The Shopping Malls : are they getting it right?

[Pennsif]

I have just made my third visit to the new Shopping Malls to see how they are progressing.

I hopped round to each of the three malls on Saturday night and again on Sunday morning to get a more time-balanced view.

The malls are beginning to look good - especially Twin Peaks which now seems to be fully operational. The use of the signs on most of the shops helps a lot.


Apart from the everpresent lag (and rubberbanding) there are still a couple of issues for the Malls.


Firstly the 'footfall' (ie number of visitors to the malls) is still very low. The most I saw was 5 people in any mall at any time. This was Twin Peaks.

On both my visits Port Atlantis had three, and Emerald Lakes only one.

Maybe the Mall owners could copy IRL Malls and hold free events in the Mall to attract customers in. Perhaps they could team up with hair and beauty skillers to offer free/subsidised treatments for anyone making a purchase in a shop of over say 20 peds (not sure of the mechanics of how this would work though).

In my local IRL shopping centre they organise clowns, santa's grottos and street theatre to attract customers in. Are there any street theatre troupes in Entropia yet?


The other (big) issue for the Malls are the prices in the shops. There is a common perception that goods in shops are always more expensive than on auction. Unfortunately a quick round of pricechecking does suggest that this is true.

Of course shopowners are free to charge whatever they want but while the auction exists the shops are always going to come off secondbest if their goods are more expensive than the buyout prices on auction.

Checking on a small sample basket of goods (Blaus ingots, Nexus, FAP 50, EWE EP-35 Serenity etc) this seemed always the case.

This is the classic problem for a shopowner - is it better to sell a few items with a high margin or many items with a smaller profit margin.

I haven't run a shop in Entropia so I make no claim to know all the ins and outs but I would suggest that at this stage the shopowners in the malls really need to keep their margins as small as possible to get the customers through the door and build a reputation for being economical places to shop.


Happy Shopping!

Pennsif

 

[Dunn]

The general sentiment amoung shopowners seam to be that if they want to sell stuff cheap, they can do that in the auction. So most tend to have higher prices then auction. And that in turn tells the buyers. If i want something cheap i can get it in auction, (no running around)...

So thats why i dont bother with buying stuff from most stores. and if i know the owner, witch i always do
I get the item in a private trade. no need for the tax


But slithers and spod stores are really nice and got items cheaper than what you can get in auction

 

[demoniac]

Having seen the effort put in by the shopkeepers and mall owners I hate to make negative comments but it does seem like the whole thing is unnecessary.
It's hard for shopkeepers to get much competitive edge over the auction and the added inconvenience of having to look through shops means they really have their work cut out to attract a good flow of customers.

It's nice to see a large variety laid out in one place (in the case of something like clothes for instance) but apart from that I can't see any advantage atm - from a shopper's point of view anyway. I'm lazy by nature though and don't visit shops much IRL - most things can be bought cheaper and more conventiently online nowadays.

Part of me hopes that the situation with the malls will improve with new features from MA and initiatives from those operating them. I'd like to see lots of satisified customers and shop owners even if I don't choose to be part of it. Another part of me wishes they would just bulldoze them and plant some trees before MA feels the need to further nerf other areas of trade in order to make the malls successful.

 

[Goblixie]

I tend to agree with Demoniac. Those new malls have taken alot of value from other previous shopping areas. Alot of people I know used to go to CND to shop as that was considered one of the better places to do it. Now I hardly know anyone that does. The apartments on CND have lost value but most of all I feel sorry for the pilots who have paid a fortune for their crafts and I should imagine have lost business which was never that great to start with.

I really think MA need to start thinking, if they have not already, about how to give CND more options and to make it fun to go to. I only went once and I must be honest besides for the rumours of good mining, it was sooooo boring.
It needs something different that other places don´t have.

Maybe even start a new career which can only be done there. Or arcade games or whatever interesting idea comes up that will attract people.

I have never been to Crystal Palace and have no urge to go as I cant imagine what could be there that could be any different to here or CND.
Someone was selling a spaceship and I asked the price out of curiosity. He told me 70 000 Ped. I was shocked, after being to CND. How could anyone justify that amount of money and the places have no real value.

Maybe I am wrong maybe they do make money.

 

[Macce]

The other (big) issue for the Malls are the prices in the shops. There is a common perception that goods in shops are always more expensive than on auction. Unfortunately a quick round of pricechecking does suggest that this is true.

What is the problem? dont u use auction to make a bargain? do you go to auction to buy a the cheapest possible 1 ltr of milk each day? i dont think so, but your milk producer does that for you and put it in a nice package and smaller quantitys for you to buy in your LOCAL store..

The general sentiment amoung shopowners seam to be that if they want to sell stuff cheap, they can do that in the auction.

No... we can sell it for more profit in auction, but we run shops for fun..mostly, lol

Remember , the stores provides a service for ppl who cant wait 7days in auction and then at last be overbid in the last five mins anyway.

/Macce

 

[Xantonia]

There are promotions planned.

My shop has cheap stuff in it. It is designed that way as I am catering for the new influx of people. My shop is on PA 3rd floor. I have a sign and I've called the shop Beginner's luck.

Just to remind people there are some significant costs for the owners of these shops.

Initial outlay
Monthly fee
Tax (gets added on top of the retail price you set).

So for me selling pixie parts at +1 PED (can't do it any lower there is a game restriction), will never ever make me money.

I look at it with a longer term view. I'm providing a service to keep newer people in the game for longer. If they can get low end armour and other misc items from me easily and at a reasonable price they may hang around longer.

It would be nice if an ordering system could be implemented by MA though to help. It's only by chance that I've been re-stocking my shop and someone has asked for a particular item. I was then able to check storage to see if I had it.

Yes something needs to be done to help promote them and make them work.

Maybe we could organise TP runs for New players to Emerald Lakes.

Find a specific item in a shop etc.

As mentioned earlier there are some planned and I expect we will start to see them soon.

Xany

 

[Etopia]

The malls are beginning to look good - especially Twin Peaks which now seems to be fully operational. The use of the signs on most of the shops helps a lot.

Keep in mind its first time for most shop owner they got a shop , mean only the experianced know importance about shop organisation.
Try in 1 month again , and i guess you will notice a lot of general improvement

Apart from the everpresent lag (and rubberbanding) there are still a couple of issues for the Malls.

Its not lag.I dont experiance any lag in the mall , but i do experiance a heavy rubberbanding due to phisic engine.Seems the phisic engine on server can not handel more than 3 player per Km² , its just dumb ...

Firstly the 'footfall' (ie number of visitors to the malls) is still very low. The most I saw was 5 people in any mall at any time. This was Twin Peaks.

You was very unlucky imho.There is often more people than that in my shop
But i do agrea last week was kinda empty.Fault aint to mall or shopowner but to MA.Loot are shit , craft is shit and mining is shit since 2 week.My FL that is full of harcore player is all read , i barely got more than 5 people loggued when usual its over 20.
Its not the mall that are desertic but the whole game...

Maybe the Mall owners could copy IRL Malls and hold free events in the Mall to attract customers in. Perhaps they could team up with hair and beauty skillers to offer free/subsidised treatments for anyone making a purchase in a shop of over say 20 peds (not sure of the mechanics of how this would work though).

That kind of things are on way.Let us a bit of time.
I have spoke with neomawen and gave him som idea.There also a private forum for shopowner to speak about event.And there will be more option in the site.
Things get better , like i said wait 1 more month

The other (big) issue for the Malls are the prices in the shops. There is a common perception that goods in shops are always more expensive than on auction. Unfortunately a quick round of pricechecking does suggest that this is true.

Of course shopowners are free to charge whatever they want but while the auction exists the shops are always going to come off secondbest if their goods are more expensive than the buyout prices on auction.

I total agrea you , but in other hand , i have see many resseller buying stuff in shop and go ressell outside.
So left only the item that are a bit pricy.
Also , som shop owner keep using insane price price..
Do like me , if after som time their price still high dont even bother go there.Month fee and shop cost will puch them to take action(reduce price , sell shop ...).
If its to expensive , dont buy.
Checking on a small sample basket of goods (Blaus ingots, Nexus, FAP 50, EWE EP-35 Serenity etc) this seemed always the case.

This is the classic problem for a shopowner - is it better to sell a few items with a high margin or many items with a smaller profit margin.

I haven't run a shop in Entropia so I make no claim to know all the ins and outs but I would suggest that at this stage the shopowners in the malls really need to keep their margins as small as possible to get the customers through the door and build a reputation for being economical places to shop.

It depend on the item type.
I wont sell 10 coat at the same person.so i have a "high" margin on it.If i was selling ingot , i would have a very small margin on it.
My margin depend on item type , lower on consumable than on usuable.And highter on high end than on low end.
You can not say the margin should be 5% for evrything.
It depend on lot of thing.I do sell som item that i lose money on.But i dont carre , selling that item will bring me customer and i will sell something else with.

 

[spod]

quick note : just because you see 5 people,, doesn't mean there are only 5 poeple there

1 person in each shop = 36 people, and unless you are in the shop when they are, you will not see them.

I think it is up to the shop owners(and mall owners) now to generate business.


The original shops showed that people would shop in shops as opposed to the auction.

Now teh shop owners must use teh advantage they have over acution (prices (lower sales tax), visibility of items etc) to compete with auction.

Shope owners are running a business, and like any business you need a USP (unique selling point), if you dont have a USP, then you have to compete on price.

Because finding a USP is hard , where there are a limited number of items, and that they are in effect identical (a jester is a jester the world over), shop owners will have to compete on price, or they will do very little business.

I think that shop owners will realise this over teh coming weeks. The initial enthusiasm and extra business generated by the "newness" of teh malls will wear off.

Shops will then have to work to attract business. And right now this is most likly done through price drop. Price drop will be a shock to many people(sellers) who have been used to ever increasing prices. But when the have to pay rent of 140ped per month just to stay open, they will soon realsie that they have to do something or close the store.

 

[Jimmy B]

Firstly a lot of the performance issues are quite possibly related to your own PC set-up. I just upgraded my PC to 1GB RAM (MA list this as part of the Recommended System Requirement for EU) and 'lag' in the malls was significantly reduced to pretty minimal. I'd imagine more memory would eradicate it completely but like I say, for me with 1 GB its not a problem really.

Secondly, Twin has been pretty busy whenever I've popped in. I'd say its looking pretty successful so far...

Thirdly, I've been buying all my crafted L guns from shops. I've bought Breers and Svempas from photon's, slither's, pirro's all at prices under auction price, and I mean under peauction price even (a shop selling stuff over peauction price but under auction buyout price is still offering worthwhile decent deal imo).

I think we may see more of shops being used to sell the more valuable items, that may sell slowly on auction as only a few people will be in the market for them. With the 7 day limit on auction, that can get a bit painful if you're trying to get a certain price whereas in a shop you can just leave it there for as long as you want...

 

[Mags]

I have my shop in Twin Peaks Mall, and so far I am very happy with the sales.

I have started putting my tailoring materials and enmatter finds in the shop at auction prices.

Also have a look at:
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=616510#post616510

If the community knows they can buy certain items in a specific shop at a good price they will always come back.

CUSTOMER = KING

Mags
Twin Peaks Mall
level 3 shop 12

 

[Pennsif]

The Shopping Malls : my first purchase

I've been into the Twin Peaks Mall again. Many more visitors than before.

Checked out prices a bit more and found a few bargains.

I have now made my first Mall purchase - a Breer M2a from Vixen's shop (112.6%).


Good to see Akoz's Haircut promotion on Sunday in Twin Peaks Mall :

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52359


Pennsif