Whether a manufacturer or a retailer, it’s important to understand your market dynamics. Every market is different just as every game is different. This game has a complex combination of max price levels per market per quality levels as well as restrictions on market size.
Please read this in conjunction with The guide - 3 - consumer groups.
This topic covers the time before competitors - so you are the only retailer in a market and the market is infinite (which it isn’t of course)
There are at least 3 different levels of country demand - there may be more. I call them…
Developing - includes China and India
Mature - Includes Japan and all of Europe
USA - Just to keep 90% of the players happy, USA get’s it’s own super category (but beware - it is also the market that fills with competitors first)
For each of those markets there is a absolute maximum price for a quality level and to keep a track of it you may want to mock up a grid. If you go 1g over the price you sell none but there are no restrictions below the price in my dream infinite market. Adding promotional stations will not change these prices. (In fact generally adding any promotional stations before filling you sales capacity is a bad idea)
It’s really up to you to test these out for yourselves as each round the numbers can be tweaked, but for beta 10 here is an example…
| Column1 | Column2 | Column3 | Column4 | Column5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smartphones | Developing | Mature | USA | |
| 0 | 0 | 550 | 635 | 695 |
| 0 | 20 | 710 | ||
| 20 | 20 | 795 | 875 | |
| 20 | 40 | |||
| 40 | 40 | 950 | 1050 | |
| 40 | 60 | |||
| 60 | 60 | 1100 | 1200 | |
| 60 | 80 | |||
| 80 | 80 | 1250 | ||
| 100 | 100 | 1350 | 1575 |
And say for cars - 36k, 41.7k, 47.1k for 0/0
and 106.5k, 121k, 135k for 100/100
The maximum gains are to around 60/60 and hen you get reduced returns but feel free to set your own grids up and complete them.
Again, be warned that markets do have other limits and too many competitors totally change the rules.
One more thing on game dynamics. The game operates as LIFO - last in first out and you can’t isolate different quality batches
As a manufacturer, if you have 1 0/0 product and you produce 50 units at 60/60 - you won’t get the benefit until you totally clear old stock(by placing it on the open market and leaving it there)
As a retailer if you have mixed quality stock, the higher quality will always be sold first so it’s a terrible idea to mix stock. If you are in that position, stop buying, price to move all your highest q stock first and when it’s gone, reduce to move all of the next level of quality. The retail inventory report will show your position exactly and is very useful for understanding why odd things happen.