Post by Thrym on May 17, 2010 15:59:39 GMT -5
A letter, written in a simply amazingly fancy-girly handwriting, is left for Khazark Chathin Zurn at the embassy by a ridiculously cheerful young Red Wizardess. It bears the seal of the Del’duren family and is signed with Yieven’s Arcane Mark:
Most honored Khazark Zurn,
with the utmost delight I have enjoyed my recent stay in your Enclave, which is truly an outpost of our grand civilization in these barbaric lands and has welcomed my presence with far greater warmth then I would have expected after the disgraceful actions of a certain grand-uncle of mine. I am most grateful and thank you for your hospitality.
Now, to get to the matter of hand, during the time I mingled among the Cormyrian adventurers, I have perceived some most unsettling trends, and I believe we might wish to adapt our business strategy to recent economical changes.
We used to be a main supplier of mass produced magical trinkets of lesser power in the area, as most enclaves, are. Sadly though, it seems the death toll among adventurers in these lands is truly tremendous, and the market is oversatiated with second hand wares. First circle gear which you’d expect adventurers to purchase from the local enclave is available in such ammounts second hand from travelling merchants that I am certain you must have recognized a tremendous drop in sales over the last months.
Even more unsettling, adventurers I have given tours of our fine enclave seem barely interested in our wares anymore, even those who have barely started out and which you would expect to be amazed by the low prices for which magic of all sorts is available in the Emporium. Even my usually splendid mood was somewhat dimmed when I had to see again and again that the distillery was the only shop which could get potential customers excited at all.
I shall freely admitt that I am but a freshling among our ranks, and that my family’s reputation has been tremendously damaged by a man I am certain you remember all too well. It is not my place to offer you advice or demand changes, yet I would be most delighted if you would find it within you to consider my suggestions to alleviate this dreadful situation.
It is clear to me, and I am certain you shall agree with me on this point, that we can not sink our prices for permanent magical goods even further. We have to stay above our production cost after all, and furthermore the travelling merchants will just lower their prices along with ours – and seeing as they do aquire these items far more cheaply then even we can produce them, this is a war of attrition we can not hope to win.
Where I believe we can grab additional customers though is in the consumable department. Adventurers can and will frequently safe up coin untill the next time a travelling merchant passes by to purchase permanent equipment. But what frequently can not wait long and is horrendously overpriced in the area surrounding our enclave are supplies. Many must travel as far as Suzail and beyond only to stock up, or must delay their journeys waiting for the travelling merchants to resupply themselves if they do not wish to pay for the overpriced wares in the area.
With Thay behind us, I believe we can outperform this. This is our opportunity to appeal to a wide customer base, and in turn improve and fortify our reputation as reliable and fair merchants.
Our alchemists are capable and many, and with the cheap labour and perfect weather conditions at home, we could easily import huge ammounts of herbs and plants for medical and alchemical purposes and still undercut the prices of Cormyrian merchants, who after all have to pay even the lowest farm labourers and have to deal with natural weather.
I propose we attempt to attempt to refocus us – instead of fighting a battle we can not win, let us switch battlefields to one we hold the advantage on. After all, is it not a wizard’s way to analyze and adapt?
I look forward in utmost delight to your response and am of course available if you wish to discuss, and would be even more delighted to assist in setting things in motion if you deem this worthy of consideration. Untill then, I remain
Yours faithfully,
Yieven Del’duren
//I figured I'd post an OOC discussion for this:
frc.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=ideasandsuggestions&thread=12540
Most honored Khazark Zurn,
with the utmost delight I have enjoyed my recent stay in your Enclave, which is truly an outpost of our grand civilization in these barbaric lands and has welcomed my presence with far greater warmth then I would have expected after the disgraceful actions of a certain grand-uncle of mine. I am most grateful and thank you for your hospitality.
Now, to get to the matter of hand, during the time I mingled among the Cormyrian adventurers, I have perceived some most unsettling trends, and I believe we might wish to adapt our business strategy to recent economical changes.
We used to be a main supplier of mass produced magical trinkets of lesser power in the area, as most enclaves, are. Sadly though, it seems the death toll among adventurers in these lands is truly tremendous, and the market is oversatiated with second hand wares. First circle gear which you’d expect adventurers to purchase from the local enclave is available in such ammounts second hand from travelling merchants that I am certain you must have recognized a tremendous drop in sales over the last months.
Even more unsettling, adventurers I have given tours of our fine enclave seem barely interested in our wares anymore, even those who have barely started out and which you would expect to be amazed by the low prices for which magic of all sorts is available in the Emporium. Even my usually splendid mood was somewhat dimmed when I had to see again and again that the distillery was the only shop which could get potential customers excited at all.
I shall freely admitt that I am but a freshling among our ranks, and that my family’s reputation has been tremendously damaged by a man I am certain you remember all too well. It is not my place to offer you advice or demand changes, yet I would be most delighted if you would find it within you to consider my suggestions to alleviate this dreadful situation.
It is clear to me, and I am certain you shall agree with me on this point, that we can not sink our prices for permanent magical goods even further. We have to stay above our production cost after all, and furthermore the travelling merchants will just lower their prices along with ours – and seeing as they do aquire these items far more cheaply then even we can produce them, this is a war of attrition we can not hope to win.
Where I believe we can grab additional customers though is in the consumable department. Adventurers can and will frequently safe up coin untill the next time a travelling merchant passes by to purchase permanent equipment. But what frequently can not wait long and is horrendously overpriced in the area surrounding our enclave are supplies. Many must travel as far as Suzail and beyond only to stock up, or must delay their journeys waiting for the travelling merchants to resupply themselves if they do not wish to pay for the overpriced wares in the area.
With Thay behind us, I believe we can outperform this. This is our opportunity to appeal to a wide customer base, and in turn improve and fortify our reputation as reliable and fair merchants.
Our alchemists are capable and many, and with the cheap labour and perfect weather conditions at home, we could easily import huge ammounts of herbs and plants for medical and alchemical purposes and still undercut the prices of Cormyrian merchants, who after all have to pay even the lowest farm labourers and have to deal with natural weather.
I propose we attempt to attempt to refocus us – instead of fighting a battle we can not win, let us switch battlefields to one we hold the advantage on. After all, is it not a wizard’s way to analyze and adapt?
I look forward in utmost delight to your response and am of course available if you wish to discuss, and would be even more delighted to assist in setting things in motion if you deem this worthy of consideration. Untill then, I remain
Yours faithfully,
Yieven Del’duren
//I figured I'd post an OOC discussion for this:
frc.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=ideasandsuggestions&thread=12540