Why can't customers JUST SHOP!

"Goodywood;c-16300319" wrote:

"DeservedCriticism;c-16300308" wrote:

"Gviper;d-892221" wrote:

And even worse; I feel like the developers really aren't listening or don't care about this issue.

This is from two years ago and they've since repackaged that retail system twice.

Did it fix the issues? @DeservedCriticism

I honestly want to play the retail but when I do it takes the Sims all day to purchase one item.

NOPE!

Get To Work retail is as broken as it was two years ago.
Dine Out is perhaps the most stable, but visiting restaurants is crazy long (takes a full day) and the staff can still break on you.
Vet clinics in Cats and Dogs once again have workers that basically do nothing. Customers seem to work, but many reports about workers.

That's my point. If there's anything in the Sims 4 that people should boycott, it's this retail system. It's blatantly obvious they don't care about fixing it, but by God they sure seem eager to copy-paste it and make another $40 off it.

Strange I don't get this issue that much.

For the Retail, I just finished a retail once again, started again from scratch, From no employees to a highly-end retail furniture store. On I only see sims chat with like 2-3 customers. The rest was shopping. If there is a group of sims I just use retail interactions on them and an hour later, most of the sims in that chat will be ready to be rung up. Employees work the way I asked them. They don't follow much what I asked them at lower levels, but as time flies and skills developed, They follow everything I ask. My Employees are always assigned on answering customers questions, and with a max skill after 1-2 hour, I already have tons of people ready to be ring up. One household sim is not enough for it so I bring the whole family. I earn about 17-20k each day with retail. So I don't understand how "broken" this was.

For Dine Out, It only takes 3-4 hours for my sim to go to the restaurant. I don't still understand why it was taking so long for some players. After my sims takes an order, Just after I had my sims talk with about 4-5 social interactions, their meal will already arrive. This was always the case at the restaurants on my game which is why when I send my sim on a date, I don't usually order their meal first, since they arrive way to fast.

For the Vet Clinic, I can't give my thoughts about it, as I never played it.

Overall I enjoyed the business Side of The Sims 4. The only thing that I need to try is the Vet Clinic. Still I am not ready exploring the whole Cats and Dogs Expansion yet and still exploring the features from the previous packs.

"@Rukola_Schaaf;c-16056143" wrote:
@TS1299
you should also try it without any mods
MCC is the TS4 game changer, if you use it then you are not able to compare the behaviour of sims in your game to that of a vanilla game

not every player is happy to be forced to use mods just to adjust sims' behaviour
if players complain then one of the main reasons might actually be - they just don't use any mods
this game should function well & be anjoyable without mods

Tired playing the game without mods, started again from ground to up, but I still don't get issues that much.

I like the ability to run a shop, but have not played a shop owner in a very long time. My shopping mall worked well enough, customers did not even enter the backyard swimming pool (only employees did, yeez). But what annoyed me in the long run was that only the same customers attended the store, again and again. Like if the game had picked 10 sims from my worlds who would come to my shop. The same group would attend every day, not a single first time shopper. This made it quite boring, because it felt very much like a preset running machine, more than a random day in my shop. Gotta check if this is still the case...

"Simmerville;c-16302743" wrote:
I like the ability to run a shop, but have not played a shop owner in a very long time. My shopping mall worked well enough, customers did not even enter the backyard swimming pool (only employees did, yeez). But what annoyed me in the long run was that only the same customers attended the store, again and again. Like if the game had picked 10 sims from my worlds who would come to my shop. The same group would attend every day, not a single first time shopper. This made it quite boring, because it felt very much like a preset running machine, more than a random day in my shop. Gotta check if this is still the case...

That is one thing for sure Sims 2 did so much better. I loved running businesses in Sims 2 - and cannot stand it in Sims 4. On top of it my sims keep getting considered unemployed - which makes no sense at all. If they run a business or work from home in some form - they are employed. MAXIS needs to get with the program on this and fix this as it is downright annoying to do anything but what the game considers employment.

"Writin_Reg;c-16305591" wrote:
That is one thing for sure Sims 2 did so much better. I loved running businesses in Sims 2 - and cannot stand it in Sims 4. On top of it my sims keep getting considered unemployed - which makes no sense at all. If they run a business or work from home in some form - they are employed. MAXIS needs to get with the program on this and fix this as it is downright annoying to do anything but what the game considers employment.

i am playing businesses in TS2 atm & it is better than in TS4

i am using two mods which give the business owners matching careers,
one sets them completely free but without any payment, with another they have to skill, they get paid & have to work 2 hours per day
the devs could have learned how to do it better from those TS2 mods

I have only played the Sims 2 for a short period of time when it was introduced to me right before the Sims 3 came out. So I transitioned before I could delve into it. If you are basing your criticism on a comparison between the Sims 2 and the Sims 4, let me remind you that I don't have that experience and would recommend that you forget about the Sims 2 when reading my response.

Here goes ..

I am in agreement with @TS1299 : I haven't run into much problems either, so I'm not seeing the problems that people have as being actual problems with the game. Why? - because I view them as challenges with running a retail store as part of the game. I don't expect the game to be always be as some of you are describing it: Sims pick an item and head for the check out counter. I acknowledge that there should be hurdles to overcome and things should hardly go my sim's way without his involvement .. somewhat.

In the Sims 4 retail, the most basic thing you should keep in mind of is time.

This is no secret to anyone, time in the game runs incredibly fast compared to Sim activities. Even with the multitasking feature in the Sims 4, the hours still fly. For example, it takes my employees an hour or more to arrive after the store is open for the day and they still get paid for their "travel time". Is this a problem? Well, they do have to make it to work and they usually arrive before the first customer. So I won't complain.

Now inject a bit of realism to the game: Unless you have a grocery store, people don't visit malls or retail stores already knowing everything they intend to buy. They have a general idea and they spend more time browsing items than purchasing them. Some shoppers will not make a decision, leave to go browse another store and after a few hours, return again. I've even found myself spending 40 minutes at Best Buy even though I only wanted to a new tv. That's where Sales comes into play and the Sims 4 is emulating that. You and your employees have to pitch a sale to customers who are browsing, fill up their interest meter and close the deal. Now how long do you think that will take in Sim time? ... 4(+) Hours depending on other factors at play, e.g.: Item and Price.

Now the problem is customers chatting up a storm in the store. Well, even if the blue interest meter disappears, it still exists because the first thing customers do when they arrive at your store is look at an item. Yes ... they all do this and immediately fill up part of the meter. So if you see them chatting up a storm distracted, have your Household Sim(s) jump in and "Greet the Customers". You can break those conversations very easily and steer them to "Retail" interactions. In other cases, Sims could leave and return with their meter where it was when they left. So look at them as "Shoppers".

Unless a toddler starts dancing on the floor or some jock does push ups, I leave customers to their own devices and pitch in every now. I have my own thoughts on what needs to be improved, but ultimately, the Retail Store feature works well for me.

I will post tips on things to look for and how to be efficient at it.

Never mind the grammar on my first post (above) in the Sim community :smiley:

So here are some basic things you should add to your stores:

1) Make sure you have a break room. No stove needed, just a good refrigerator and a microwave.
-- I don't play with mods or cheats, so my sims get hungry.
-- Lock this door to everyone but your household and employees.
Be careful with employees as they do tend to go eat in the kitchen. I find it funny, but I consider it giving them a break/lunch. Employees will not have an option to accuse them of slacking if they grab some grub. In fact, the game will tell you that they are working. :|

2) Make sure you have a bathroom.
-- No brainer.
Personally, I like having separate bathrooms for men and women. When something breaks, my household sim can only access one of these bathrooms to repair whatever it is, leaving me with no choice but to hire a repairman or replace the broken item at the store's expense.

3) Have a personal office.
-- A desk a computer and a couch (someone might need a nap).
-- Lock everyone but your household members.
Your sim will get bored or tense fairly quickly and will need something to excite them. Playing computer games is a must. It's best to do this in your own personal space than to be out on the floor on your phone. Why berate employees for slacking when they can see you slacking as well? Hypocrite :smirk:. Get yourself an office and they will never know what you do in there. Reports ... you're just working on reports! lol ;)


Most of you have already done at least one of the things listed above. Others are too concerned with how negatively it will affect sales if their sims are away from the floor because a clogged toilet needs fixed or your sim wants to play games. That's all true, but what's the fun in that? This sort of stuff adds to the dynamic of the game. I had an employee go to the bathroom to play with her phone and my sim couldn't get in there to stop her. She spent 3 hours doing god-knows-what. When she was done, I couldn't "berate her for slacking" because she went back to work ... So I demoted her. That was an amazing thing to see. It was funny.


Now here are some key tips:

1) Focus on getting perks to hire employees.
You can't work efficiently while you solo the retail store. It is not fun for your sim, they get easily tense and the time it takes to do a single activity will mean losing sales somewhere else. So hire at least two employees. Two are easier to manage if you have only one household member.

2) Assign all your employees to 'Answer Customer Questions' while your sim does something else.
The minute they arrive, praise them and assign them to engage customers. Why? Because there would be a lot of customers arriving at one time. It would be too early to engage customers yourself, so instead, focus on either cleaning the store or fulfilling any of your sim needs, especially the FUN meter (Do you have an office? :p ). Take the time to also check up on your employees. Praise them or berate them if slacking.

3) Reassign one employee to ring up your first few customers.
After some time passes and your first customer is ready to purchase, reassign one of your employees to handle that first customer. It may take a while before that employee cashes out the customer (that's fine). At this point, your sim should now hit the floor and use "Retail" interactions to crank out more willing buyers. You do this and the employee ringing up customers will not have the time to slack off. Pay attention to how quickly your sim gets bored. Though if you close sale after sale, your sim might get a boost in confidence, so go for customer's whose interest meters are nearing max.

4) Reassign employees to avoid answering customer questions if your sim has to be excused from the floor.
If your sim has to use the bathroom, grab a quick bite to eat or something, assign all employees to Restocking and Checking out customers. This will slow down the rate that customers will decide to make purchases but they will still be browsing and a few may decide to buy. However, employees will also see an opportunity to slack off .. but you can eat and berate. You just need temporary cover while reducing the chance of losing customers who are ready to buy.

5) Have two household members close the store.
I say close the store, not necessarily running it. One household member may already have a career. So I would recommend your store be opened at hours after the other's shift ends and bring them over to the store lot after their work. If you have a kitchen, office and bathrooms .. your Career Sim will have more than enough things to fulfill whatever needs built up while their were at work. They should be with you until closing time for a light assistance. My sim is living with Yuki Behr who is a loner. She gets very tense around other sims and doesn't fair well with running a store. So she has a career in the Tech Guru field as part of her lifetime wish. She's working 10am-7pm will show up at the store to provide temporary cover. It's very helpful even though most of her time is spent in the office completing her career's daily task.

6) Send an employee home early.
If you have another household member show up at the Retail Lot with no personality trait issues (Loner), then I would recommend having only one employee remain on duty and send everyone else home.

7) Start the day with a fixed amount of money in the register.
Each day begin with $4000 in retail funds. By the time you close the store, finish up restocking sold items and replacing broken store items, you would be able to tell your profit or loss instantaneously without needing to check the financial report.

And finally, get some Store Perks. I won't say much here since they are self explanatory. Just know. They help. A lot.

"Goldmoldar;c-16056497" wrote:

"marcel21;c-16055547" wrote:

"Gviper;d-892221" wrote:
For crying out loud! Playing my bakery yesterday and now it seems I'm back to the endless socializing. Customers come in gather in a big group and then talk, whip out their phone and take selfies and text. I get that you want to emulate the social habits of society today, but even the mess we have in real life isn't as dysfunctional as what we have in the game. Why can't sims browse, and initiate and grow the purchase bar on their own instead of my having to babysit and interact with them every single step to purchase.

And even worse; I feel like the developers really aren't listening or don't care about this issue.

Because retail in general for this game was done poorly.

Have to agree while other areas are good, this area needs work.

thanks.
I figure it will cost me even more with they ever address the poor retail issue.
like they did with city living :#

I have wanted home business for ever. afraid that to will end up in another pack. maybe apartment building to :#