Little things a shop owner can do or not do for customer satisfaction?

Is there anything that a shop owner does that brings you in or deters you from coming back? Obviously a good price would make most annoyances worth it but I’m just wondering how to make the most pleasant shopping experience. Having freebies for new players? A well lit shop? Interesting build with a clear aesthetic? Easy to maneuver between shop stands? Any suggestions for things I should be doing or not doing would be appreciated :slight_smile:

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#1. Have what I need
#2. a reasonable price
Edit to add: #3. nearest to me

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Close to any portals coming in, and ideally have stuff within view of the portal when open from the other side if possible. Sometimes when browsing, seeing what is on the other side (or lack thereof) will sway me on going through or not.

I know for my own store, having freebies is popular. :slight_smile: Like, I give away most of my regular rocks from mining.

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Easy to get to. and find. Shop mazes suck when you just want to shop.

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Awesome, that’s easy lol. Would you mind naming some shops you like?

Dont go super cheap and never have stock. Ive found people pay a little more and come back often if you usually have stock of what they want

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I fixed that (for me) :grin:

@BlairChimp There are people such as myself who will gladly pay 30% more for an item if we can buy large chunks of it. So keep that in mind if you do anything at volume. There’s a lot of various markets to feel out.

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Good idea about the free rocks. About the portal loading, do you usually shop from shopping hubs that are mostly portals or malls? I never had a portal in someone else’s hub, I’ve just been doing malls

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I’d say focus on a few things you want to sell and stock regularly… too many shops have a little bit of “everything” but nothing in particular.

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Both - when in a mall it is much easier of course, just run around, and I try to go in stores to give footfall. :wink: But with portal hubs, especially the big ones like Ultima, because of the rubber banding and all, I’m a little more picky about going through if I’m out browsing. So if I look and see a good selection (of course, some I know well and will go through regardless, just talking about ones I’m not as familiar with or are unknowns) then I’m likely to take a closer look.

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Huh that’s good to know, I’ll keep that in mind. When I first started playing I used to price check and pick somewhere in the middle but now I just think about what I’d be willing to let the item go for and I’ve been pricing it quite a bit cheaper than average and running out of stock sooner

Ok I see what you mean I do the same thing lol when I get a shop portal i’ll keep that in mind

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I struggle with this lol. I have multiple different types of shops and it’s hard to keep all of them full to my liking

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Do’s:
The stuff you said in your post
Keep items regularly in stock and/or if it’ll be a bit before restocking, signs with info about when

Don’ts:
Putting stands more than a half block above floor level
Putting stands on walls in between block pillars making it difficult to see more than a couple at once
Putting things in the doorway (mostly a problem in malls) If I can’t see in, I’m not going in.
Wandering aisles, please make them straight. it’s just easier.
If you’re in a mall join the settlement! Waiting for every single shop to flash it’s words in my face when I enter it is irritating.

Also, a Gripe:
Think hard about glass blocks on all your shop stands. It had better be very well laid out with a lot of space for this to work out. Many times the aisles are to narrow and this just makes it a big ol mess to navigate.

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Cool! I kinda always tried to make my shop easy to walk through and an obvious walkway/flow with everything within reach so at least I got that down. A large and consistent stock seems to be the most important so i’ll focus more on that. It’s easy to get caught up in building lol

The name flashing is annoying! I’m a bit of a noob still, I didn’t even think to join the settlement to make that stop. Thank you!!

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I always try to check in the mall 1st (with the shop scanner this will be much easier).

Then I just go to portal hubs and stand in front of the portals to see if I can see what I need without having to go into the portal 1st.

There was a shop on Boori that had a good variety of items a while back - I think it’s gone now. And I used to go to Rock’n Rocks all the time because the selection was amazing - not sure if that still exists either.

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Yes, don’t put glass on top and a sign on the front of the stand. Makes it impossible to buy the item.

I’ve also come across stands that had a stack of items - those can become locked and the shopper can’t select/buy the items.

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Awesome, thanks. I’ve been struggling to find a rock shop lately. Most people seem to turn everything into stone (I assume for xp and more shop stock), but sometimes I want the raw rock. I’ll try to find the store you mentioned!

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Oh, yes. Make sure that you know what is in your item stack when you put it in. If you put a mixed stack of Iron and copper into a stand but only have a price on one of them you can’t buy either of them!

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