[Time limit is 2 days. Good luck]
Ken Spencer is dumbfounded when he recognized that he is not in his bedroom. He is now standing in front of a washbasin mirror but the one reflected is not him. He panicked for a moment before he catch sight of the system's window at the edge of his vision.
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[Tutorial
Mission: Find the reason why this shop is losing money.
Time limit: 47 hours 59 minutes remaining.
Reward: 10,000 F$]
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He tried to regulate his breathing and calm his mind down.
"That is right, I am now doing tutorial mission. Looks like I need to 'possess' someone when doing a mission.
"I only notice that 10,000 Fiction Dollars is the reward for this mission. While that is not enough money to cover the monthly expense of the game studio, it is better than no money at all.
"Okay! Let's do this.
"First of all, what kind of shop is this? If I am not wrong I can see it from the system's user profile menu.
"Right there it is."
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[User: Matsushima Tetsuya (34 years old)
Business :
- Shimaya Phone Accessories (Phone Accessories Shop)]
[Click at the business name for detail.]
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"Interesting, a phone accessories store huh. I want to look at the details but I will leave it for later. For now, I want to tour the shop and its surrounding. There is a chance the problem lies on the shop or this place itself is not good for business."
Ken wash his face and move out of the toilet. What he found is a neat row of counters filled with screen protectors, phone cases, portable chargers, selfie sticks, and many more. The product placement is categorized based on the phone maker. Accessories for the most popular phone maker are placed near the entrance. While the not-so-popular phone is placed at the second or third rack. For miscellaneous items, except the popular ones that are also placed by the cashier, most are placed on the back near the toilet.
Ken ruled out the placement of the product as the reason the shop is losing money. From Ken's amateur observation, the placement of the product is good enough. It follows a logical procedure of placing popular things closer to the customer.
"Well, even if the product placement is wrong. It still does not matter because there is just not enough costumer coming inside", murmured Ken.
Looking around more, Ken noticed that many of the products is not new. If the shop cannot sell its stock, then there is no money to buy a newer product. Ken also doesn't think this is the root of the store's loss. While this problem looks like one of the contributors to the store's losses, this is also not the root problem.
Ken now wants to look over the area. If the problem is not inside the store, then there is a possibility the area around is the problem. But he cannot go outside and leave the store unattended. As today is Wednesday no part-timer is scheduled to come. Part-timer only works on Saturday and Sunday, so he is now waiting for the shop closing time.
5 minutes later, Ken is still alone in the shop, not even one random people come inside the shop.
"Wait, can't I close the shop earlier? It is not like there will be any more customers today."
Thinking it a bit, Ken decided to close the shop. He only has limited time to finish the mission. It is better to use the time to try finishing the mission.
~~~
"It is interesting to have the memory of this common thing like where the key, how to close the shutter, come back suddenly when thinking about these things. But not a speck of memory related to the business remained. Is it maybe because the original owner knows why the shop is not profitable?? Then why is he still keeping the shop open? Well, it doesn't matter, my job here is to analyze the reason the shop is losing money."
Ken spills his thinking out while pulling the shutter down and then locking it to close the shop.
"Now, left or right? ... Left"
Looking at the crowd, the majority goes in the left direction, so Ken decided to follow. Surveying the area, he found that this place is packed. With shops, restaurants, cafes lining along the pedestrian-only street, Ken believes that this place is a good shopping district. Now there is a question in his head, how can the street be full of people but none of those people come into his shop?
Engrossed in thinking, Ken unknowingly reached the end of the street. Standing in front of him is a train station, he assumes this is a metro. Curious, he decided to go inside the station. He is shocked when he looked at the schedule. A train every 5 minutes in a normal hour and every 3 minutes in a rush-hour time.
There is no way this commercial district with an accessible station that serves a super busy line is a bad area. This area here must have very high rent. But no matter how high the rent, the prospects of businesses opening here are bright, except for his shop that is losing money.
"Looks like I need to open the detailed information."