From a customers point of view, what makes a good shop?
Edit:
Also, is a shop in a mall better, or an individual shop setup elsewhere? What are the advantages/disadvantages of both?
Price and Reliability
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Keeping inventory stocked with large quantities is biggest for me. I like to be able to make large purchases in one or two places. For the same reason, I usually go to malls then check shop scanner. There’s a better chance of finding what I need with minimal walking and let’s me shop for more than one kind of thing at a time from different people.
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Location location location!
And keeping it stocked.
And keeping it well priced.
And having it conveniently laid out.
And having it look good.
But mainly location location location!
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For me it’s being well stocked consistently .
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Have what I’m looking for at that moment 95%
Have items that you regularly stock, that I can find at your store most of the time (I won’t even price check when I find a place that I like) 5%
Well stocked, reasonable prices (doesn’t have to be the lowest if you have a lot of stock), location. I suggest going with a major mall so people can find you more easily (I run both a mall and two hubs so it’s not because I’m biased, it’s my real opinion - the hubs make me more money with WAY less work).
If you’re in a mall, put the shop number and portal connections in your beacon name. I’m about 90% more likely to try to find a shop if it has the shop number in the name (seriously)
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As somebody with a reasonable successful shop, who does a LOT of shopping himself, there are 2 key pillars towards a successful shop.
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Being well stocked. Let’s say you sell beans. Make sure you never have all your stock in your shopstand. Because when you get bought out, you want to restock asap. You do this by stocking the beans you held back, while you gather/find/buy more beans to replenish your stock.
People finding empty shopstands when visiting your shop, will hurt more than anything else. -
Easy to access. This can be done by being in a good spot in a popular mall, or (in my case) being well-connected with some of the prime hubs. Another factor for this is advertisement and a good social circle. If you do well in rule n1, you will slowly build up a loyal customer base, who will in turn, tell others about your shop.
If you have time, take a look at my shop. It’s called Suji’s Forging Ingredients (recently named the beacon Suji’s Emporium as i now also sell tools). You can find portals to it at TNT, Hunt Hive, Ghost Forest and Naughty Hunt Lodge It’s a stand-alone shop, with it’s own small portal network.
I’m very passionate about shopkeeping and i have a wealth of knowledge i’d love to share, send me a mesage on discord: Sujimichi#1688 if you have any specific questions!
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Portal access - need at least on reliable short path from a main hub- and preferably set up your own portal link for direct access to hub. I think Doom101 is good example
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This is incredibly true. I use shop scanner but I also have a mental “go-to” list.
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Advertising and easy access and having a shop or kiosk in a major area with a portal to either one. Exposure is the biggest thing to me really. You can sell cheaper stuff but now way to get there Easily but a shop 2 feet away sells it for 2-5c more I’m going to pay more. Less hassle
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Honestly I used to check 1 or 2 malls, maybe 3. Unless the prices seem crazy I would just buy.
Now I use BUTT. So now I go wherever is middle priced with high stock as long as I know how to get there. So again, this favors malls, since those spots are easier to find for me (unless I happen to know how to get there)
I regularly see shops with 14,400 of what I want for cheaper, but without knowing how to get there…
Makes me crazy sometimes. Occasionally I’ll run the 1000 meters only to learn they had a PS portal.
That’s why you should always mention a portal network in your beacon name, especially if you’re not in a mall (or if you’re in a mall, a mall shop number so people know where it is)
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I’ll go check prices and hit the ps hub and check distance. If drops below 800-900m I’ll run it. But can’t count how many times i can’t get to them by foot. It’s underground with a portal so I just say F it since (@AeneaGames I corrected myself 
) it’s more of a hassle than it should of been
I run several shops, but my two main are The Witches Brew, which opened Oct. 2018, right after launch, and I also have Forging Matters which I opened in Feb of last year. . For me what has made my shops successful is location and visibility.
Both shops are stand alone and I have always invested in portal access to major hubs and locations. In the beginning I looked at portals as billboards. I think a lot of the success is attributed to the fact they are kept stocked and they’ve been dependable.
I do not try to be the lowest prices because I don’t want to be a slave to crafting. I’m more of a dependability, big selection, quantity type of shop keeper. Also, I don’t want to completely compete with my shop keepers in the mall, because I want them to do well, also.
In iLLumiNaughty we try to help Trior shop owners still be connected to the city even if they are on the other side of the planet. In The Village we have portals for planetary shop owners, so you don’t have to be a slave to a mall.
We also have a mall and the shops there do quite well, both in FF and sales. We are getting ready to open an expansion in the next few weeks… my point is we try to be accessible and helpful to both shop keepers as well as buyers.
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Have some travel instructions in the beacon name since that’s visible in the shop scanner. The easiest places to reach are malls, as they already have good portal connections and you save coin on oort.
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Location doesnt matter. Just well placed portals. I would suggest you stay on T3 and under so new players can visit without protections.
Pricing you need to be competitive in that. Over priced goods will not sell. Also make sure you have a nice amount of what you selling. No one is going to travel all the way to your shop if you have 1 of each item.
Once you are ready to open annouce on the forums and/or on discord.
Dont follow shoppers around you shop. Looks desperate and creepy.
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Totally totally agree with the professor 
I had a big shop at my place, sales were steady but nothing fantastic. Got myself good spots at Gyosha mall (selling tools) Nova Golda (Ice and gleam) and DKs mall (metal stuff)
Now I make a killing, not only with sales but footfall too!
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