shops all around, some charging more, some less. It didn't cause a real problem.
Try explaining that to someone. Especially for the less 'in-demand' sales, people refuse to believe a shop or vendor next door with the same products could ever be a good thing. They generally don't want to move into a mall that already has the same items for sale.
I think it's the business model of the future though. Players cities will be too big for the one of every profession mentality, and the successful merchant cities will attract large numbers of businesses, and likely have several malls in them. It's easier to persuade someone it might be a good thing when it comes with a shuttleport and market square.
As a tailor I wouldn't be willing to share a mall with another tailor, cause sure as shlt I'd have my fully stocked (300...400 items) vendor, with a full selection of multiple colors for almost all items, and then there'd be the goober of a tailor in the next vendor who charges just a weee bit less then me and only stocks the high volume items. The items you know will sell.
So I'd be drawning business with my selection, and the goober tailor in the next vendor would sell his cloaks/dusters/camo's/ect instead of me. I'd have my 9k robe of honor and the goober tailor would sell his instead for 8k. So I'd sell the my little belt accesssory that the goober tailor doesn't carry, and then the customer would buy the goober tailors high price item instead of mine because it's slightly less costly.
...and that's precisely what I mean about it being hard to persuade people it's a good idea, especially for items like clothes. There's too much of the thought that competition is always bad, and always means lower sales.
It sounds illogical to some extent, but it really does work. It works in the real world too. Clothes shops do much better with rival clothes shops next door. A customer will buy bits in all the shops, but the increase in volume of customers coming to shop in that area means the profit and sales go up for the individual shops. Real shops know it to be true, or they'd pick strange places where they were the only shop. Instead, it's the town centers and shopping malls that shops try to get in.
More customers/sales and a little healthy competition is much better than fewer cutomers/sales and an exclusive contract in a mall situation.
As one of the readers said, if this becomes "the" place to shop, people from all over will come and spend their money. Even from off planet. Today your neighbor might do better, tomorrow you might do better. But sales will go up for everyone.
You're talking about 'collective drawing power', where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Some things to remember:
1. It takes time to develop a 'brand name' for the mall
It might take a while to get the word out and develop consistant repeat business for the mall. But don't get discouraged if things don't move as quickly as you think they should. Everyone needs to do everything they can to let as many people know about the mall. Stick with it and keep preaching to the masses.
2. It must be "the" place to shop
For real development and growth customers MUST be able to find anything and everything they want in that one place - that means the small stuff and stupid stuff and low profit stuff also. EVERYTHING! If they can't find some small stupid thing that they were looking for they may stop somewhere else to find it and like that other place better.
Variety is king. You shouldn't have just one type/color of cloak/jacket/camo in stock, you should have FIVE types/colors or more. You can work with other similar vendors to make sure everything is available, but between all of you, you need to have all the bases covered. Perhaps you could fairlydivide product types or each of you specialize. (special orders don't count unless you don't want some specific business)
And needless to say, ALL vendors must remain stocked. If a merchant is always slacking off, it might actually be a good idea to ask them to shape up or ship out. You want quality merchants as well as quality products.
4. I said healthy competition
It's one thing if your neighbor sells an 8K item for 1K less than you. No really. That's only about 10% off. Big whoop. Like if you sell for 100cr and someone else sells for 90cr, right? They might get a few more sales, but you won't go broke with all the sales you do make.
If your neighbor is consistantly selling high ticket items for 1/3 or 1/2 the price everyone else is, it WILL kill your market in the mall, cause merchants to leave, and cause all kinds of problems. Keep the competition fair and healthy.
3. It's the mall
The main draw is NOT your vendor(s). It's the mall. Everyone has to get behind the common cause and push it. You can advertise your vendor(s), but ALWAYS include a blurb about the mall with your own.
My Vendor - quality goods at good prices
located at
The Mall "Where you can find everything under the sun(s)"
There are many other things to consider.
Placingsimilar (Tailor, Weaponsmith, Droid, whatever) vendors close to each other might not actually be a very good idea. But then who gets the the prime locations near the door or stairs or whatever?
The location of the city (whether official or unofficial) needs to be convenient, and placement of the mall within the city needs to be convenient.
The decor and setting inside the mall needs to be to be pleasing and conducive to conducting business. Easy to navigate and find vendors (somefloorplans just don't make good mall structures). You might actually want to encourage browsing rather than in-and-out quicky sales in some situations.
Customer service goes a long way in developing repeat business. Crafters and other people associated with the mall should spend their spare time there helping customers and providing information and assistance if needed.
If there are other added benefits in the building or close nearby such as healing, meetings, cantina, game parlor roleplaying, encouragingpeople to hang out, this will probably help traffic to the mall.
If you can persuade merchants and crafters to join in your vision to build an outstanding establishment, I think the benefits will be compounded by the cooperation between all the members.
progman63 wrote:
2. It must be "the" place to shop
For real development and growth customers MUST be able to find anything and everything they want in that one place - that means the small stuff and stupid stuff and low profit stuff also. EVERYTHING! If they can't find some small stupid thing that they were looking for they may stop somewhere else to find it and like that other place better.
Variety is king. You shouldn't have just one type/color of cloak/jacket/camo in stock, you should have FIVE types/colors or more. You can work with other similar vendors to make sure everything is available, but between all of you, you need to have all the bases covered. Perhaps you could fairlydivide product types or each of you specialize. (special orders don't count unless you don't want some specific business)
And needless to say, ALL vendors must remain stocked. If a merchant is always slacking off, it might actually be a good idea to ask them to shape up or ship out. You want quality merchants as well as quality products.
That's the thing, I would have a fully stocked vendor with many color combo's for each article of clothing. However, this may draw business because of the selection, butit's the black duster/cloak/pants/dresses/ect that are the staples of the clothing trade. I wouldn't be willing to put the effort into it if there was another tailor there who was selling just the staples of the clothing trade (which most do). I would be a great mall tailor I think, my vendor stays stocked (except my wookie vendor which has ate it's inventory 
) with a variety of colors, however most tailors arn't like this.
And I certainly agree, if I was a mall tailor and the armorsmith vendor next to me was always empty I'd want the mall owner to give the armorsmith the boot and to get another who puts effort into it.
progman63 wrote:
4. I said healthy competition
It's one thing if your neighbor sells an 8K item for 1K less than you. No really. That's only about 10% off. Big whoop. Like if you sell for 100cr and someone else sells for 90cr, right? They might get a few more sales, but you won't go broke with all the sales you do make.
If your neighbor is consistantly selling high ticket items for 1/3 or 1/2 the price everyone else is, it WILL kill your market in the mall, cause merchants to leave, and cause all kinds of problems. Keep the competition fair and healthy.
With the bread and butter clothing items I wouldn't accept any undercutting. 10%, 5%, anything would kill my profits. If the people are coming to the mall because of my selection, for my oddly colored clothing that nobody else carries, then they'd still buy those bread and butter articles of clothing from the other guy, just so long as he was any amount cheaper then me. My money comes from black cloaks/dusters/pants/dresses/vests, not from the huge selection that I use to draw customers.
This is all theoretical of course, but I seriously doubt if you'll ever be able to find 2 "large stock/lots of color choice" tailors for a single mall.
Now who knows, multiple droid engineers say, or armorsmiths might work, but I ventured my opinion as a tailor, and lecturing me about how 10% doesn't matter isn't going to change my mind.
It seems like the smarter way to handle the competitive environment is to have one crafter become a supplier for the other. It may not work for everyone, but it sounds like less work to split the effort and still maintain only a single vendor.
Their are some professions - tailors, armorsmiths, droid engineerscomes immediately to mind - that I believe work best in the custom-order business model, and would not seem to me to benefit much from a mall enviroment. For the rest of us:
I've tried with very little success to promote shopping malls in Coronet, Theed, and Moenia. I've also participated in a mall project in Anchorhead, again, with discouraging results. These have been tried as both competitive and exclusive malls. I think the lack of success is due to:
- Houses and lot rental being SO cheap
- Most merchants being enamored with the idea of 'hanging out a shingle' on her very own shop
- The perception on the merchant's part that his/her business would lose it's individual visibility in the mall enviroment.
- Taking a serious approach to consistently stocked vendors and business promotion is too time-intensive for the casual gamer.
I don't know that there are really any solutions to these issues. It may just be that the mall concept has limited viability in the SWG world.
If I was looking for a mallfor my clothes vendorIwould want a mall with one of each crafting class, not more then one of each.
Now it might work if one tailor did bio ware exclusively, and the other did normal clothing, but I don't think more then one normal tailor could coexist.
The reason I don't think it'd work is cause of all the tailors over the whole globe 9 out of 10 has pathetic selection and no stock. If I was malled up with another tailor who had a fully stocked vendor too I wouldn't mind a sharing (as long as they weren'tprice gougers),but I know chances are any other tailors in a mall would be just like I described, a small stock carrying only the high volume items.
Sorry but I don't want to have my effort in having a fully stocked vendor benifiting (by drawing more customers via large selection) some other tailor who can't be bothered to carry more then the staples, who would cut into my profits without really drawing any customers himself.
To me a successfull mall has the different types of crafters, not more then 1 of each (unless they specialize).
Faellyn wrote:
Their are some professions - tailors, armorsmiths, droid engineerscomes immediately to mind - that I believe work best in the custom-order business model, and would not seem to me to benefit much from a mall enviroment. For the rest of us:
I've tried with very little success to promote shopping malls in Coronet, Theed, and Moenia. I've also participated in a mall project in Anchorhead, again, with discouraging results. These have been tried as both competitive and exclusive malls. I think the lack of success is due to:
- Houses and lot rental being SO cheap
- Most merchants being enamored with the idea of 'hanging out a shingle' on her very own shop
- The perception on the merchant's part that his/her business would lose it's individual visibility in the mall enviroment.
- Taking a serious approach to consistently stocked vendors and business promotion is too time-intensive for the casual gamer.
I don't know that there are really any solutions to these issues. It may just be that the mall concept has limited viability in the SWG world.
DE custom orders for certain.
No matter what I stock or have on me, the customer always wants something else.
There are too many options, and I can't keep all 2.5 billion combinations stocked.
Anything you can color also produce highly subjective sales.
But I still keep a wide selection of popular products available for sale, and take special orders on request.
I still think it should be possible to run a successful mall in any geographic location that can provide enough traffic for adequate sales for all vendors present.
Location, of course, is key. It always is.
I had a shop between Bestine, Eisley and Anchorhead - only about 2000m in any direction. And had terrible sales. I moved the shop between Bestine and AH, and have had great sales (until the vendor bug ate ALL my stock...) - about 1500m from either city.
You wouldn't think only 500m would be that big a deal. But apparently it was. But it also looks closer on the planetary map. People are lazy.
As far as the problems you were having Faellyn, I guess it would depend on the merchants you could attract to join the mall.
There's no reason someone can't have their own shop and vendor(s) in a mall. But yes, it would require a commitment on their part. I know many merchants who even have shops on several different planets. How time intensive can that be?
I like the competition, but then I am maybe a masochist at heart 
I don't necessarily think that it should be in the same store, but definitely in the same area or city.
The player city that I am in is trying to become a major trade city on our server, and so far it has been fairly successful. There is far more demand there than any one person could supply for their profession though. In most cases, we have at least 4-5 master crafters, and a few more non-masters for each category- in some cases like Weaponsmiths, we have 8 masters. So far, this has not been detrimental to business to any large degree- most people have gotten along well, and it has helped to stabalize prices to some degree. And the traffic... sheesh, with the shuttleport in, there are a *lot* of shoppers. I think the trick in these situations is to create the demand in the area - once the demand is there, you can adjust your pricing, etc and always find a way to make money.