Tailor Archive
Thread: How do you drive business to your shop?
I do that, plus I put some of the bustiers, hot pants, and cloaks as they sell well.
Also word of mouth, sitting in cantinas and talking to people etc..
Fawe
Casual 3 is a bonanza, you get the bustiers and hot pants and cloaks.
My advice is keep massive amounts of stock online--not just the popular stuff, I can't keep dress shirts, pleated skirts, or ribbed pants in stock. Be around the shop willing to do special orders. And dump high selling items like the cloaks on the bazaar with your name on them (Cloak (black by Karai)).
I cant decide whether to go for the Casual or the Field wear line first.
Tonight I had around 3 people coming in my shop asking for cloaks and I could not make them.
Going up the casual line would get me cloaks, but the field line also has high selling items, even in the first tier box like swoop helms. So which one is more worthwhile to go up first?
I use to put cartridge belts called <Fayfe Stores -1437, -5652> on the bazaar at 3000 credits, worked well but I've had 3 of these actually sell lol. Crazy as the same belts are priced at 1000 on my vender 
Now I have 2 gloves up with my location in the two nearest cities to my shop .... on auction this time
Another idea that I played around with (and eventually discarded due to lack of interest) is in the item description for a 1000 credit ad, tell people that if they buy it then offer it to your vendor, you'll buy it back for 2000 or something. I.e., it's like a discount coupon - buy the ad, then they get free money just for visiting your vendor. A friend suggested this - thought it was a neat idea, but it didn't really work. The trust issue might be one part, as is the fact that even if you're completely trusted, there'd be some delay in the time the tailor would have to buy back the ad.
Another general thing on "ad items" - though with 25 items, I'm only able to have a *strong* "bazaar presence" in Kor Vella, I've found it useful to put ads in the other major cities on my planet. This has generated some decent traffic too.
Word of mouth is really the best thing you can get, ultimately. Hustle, and be visible, and think up things you can sell, even if you think you "can't make anything people want." The idea that you have to grind out ribbed shirts until you can make a Duster, or a Cloak, or whatever, is a crock, IMO. I'm rolling in money with just Casual II, Field II, Tailoring I, and I think a lot of it is still dividends being paid back from hustling to sell stuff at Domestic Arts III. Sure, it'll get you XP, but sitting in a closet grinding Ribbed Shirts doesn't increase your goodwill or brand awareness or build your customer base. I really think those latter things are more important than what you can make at any given time.
As for the "what path to take" question, my inclination is to do whatever lots of other people aren't. I went to Field Wear II first, but if I had it to do over, I'd probably just push Casual. I pushed to Field II on the theory that selling Reinforced Fiber Panels to Armorsmiths was a sure-fire moneymaker. For reasons I still don't quite understand, it never was for me (though now, I'm doing a brisk business selling Synthetic Cloth crates to "second wave" newbie Armorsmiths.) I also figured that with everybody constantly asking for dusters, and most tailors seeming to focus on Field Wear for that reason, the market for those would probably be saturated by the time I got there, so I started working the Casual line.
(Another tip, though - "consignment sale" of Dusters has helped me serve the "duster-obsessed" community while still doing my own thing. By keeping an eye on the bazaar, I've been able to buy dusters at 2000 or less (sometimes a lot less), and resell them on my vendor for 3000 each.)
I have to giggle at the fact that 3 times I have made an 'advertisement' item (usually a tee shirt) for 3k and every time I have sold it LOL..even the one titled "dont buy me!"
I sent an email to one person (the item was titled "Wookie Wear at neg2200 neg6000")whohad boughta hide jerkin (which takes nothing to make). I asked them why they bought it--he said he didn't care that it was 3k, cos it was the only item for wookiees that he saw and he was desperate for some clothes!!
Needless to say, that shows a gap in the market. He came over to my store and I outfitted him head to toe in two whole outfits.
oh and I would go casual over field in a heart beat....cloaks and bustiers > swoop helm sales any day
"By keeping an eye on the bazaar, I've been able to buy dusters at 2000 or less (sometimes a lot less), and resell them on my vendor for 3000 each.)"
I dunno, I just have a thing about selling items I didn't make myself. Pride I guess. It was intersting though, all the people who'd come in asking for dusters I'd tell them I couldn't make them, but would be able to soon. Then I mentioned that there was another tailor down the road who did have them in stock. Without exception *every* person who'd asked about them came back and bought from my when I could make them.
As for drumming up business, it's customer service. Your vendor is there for three reasons. First, to save your customers the 5% charge for using bank funds (so they don't have to tip). Second tokeep trackof sales. And third, and least important, to sell stock items when you're offline. Vendors should be an added value to your customers.
You should have face time with all your customers. Talk to them, make suggestions, modelfor them or if you feel comfortable let them model forthem selves (hint: /ex self).
Throw in free stuff! If they buy an outfit, toss in some shoes or gloves for free. If they order a bustier and hotpants offer a set of longuniform gloves at a discount. Little things like that go a long way at building up a customer base.
As your running through town do a SINGLE shout in each area of town giving your store address. Almost every day I do this and by the time I'm back from my harvesters I have two or three people waiting for me in my store!
Get to know the dancers in your area. Heck get to know dancers everywhere! Word of mouth will get you repeat business.
I also have done some shouts when I run through Theed, and I posted the location of my shop on my server board here. But so far that hasn't done anything. Will keep trying though.
As far as hanging out in cantinas and around my shop.. I'm in a horrible catch-22 because I have to run a lot of missions to keep my harvesters running because I am generating basically 0 sales. Here I have this nice little shop with several outfits on display.. and no sales hehe. I've even had a BF of 200 and focus wounds of 350 for 2 days now, and still have not had time to hit the cantina LOL.
Although last night was very odd. First off, I got orders out of nowhere for synthetic cloths almost as soon as I put my factory down (just got it last night). Then later on I was hanging out in my shop crafting and someone wandered in and wanted to buy the large pendant that I had handing on one of the outfits on display. I offered it to him for 300 --- he wanted to pay 1k. That complete boggled my mind! LOL
I appreciate all the ideas, keep em coming
I did get Casual Wear III last night (woot!) and now I'm working on Tailoring II then I'll finish off Casual Wear.