Anyone else had problems with cosmetics?

Post here if you have any strategy tips to share
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bdubbs
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Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2016 9:15 am

Anyone else had problems with cosmetics?

Post by bdubbs »

Hello!

So I recently started a game following my typical game plan of retail > R&D > manufacture. I had 100 expertise in cosmetics so those were the products I R&D'd first. My discount megas selling seaport goods took off but through multiple years my cosmetics lines still struggle to be more than mildly profitable.

I started manufacturing early so my prices at the factories were very low (internal only) so I could sell low at a cosmetics store and start working on my brand rating. As my R&D finished and my product quality jumped to the 80s I was able to turn a thin margin at the factory while selling for 6-7x the cost at the cosmetics store. At this point with training at max and total advertising at 200k per month my cosmetic stores were still making a paltry 600k profit and one cosmetics store with one sbu selling each of the 4 cosmetic products services roughly 20% of the market for that product.

There's potential to make money there, but I find myself making so much more money when manufacturing leather goods for example. If I opened up multiple stores and didn't advertise there I could pull in solid profits, but it just seems minimal compared to other products.

Any insights?
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eleaza
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Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2016 2:40 pm

Re: Anyone else had problems with cosmetics?

Post by eleaza »

I was replying your other post, and attached a test game when my company almost exclusively producing and selling cosmetics early game, and they are quite profitable, in fact the most profitable of all product classes in that game.

For what I saw, I think cosmetics need to be sold in specialized stores, especially with multiple floors. They have a much lower overhead and operating expenses compare to discount stores. And it's easy to find very high traffic index area for small 2x2 stores, which it's generally difficult to find those for 4x4 (unless using civic buildings or apartments to boost traffic, but that would take a lot of capital to setup, and not possible from the start).

I always set my factory price very high, so my total revenue will be a bit higher, I don't feel price matters that much for cosmetics since they usually have low price concern, but have very high brand concern (sometime as much as 50). So don't be shy to set very high advertising budget, even go as high as full 500k. Build brand name as early as possible is the key, you will earn it back soon enough. And if possible don't use unique brand, but range or corporate brand to save lots of marketing expenses. Different products need different approaches, especially for product so extreme like cosmetics (high tech portion, low necessity index, low price concern, high brand concern, rare semi-products of dyestuff and wheat germ oil, very little demand for raw material quantity, and a unique perfume product which often has the highest profit margin in economic boom time). Leather goods are more like farming product, where large portion of the goods quality come from leather, slowly train up high level farms will net a good profit in both end, and still able to have decent quality goods without good tech.
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Mochilovo
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Joined: Tue May 02, 2023 2:19 pm

Re: Anyone else had problems with cosmetics?

Post by Mochilovo »

Ultimately, it's up to you to decide whether cosmetics are worth the investment. But with some experimentation and creativity, there's always potential to make a profit.
gimnshuta
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Joined: Tue May 02, 2023 2:34 pm

Re: Anyone else had problems with cosmetics?

Post by gimnshuta »

This is an old thread and thought I'd share my two cents. While I'm not an expert in game strategies, I do know a thing or two about cosmetics.
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