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List of forums -> Questions and answers. Help. -> How Many Customers Can I Have? (Also titled: Crap, I just over did it with the advertising again)

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Topic:

Topic created : 10.04.2014, 20:47

Last time edited : 12.04.2014, 17:52

G_Money33
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Background understanding:
 
Number of customers is determined by basic attendance and store popularity.
-Basic attendance is determined by store size and store location within the city. Overall city population may play into this as well.
-Store Popularity Index (actual attendance above basic attendance) is increased by advertising.
 
Store Service Level – Impacts customer attitudes and is more important for wealthy customers. Service level depends on the number of customers vs. total store size (less customers per square meter the better), the number of store departments (less is better), quantity and qualification of employees (higher the better), wealth level of the section of the city (higher wealth makes it harder to maintain service level) and store efficiency (100% of course).
 
Therefore, large advertising can draw so many customers that service level drops and therefore the extra advertising ends up having negative impacts. So advertising is good only up to a point.
 
My Question:
 
If my understanding above is correct (and based on posts below), the ingredients that go into store service level are:
# of customers
# of store square meters
# of store departments
# of employees
qualification level of employees
wealth level the section of the city the store is in (for example, in the Snob Area)
type of goods sold
market competition
 

So, let’s say for example I have commerce qualification level 10 and that allows me to have 100 employees at 7.79 qualification and still be able to maintain 100% store efficiency. Let’s also say I have a 10,000 sq m store, 1 store department and city wealth level 5. Is there a way to determine the maximum customers I can have in the store and still maintain an elite service level with 100 employees qualification 7.79 store size 10,000 with 1 dept in city with wealth level 5?
 
Does any have advice on how to approach this or a rule of thumb?
 
Thanks in advance,
G
Ridiculously
 

THE ANSWER (thanks to all who contributed and special thanks to master retailer XiozZe)
 
Concepts regarding Elite Quality of Service
 
Efficiency
For an Elite service level, you need a staff, office and top manager efficiency of 100%, less than 100% reduces the service level.
 
Quality of Service
Quality of service your customers want
Determined by:
•  Store size
•  District
•  Type of department (i.e. Motor goods vs Foodstuff)
•  Number of departments
•  Wealth level
These have not all been empirically confirmed
 
Quality of service your customers get
 
Determined by:
•  Number of Store Employees
•  Qualification of Store Employees
•  Number of Customers (Customer Cap)
 
To maximize quality of service possible, the amount of employees required and employee qualification should be as high as the top manager allows it to be.  See attached Qualification threads under FAQ for help in this area.
 
Customer Cap
Each store has a certain maximum amount of customers it can handle. For a 100,000 sq.m. store Fashionable district  with three departments, the customer cap is approximately 150,000 customers. Above that, the service level will never, ever be Elite. A larger amount of departments decrease the customer cap, and an increase in store size will increase it.
 
Fashionable District
To be known in the future and forevermore, as Snob Area  I roll!
   

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11.04.2014, 09:33

Xeonos
Two years with Virtonomics
Two years with Virtonomics
 
I don't think the info you want will be accurate, seeing how market competition is an important factor.
And this factor is very hard to judge, so your best bet would be to find stores with same properties as yours. 
 

11.04.2014, 10:42

Last time edited : 11.04.2014, 10:44

Vipero
Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination Nation's Health Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination "Knowledge is power!" Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination The Standard of Virtonomics
 
sorry, I've no answer for you, but I must say: great post! Very clearly stated, which will answer a lot of questions from beginners. Thanks!
 
Btw, I might add a question: does this account also for restaurants? I still can't figure out how this really works. I had one restaurant with an attendance of 1000 which now fell back to 500. No changes on market, price, q or what so ever. Only max popularity seemed reached (in accordance to ads) 
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11.04.2014, 11:38

orbiter
Seven years with Virtonomics Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination Nation's Health Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination The Standard of Virtonomics
Seven years with Virtonomics Winner of the Leaders Contest in the nomination Tender mania Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination "Knowledge is power!" Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination Consumer Goods Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination The Standard of Virtonomics
 
G_Money33
My Question:
 
If my understanding above is correct, the ingredients that go into store service level are:
# of customers
# of store square meters
# of store departments
# of employees
qualification level of employees
wealth level of city

The ingredients are:
* Number of customers given a fixed store area.
* Number of employees
* Qualification of employees
* Number of store departments
* Wealth level of the area of the city
* Type of goods sold
 
I believe there are others but I have not confirmed them.
 
G_Money33
I’m hoping someone has a chart, formula or at a minimum a rule of thumb.

Don't look for formulas.They ruin the fun in Virtonomics. 
 

11.04.2014, 14:03

Mike1
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orbiter

 
Don't look for formulas.They ruin the fun in Virtonomics.

disagreed! Nobody runs a business without performance indicators of his sales. Even this is a game, its about economics and it shouldn't mean things need to be "unprofessionalized" for whatever reason. In my view the lack of such (and other) indicators drag down seriousness and realism of the game.
 
G_Money33, its not allowed to post formulas about the game in the forum, lets not set up a trap for someone trying to help out (it happened before...) ! 
 

11.04.2014, 14:15

Rogue_Cat
Four years with Virtonomics Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination "Knowledge is power!" Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination Consumer Goods Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination The Standard of Virtonomics
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m:
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It varies depending on the city population. In smaller cities the ad campaigns work better (number of contacts) and attract a larger part of the city population, while larger cities might require more spending in ads. Once the number of visitors reaches X number, the store might begin to suffer due to the lack of room.
 
As for the 100 workers thing, it depends more on the area where the store is located, rather than the city wealth. Examples with a couple of my stores:
 
-I have a large store (100.000sqm) in snob area in Izmir that requires ~87 workers, it has 300 workers at skill 8.00, with 13.209 visitors per week. (Popularity is 332.78, but it will be different for each store based on the city population.)
 
-Another one in Madrid (100.000sqm) in residential area, requires ~300 workers, has 500 at 8.73, (popularity 387.71) and 88.330 visitors.
 
Snob area usually requires more and/or better workers per visitor, while residential requires a lot less. (Snob>Center>Residential>outskirts>suburbs) 
 

11.04.2014, 21:52

Last time edited : 11.04.2014, 21:54

G_Money33
History teacher Buriti palm Watering can Production: bachelor Snow Leopard Nine years with Virtonomics For contribution to the development of Virtonomics Merchant coat
Pupmkin Mask Pupmkin Mask Pupmkin Mask Vampire Mask World Cuisines, IV-Vi places Mayor Mayor Mayor
Mayor Princely mansion Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination "Knowledge is power!" Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination The Standard of Virtonomics Forest tycoon Miner Helmet
Nine years with Virtonomics
l:
Consolidated Transnational Corp (CTC)
m:
G_Money33 Ltd.
 
Xeonos
market competition is an important factor

Thanks, I’ll add that to the initial posting
 
Vipero
great post!  

Why thank you!Well  
 
orbiter
ingredients … Wealth level of the area of the city, Type of goods sold

Will adjust for those in initial post, thanks.
 
Mike1
it’s not allowed to post formulas

Did not know that!  Will adjust posting.  Still ok to look for charts and rule of thumb I wonder?To you  
 
Rogue_Cat
(Snob>Center>Residential>outskirts>suburbs)

Effective immediately, I am now calling Fashionable District: Snob Area!!I roll!  
 

 

Best,
G
Ridiculously 
 

11.04.2014, 23:54

orbiter
Seven years with Virtonomics Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination Nation's Health Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination The Standard of Virtonomics
Seven years with Virtonomics Winner of the Leaders Contest in the nomination Tender mania Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination "Knowledge is power!" Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination Consumer Goods Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination The Standard of Virtonomics
 
I believe it is ok to post graphs and constants.
Formulas are prohibited.
 
Mike1
disagreed! Nobody runs a business without performance indicators of his sales. Even this is a game, its about economics and it shouldn't mean things need to be "unprofessionalized" for whatever reason. In my view the lack of such (and other) indicators drag down seriousness and realism of the game.

Agreed. Thanks for your contribution. Well
 
Mike1
...lets not set up a trap for someone trying to help out (it happened before...) !
Are you referring to the dispute over the correct qualification growth algorithm? 
 

12.04.2014, 01:02

XiozZe
For contribution to the development of Virtonomics Seven years with Virtonomics
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Hmmmm.... Xio's research time.
 
There are three factors that reduce service level, all of them have to be satisfied before you can achieve Elite. Here they are:
 
Efficiency
This one is the most obvious. For an Elite service level, you need a staff, office and top manager efficiency of 100%. Less than 100% reduces the service level.
 
Quality of the service
The more common reason the service level is below Elite. Your customers want a certain quality of service, based on the district, amount of customers, store size, etc... The quality is determined by the amount and skill of the employees. For both factors: higher is better. (i.e. higher skill / higher amount) Not many people now this, but for the maximum quality of service possible, the amount of employees is required and the skill is as high as the top manager allows it to be. The quality you need for Elite is hidden and can only be found through trial and error.
 
Customer cap
While this one is new for the most of you, each store has a certain maximum amount of customers it can handle. For a 100,000 sq.m. store Fashionable district (preferred above snob) with three departments, the customer cap is approximately 150,000 customers. Above that, the service level will never, ever be Elite. The more you exceed it, the lower your service level gets and the quality of the service, and so the amount of employee and the skill, cannot do anything about that. To find the maximum, use trial and error with the advertising. When you get over it, you will get this message: Very high, Customers suppose that your store assistants are among the best in this city and enjoy consulting with them. A larger amount of departments decrease the customer cap, and an increase in store size will increase it. I haven't searched for the relation between customer cap and district (yet).  
 
And that's the whole story 
 

12.04.2014, 02:55

G_Money33
History teacher Buriti palm Watering can Production: bachelor Snow Leopard Nine years with Virtonomics For contribution to the development of Virtonomics Merchant coat
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Nine years with Virtonomics
l:
Consolidated Transnational Corp (CTC)
m:
G_Money33 Ltd.
 
XiozZe
There are three factors that reduce service level ..

Very nice XiozZe!  
 
1)You took number of customers, store size, store departments and combined them into a concept we had not known: Customer Cap
2)And you took number of employees and qualification of employees and introduced them into another concept we had not known: They need to be kept as high as top manager qualification allows them to be.
3)And by following #2 and keeping office at 100%, we have 100% store efficiency.  We knew that one ;)
 
However, that leaves wealth level out of the equation.
 
Wiki-help
the higher wealth level is, the harder it is to maintain 100% staff efficiency and good service

Maybe that's why there are some thoughts that the section of the city matters (because they have different wealth levels).
 
Any thought on impact of wealth level on ability to maintain elite service level?
 
Also, type of goods sold (low vs. high quality I’m guessing) and market competition were brought up as potential factors.  I'm wondering, can we rule these out as factors? 
 

12.04.2014, 12:04

XiozZe
For contribution to the development of Virtonomics Seven years with Virtonomics
m:
Oxellic
 
Wiki-help
the higher wealth level is, the harder it is to maintain 100% staff efficiency and good service

A higher wealth will increase the minimum skill your employees need to have would be an explanation for the fact it's 'harder' to maintain 100% staff efficiency.
 
Now, if I may quote myself:
 
XiozZe
Your customers want a certain quality of service, based on the district, amount of customers, store size, etc...

That was pretty vague, and I don't know for sure which factors influence these, and neither do I know how much.
But I guess these do:

  • Store size
  • District
  • Type of department (i.e. Motor goods vs Foodstuff)
  • Number of departments
  • Wealth level
  • (I believe I have them all?)

Note: this a list with factors that determine which quality of service your customers want, employees amount and skill are not in this list, because they determine the quality of service your customers get.
 
They all have to be tested how much they influence the required service level for elite. 
 

12.04.2014, 14:05

Wonson
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G_Money_33
Maybe that's why ... (because they have different wealth levels).

And what is the relation between wealth level of districts in one city? Is there a hidden Gini coefficient that varies in different countries based on level of democracy, socialism, despotism ... ? 
 

12.04.2014, 16:24

G_Money33
History teacher Buriti palm Watering can Production: bachelor Snow Leopard Nine years with Virtonomics For contribution to the development of Virtonomics Merchant coat
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XiozZe
Now, if I may quote myself

Basically telling me in a nice way that you already told me the answer Very we!  But thanks for the further clarifications.
 

 
I modified the original post to provide the answer to the question up top.  
 
Please post comments to clarify or correct and I will edit them in.
 
G
Ridiculously 
 

13.04.2014, 01:32

Rogue_Cat
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Wonson
And what is the relation between wealth level of districts in one city? Is there a hidden Gini coefficient that varies in different countries based on level of democracy, socialism, despotism ... ?

Each area has different costs, and those apply to store prices aswell. You can take the stores' rent per sqm as reference, but it's basically the same scale that we said about the worker requirements per area. (Snob area > City center > residential...) Customers in each area have proportional wealth to the costs in that given area. As for the rest, the wages and market price of each item define their prices. Higher wages usually mean more expensive merchandise.
 
I compared some cities time ago, and the "Wealth level" in the list of cities seems to be nothing but a reflection of the amount of retailing done there. The more developed the market is, the higher that number seems to go. Directly, it has nothing to do with wages themselves. Of course, higher wages will attract more merchants. 
 

13.04.2014, 08:51

Last time edited : 13.04.2014, 08:53

Mike1
Eleven years with Virtonomics
Four years with Virtonomics
Основатель г.Парауапебас Thirteen years With Virtonomics Founder of Badagri Founder of Acharnes Coupe du Monde Russia soccer ball Portugal soccer ball Belgium soccer ball
Croatia soccer ball Argentina soccer ball Brazil soccer ball France soccer ball Swedish profile Ingvar Kamprad Order Biology teacher Biology teacher
Biology teacher Biology teacher History teacher Physics teacher Literature teacher Ladybug Jubilee Ten Bronze Ten
Silver Ten Founder of Peristeri Founder of Osogbo Golden hook V sign V sign V sign Double corporate chevron
Mandarin duck For contribution to the development of Virtonomics Founder of the city Jalingo Founder of the city Lafia The tender collider, VII-XV places The tender collider, VII-XV places The tender collider, IV-VI places The tender collider, IV-VI places
The tender collider, IV-VI places The tender collider, IV-VI places The tender collider, II-III places The tender collider, II-III places The tender collider, II-III places The tender collider, II-III places The tender collider, II-III places The tender collider, II-III places
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Mico Inc
 
The requirements for the stores to get into the elite ranking:
 
1. 100% efficiency + 100% uniqueness;
2. Elite level of service;
3. Income of the store exceeds its costs (positive balance of money flaw is required, taxes not included; same conditions as in many of the Virtonomics contests);
4. Total income of the company exceeds its total costs (positive balance of money flaw is required, taxes not included; same conditions as in many of the Virtonomics contests);
5. Three or more types of goods for sale, no unsold goods or goods not being sold at the warehouse;
6. Being among the Top-10 of the city stores of the same size according to the income from sales;
7. Quality of all sold goods exceeds the quality of the goods being sold by local sellers
 
see also http://virtonomics.com/index.php/Best_stores ...  
 

14.04.2014, 00:55

Vipero
Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination Nation's Health Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination "Knowledge is power!" Winner of the Contest for Managers in the nomination The Standard of Virtonomics
 
Do restaurants work by the same principles as stores? And does brand has effect there? 
 

List of forums -> Questions and answers. Help.-> How Many Customers Can I Have? (Also titled: Crap, I just over did it with the advertising again)

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