What can RP Market Sims Do To get Stores?

[amarock Amat]

Some of us use markets  above rp sims, and other loactions as a way of advertising and location, Often over priced in value and under exposed, what do merchants here, feel or like to see. From varoius sim markets, that would make the investment worth the effort?

[Spica Inventor]

Rental prices have to come down because few will want to take a loss for advertisement purposes. Then using up prims in markets take away from the RP sims so it's a catch 22. Of course L.L. is ultimately to blame because everything needs to support the high tier prices. ;-)

[Deja Letov]

I rent in RP sims and Ill just tell you what I look for.

1. A circular layout or one single row from landing point to the teleporter down to the sim. If you have rows and rows that people actually have to explore around to find instead of just walking by on their way to the teleporter, I won't rent there. Why? Because NOBODY actually explores a market like that. You have to catch them on their way walking by.

2. Dots on the map. If I land to check out your place and nobody is there in the middle of the day or early evening, then your traffic is probably nothing and I wouldn't bother.

3. Ability to do more than just put out some products. I want to be able to work with the sims I advertise in. I want to sponsor your events, be mentioned in your newsletters, etc. Give me more than just space.

4. I like to see what you are doing to market your rp sim. Usually calendar of events at the landing zone listing your          RP events, or club events or whatever, shows me that at least you are more than just a pretty sim for people to randomly stop by.

[Medhue Simoni]

#1 rule for me - I don't rent

I give them an affiliate vendor. This is quickly becoming the norm. They come to me, I don't goto them. If they can't deal with a vendor, tough. A vendor makes it so that both parties have an incentive to push the products.

[Polenth Yue]

My two biggest issues are:

1. Rental prices are too high. RP sims often charge more than average, and they don't provide the additional customers to make up for it. Most of the traffic at RP sims is there to RP, not shop.

2. When I click for the info notecard, the guidelines don't tell me what I need to know. My main questions are whether my products are allowed here (so a good description of what is and isn't okay to sell) and whether being a non-human is allowed in the market area. Few RP sims answer those questions.

 

...but no one seems to want to lower their rent, so it's better if they pick up affiliate vendors. Then they'll realise why people aren't renting, because the sales just aren't there.

[Sassy Romano]

One location where I have rented for quite some time recently put their prices up.  I questioned why.  The answer I was given was that it was their first increase in a year.  Ok...but the mall hasn't changed and tier hasn't changed so why?

I had an option to reduce space there and took it while pointing out their sums which took into account that 9 of the spots were now vacant and that I wasn't going to support their inability to fill the mall.

A few days later all those spots were occupied.  A month later they're all empty again.  So what does that tell us?  It shouts "free mall spot for one month" promotion that failed to keep the renters.

My message here is that it's far FAR easier to keep a customer and sell to them again than it is to find new ones, in this case I was the customer, the mall renter but instead of having sensible pricing and listening to feedback, the option taken was bullish and somewhat greedy, the result is a bigger loss.

In answer to the question then, layout is important, that has been covered, targetted traffic is important, if the traffic isn't relevant then it's of little use.

Don't keep changing the layout, that's a real pain!

If the mentality is that the mall renters are just there to pay the tier then that's a dysfunctional relationship.  If you can't treat them as a partner then it's not going to work as well as it should.

Affiliates, i'm with Medhue there too, if a mall owner with affiliates isn't incentivised to make their location work, how would they convince me that they'll do it for me when I rent?

Oh and the last one, when you have a special event, DO NOT mess with the landing point to make it convenient for your visitors to avoid them having to go through the mall.  When you've got increased traffic, it's exactly then that it should be eyes on products.

[Tiffy Vella]

Another point...I like my store to be down in the thick of it, not hanging about in some welcome area 500m above the main action. I know this doesn't suit every style of RP, of course, but it does suit the vintage themed sims I rent on.

 

 

[Talia Davidov]

Here is what I do at my sim:

*low prices (at least I think its low)

*new vendors get announced in group notice, plus monthly please buy at our vendors notice

*two weeks free

*small mall

*try to meet the needs of my customer as best can

Those last two seem to be the most important to me, well and price of course.  I do not have a large sim spanning mall, I keep it small just enough to help offset the tier a bit.  In my opinion, that makes it easier for my RPers to take a small break and wander in and shop.   The one thing I do that my vendors probably wish I would change is my landing point is not in the mall, but up the road a bit.  However, it is the nearest thing besides the main meet and greet point. 

As for as a rental customer, when looking for spots for my stores, I look at following:

*as stated before, dots.  If there are no dots on the map, then I wait to see if I see some later

*Price

*Population, will they be interested in my wares

*group spam, if I must stay in the land group to keep my rental, but the land group is overly spammy, I probably move on at the next rental date

*size of mall, once again, hug malls really don't interest me too often.  If I am one shop among dozens and dozens, then its probably not worth my money. Smaller malls are more appealing to me.

Last and not least, in deciding where to keep my stores, I look at not only how many sales I make at a location, but how many times my LM is given out.  I have one location that never sells a single item, but gives out LMs on a regular basis.  In fact, most of my satellite stores sell very little, but they do redirect people to my main store.

 

[mtwtfss71]

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Deja Letov wrote:

I rent in RP sims and Ill just tell you what I look for.

1. A circular layout or one single row from landing point to the teleporter down to the sim. If you have rows and rows that people actually have to explore around to find instead of just walking by on their way to the teleporter, I won't rent there. Why? Because NOBODY actually explores a market like that. You have to catch them on their way walking by.

2. Dots on the map. If I land to check out your place and nobody is there in the middle of the day or early evening, then your traffic is probably nothing and I wouldn't bother.

3. Ability to do more than just put out some products. I want to be able to work with the sims I advertise in. I want to sponsor your events, be mentioned in your newsletters, etc. Give me more than just space.

4. I like to see what you are doing to market your rp sim. Usually calendar of events at the landing zone listing your          RP events, or club events or whatever, shows me that at least you are more than just a pretty sim for people to randomly stop by.

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This. I want a partnership from where I rent. If you work for me, I'll do the same for you and put some of my advertising budget towards my satelite store on your sim. I'll sponsor events. You'll get access to my customers as far as event notices, etc. I don't just want to be renter 14 of 30. We need each other.

[Thaddeus Nadeau]

I have appreciated reading all of the comments posted on here thus far.  I've been visiting various RP sims lately to find one or two locations for small outlets for my own store.  What I noticed often was the high price to rent for a smaller number of prims; in furnishing, I like to have items out so people can test them and see how they look inworld, not just in a picture.  I could have them tp to my store, but I know what often happens is people will keep checking out the stores there on that sim and maybe come back.  So, anyway, in order to display more than a few items, it becomes necessary to require more prims; thus pay more rent.  Not that I mind paying rent.  I understand the purpose; I operate my own small shopping area with some other shopkeepers so I understand the need to pay tier. 

So, what I have been looking for so far are places that 1. my items fit the theme; 2. seem to have an active community; 3. appears to be updated (this is a big area for me).  I have seen some places that are now mostly vacant and their builds have not been updated in a while.  It may be personal taste, or that their emphasis is more on the RP than the builds themselves, but, to me, the builds are an essential component as those are what people see before even seeing our merchandise inside.

[Spica Inventor]

R.P. sims will often times charge high rents thinking that that will yield them only the best products by the best and most successful builders out there (who are able to charge high prices for their products to support the costs of rental) and thusly increase their traffic to everyones benefit. An indicator to the success of that method would be if their market is filling up with tenants, otherwise that strategy is certainly being counterproductive for them as lots of empty market stalls has the effect of causing peeple to think there is something wrong with the sim and therefore less likely to even give it a look. Again it comes down to investment and the fact that you have to spend time and money to make money when there is competition as an influencing aggregate.