# **The Monument Group**

**This Strategem is for the Board of Directors for the Monument Group, Landed Nobles of Pavia and the Dukes of Pavia's eyes ONLY.**


Commercial Stratagem
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The City of Pavia expands at a breakneck speed beyond what we expected, and as such is becoming more and more populous by the day. It's integral to the business plan of the Monument Group that we fully integrate these incoming citizens into the commercial activity that Pavia has on offer. As these incoming citizens are mainly dual-citizens or those that have a vested interest in other nations, it's imperative that we create a commercial hub that rivals the rest of the quadrant and sits high on the leaderboard globally.

By increasing the importance that Pavian commercial activity has on the server, we will increase the sheer diamond value driven to Pavian business, properties and activity within the City - all of which will increase property prices and drive up demand on property yet-to-be-built.

There are a number of things we can do to achieve the afforementioned goals.

## 1. Ensuring that Commercial Activity is concentrated.

Commercial activity within the city should be concentrated within a specific area, or region of the Principality, giving a tunnel for internal and external diamonds to flow through without any distractions and to prevent a commercial area that forces the consumer to explore to find shops or good deals, something which can be offputting.


This map displays where commercial activity *should* exist within the City of Pavia in order to maximise commercial properties and activities without spreading it out and forcing individuals to seek out shops.

Embassies, houses and other buildings on this highlighted route should have their ground floors purchased or be *encouraged* to fully decorate their ground floor and open shops. It's vital that the main street is busy and alive whilst not feeling too cluttered.

## 2. Prioritising Pavia

An integral pillar of this strategem is the prioritisation of Pavia, while building branches and other shops in other nations is a good thing, and should even be encouraged to a degree - a focus should be kept on Pavia to maintaining the reliability and reasonable deals across the commercial sector.

This pillar requires a strong base of commercial backers within the Board of the Monument Group and the Landed Nobles and upwards of the Principality of Pavia, including any overlap. This group should act as the bulwark of Pavia's commercial activity, as they keep their shops stocked and advertised then other sellers will do so too, keeping a steady flow of consumers into Pavia.

#### 2.1 Union of Shopkeepers & Subscription Service

This point relies immensely on the motivation of this group for the betterment of something greater. Although this is not without personal gain as a group of united shop owners has a great sway, and are able to use themselves as a union of sorts with the ability to undercut nations as a whole whilst offering reliability unparelled on the server.

The solution to this is two fold, with one part being relatively straightforward and expected and another being more of trial and error.

Firstly, everyone should be united in their goal to consistently advertise their products and Pavia as a place to visit with your diamonds/iron/essence.

Secondly, and more controversially - willing shopowners should engage in a subscription service for discounts. In short, consumers would purchase a 'monthly subscription' for diamonds which would give them group access, this group access would then allow them better shop trades (as you can separate exchanges by namelayers).

Shopowners would be compensated by their parcipation in this scheme by receiving a lump sum, a cut of the subscription fee or for the backer covering any "lost" diamonds between the usual & discount price of goods. The backer of this system would either be the Monument Group or the Government of Pavia as they have a larger amount of liquidity than the average shopkeeper and can handle losses.

This system would have a number of benefits, one it would greatly increase the amount of customers using Pavian shops and visiting Pavia. Two, it would increase the connectivity between shop owners and the government. Three, it would allow shop owners to remain at market value or undercut nations with greater producitvity without losing income and may even allow shopowners to raise non-subscription prices if they are already having to lower prices due to the global market.

Whilst this is a more risky idea, currently no shop in Pavia tends to overlap to undercut each other due to being a more protectionist and structured economy as opposed to MTA or Icenia and as such there is a greater potential for cooperative working.

# 3. Setting out Tasks

In order to achieve this goal a number of things must be undertaken, small and big.

* Signposting - Shops should be clearly marked and signposted, to the point where you should tell where all shops are from at least 20m away. This can be achieved by overhanging signs, a distinct banner display or a shopping bag banner (as used in Lambat or Yoathl).

* Regular Updates - Advertising into CivMC, Pavia or other relevant discords.

* In-game Map - The in-game shop map should be kept updated constantly, and posted in part with advertisements to encourage more shopping.

* Subscription - Advertising the subscription service and clearly signposting buildings involved in the subscription scheme (Name pending).

* Expanding Products & Services on offer - The Pavian Government in concert with the Monument Group and other shopkeepers should endeavour to track global demand for items and offer them (if possible) in general stores in Pavia to offer as many products and services as possible.

* Tracking Stock - A system should be put in place for tracking stock of shops, or items on offering within Pavia and what's needed - this works in tandem with bullet point 2 & 5.

* Discounted Shops - The Monument Group should encourage more commercial activity by offering discounted shops or cheaper alternative means of opening a shop, be it shopping stalls, only purchasing the ground floor or basement of a building or other.