Virtonomics Guide
If you were a fan of Capitalism II, a popular business simulation game released in 2011, imagine playing something very similar, with many more features … and with real players from around the world. This article shows you how to find your way … and survive in Virtonomics with retail stores.
So it was easy to win again at Capitalism II because once you learned how computer AI works, the rest was just copying your formula again. But can you do the same with a game that involves real human beings behind the monitor?
If you thought the answer was ‘no’, that’s where you are wrong! In fact, it remains the same: YES, you can. The key to winning a business game, whether online or offline, is to treat it like your own business.
First, you need a business plan. You need to know what path you need to take to create a great business at Virtonomics. I know of some players who started out by building factories first, becoming suppliers, and then trying to dominate the market for the particular industry. I would call this the backend path. And then I know some players who would do market research and then choose to open up-front retail stores first, managing their suppliers and their retail stores. This is what I would call the front end. Personally, I would prefer to start with the initial move as much less capital is needed for this path.
In general, my business plan was to generate a positive and constant revenue stream through the front-end, then focus on the back-end to reduce my costs (and therefore increase more profits) by producing my own products. Ultimately, laboratories must be built to research (and sell) new technologies to increase the quality of products.
So now that we’ve chosen to go the front-end path, we start by doing our market research. You can do it through [Game] -> [Report]. Select the country / city and the product you want to sell. Pay attention to two important things here:
1. Local supplier information
2. Store information
Local vendors at Virtonomics would mean companies not controlled by players that are in the market. Stores would mean those controlled by the players.
In essence, you want to have an advantage over local providers. It could be the same price but better quality in the products. Review the list of vendors you have access to and select your products from there.
Another thing to take note of is the location of the store. Customers who shop in urban centers tend to care more about quality than price, compared to customers who shop in the suburbs. Also, take note of the country’s wealth index. In rich countries, in general, quality is prioritized over price.
Repeat this step for all products.
Once you have identified good markets for your business entry, build an office in that region. Staff your office with the relevant employees and IT equipment. Next, build a 500-square-meter retail store in the center of town. As with your office, hire staff to service your retail store.
Select your supplier and purchase from your stock. Note that you should limit yourself to a single department (the same product production line) to begin with. Also, keep in mind that supplies will only arrive after a game update, so don’t be alarmed if you don’t see your stock in your store yet!
As you may have guessed, the last step would be to price your products. This can be a bit intimidating for new players, but thankfully, Virtonomics offers some very good reports to help you get started. Once again, head over to the Market Report and select your country / city this time. I recommend that you set your prices using this approach:
Your sale price = price of local suppliers * (quality of your good / quality of the good of local suppliers) ^ 0.5
Prices need to be reviewed for each different country. As a general rule of thumb, you should increase your selling price by 30% for very rich countries and take about 30% off to sell the same products in poor countries. You should modify this as you see fit.
This is basically what you need to do to set up and manage a retail store. Please repeat for other retail stores in different countries and note that you could get the same products and prices from the same vendors, but you may be charged differently due to different customs / delivery charges. Adjust your prices accordingly as well.
Now wait for a game update, your products should arrive and your stores are ready for new customers! Once you have a steady stream of income, you can consider increasing the size of your stores or running basic marketing ad campaigns to increase the number of customers in your store.
In my next article, I’ll discuss my strategies (and some theories) on store optimizations, work efficiency, and how to get an edge over your fellow competitors.
Feel free to contact me for help on Virtonomics, my Player ID is erevion. I will be more than happy to help you.