How pricing works
Big Ambitions does not have a single official retail price list, because you set your own selling prices. Your margin comes from three layers: the equipment cost to display and serve a product, the purchase cost from a wholesaler or importer, and the price you choose at the shelf. The 1.0 update added a Pricing Manager at headquarters who can set retail prices per product and even update an entire district's prices at once, automating what used to be manual tuning. Profit strategy, not a fixed price table, is the real subject of this guide.
Equipment cost and customer capacity
Each display fixture has a Customer Capacity (CC) value: the number of customers it can serve per hour. Doubling fixtures doubles capacity, and the building itself has a customer ceiling; if your fixtures fall short of the building's capacity, a yellow dot appears next to the fixture name, signaling a supply shortage you should fix by adding equipment.
| Fixture | Store | CC | Size | Price | Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Industrial Freezer | Square Appliances | 15 | 2x2 | $13,100 | Frozen Food 50 |
| Industrial Fridge | Square Appliances | 20 | 2x1 | $10,830 | Fresh Food 50 |
| Drinks Fridge | Square Appliances | 20 | 1x1 | $875 | Soda Can 60 |
| Cash Register | Square Appliances | 20 | 1x1 | $900 | Paper Bag 1000 |
| Salad Bar | Square Appliances | 20 | 2x1 | $4,000 | Salad 350 |
| Checkout Counter | AJ Pederson & Son | 30 | 3x1 | $2,300 | Paper Bag 1000 |
| Industrial Freezer | AJ Pederson & Son | 25 | 2x3 | $20,250 | Frozen Food 100 |
| Wine Shelf | AJ Pederson & Son | 10 | 1x1 | $1,570 | Bottle of Wine 72 |
| Bakery Showcase | AJ Pederson & Son | 10 | 2x1 | $1,074 | Cupcake/Croissant 100/100 |
| Jewelry Floor Showcase | AJ Pederson & Son | 15 | 1x1 | $10,680 | All Jewelry 50/50 |
| Industrial Coffee Machine | AJ Pederson & Son | 10 | 1x1 | $15,000 | Cup of Coffee 300 |
| Pizza Oven | AJ Pederson & Son | 20 | 2x1 | $10,756 | Pizza 60 |
| Industrial Fryer Machine | AJ Pederson & Son | 20 | 2x1 | $4,400 | French Fries/Donut 200/100 |
| Clothing Rack | AJ Pederson & Son | 10 | 2x1 | $490 | All Clothing 50/50 |
| Storage Shelf | Both | — | 3x1 | $1,200 | 16 boxes |
| Pallet Shelf | AJ Pederson & Son | — | 3x2 | $3,000 | 60 boxes |
Importer purchase prices
There are seven importers in 1.0, but four carryover names are widely documented from the Early Access era: JetCargo Imports, SeaSide Internationals, United Ocean Imports, and BlueStone Imports. You must rent or buy a warehouse and employ a Purchasing Agent before you can order from any importer. Sample per-box and per-item costs:
| Importer | Example goods (per box / per item) |
|---|---|
| JetCargo Imports | Cheap Gift $644 / $2.32; Cheap Jewelry $2,697 / $53.94; Soda Can $16.20 / $0.27 |
| SeaSide Internationals | Burger $61 / $0.61; French Fries $86 / $0.43; Pizza $300 / $5; Salad $717.50 / $2.05 |
| United Ocean Imports | Bottle of Wine $79.25 / $3.17; Expensive Jewelry $30,774 / $615.48; Cigar $497.25 / $2.21 |
| BlueStone Imports | Classic Cheap Clothing $356 / $7.12; Modern Expensive Clothing $479.50 / $9.59 |
The three additional 1.0 importers are not individually named in public data yet; the system still works the same way, and you can inspect any importer's stock and prices in-game.
Margins come from sourcing
The biggest pricing lever is your supply source. Wholesalers charge materially more than importers, so the moment you switch a mature business from wholesaler to importer, your margin jumps even at the same retail price. The 1.0 Pricing Manager then lets a skilled hire fine-tune prices district-wide, and high-skill Pricing Managers can even suggest optimal daily prices, compounding the sourcing gain.
Setting your retail price
Because the game has no fixed retail price, "what should I charge" is really "what does my district tolerate." High-traffic, high-rent districts like Midtown support premium prices, while the Garment District tolerates the lowest. Raise prices in small steps, watch the sales volume, and stop where volume begins to fall. The price you choose, minus equipment amortization and purchase cost, is your margin.
Common pricing mistakes
- Under-equipping fixtures so the yellow-dot shortage caps throughput regardless of how you price.
- Copying a rival's price into a lower-tolerance district; the Garment District tolerates far less than Midtown.
- Ignoring importer sourcing; wholesaler prices leave margin on the table that importers recover.
- Forgetting the 1.0 Pricing Manager can update a whole district at once, saving hours of manual tuning.