How to fix 'not enough customers' in Cities Skylines 2

How to fix 'not enough customers' in Cities Skylines 2

Many players are running into the 'not enough customers' issue in Cities Skylines 2 with no fix in sight, but we've got you covered with everything you can do.

27th Oct 2023 16:15

Images via Colossal Order

As a city management game, keeping every single plate spinning in Cities Skylines 2 is part of your job - even if it might seem near impossible at times. While traffic, demand, or budget might typically be at the top of your priorities in the game, there does seem to be a consistent problem with businesses that only you can solve.

Image of residential zoning in Cities Skylines 2, which is one of the ways that you can fix the 'not enough customers' issue

While it might sound a little too simple, the main way to get rid of the 'not enough customers' message in Cities Skylines 2 is to increase the number of potential customers for affected businesses in your city.

This can be done in a number of different ways - but you do need to remember that these citizens need to be able to get to the affected businesses, so make sure that it is a convenient location for them to shop in your city. There's no point in increasing your population only for it to be on the other side to where you need your cims to shop.

You can increase the number of customers for your potential businesses by doing the following:

  • Zoning more residential areas (particularly high-density residential)
  • Lowering residential taxes so that there is increased demand
  • Increasing transport links to your commercial buildings
  • Increasing tourism in your city
  • Put attractions like parks, universities, and more near affected businesses
  • Rezone commercial to be in more efficient and accessible areas
  • Decreasing the number of commercial buildings in your city

I have often found that the 'not enough customers' issue goes hand-in-hand with high residential demand, and is a way of the game telling me to increase my population. I have had many situations where certain parts of my city have had to be restructured to accommodate this, but it does certainly cool down if you're doing some of the actions listed above.

What causes 'not enough customers'?

Image of commercial buildings in Cities Skylines 2

The 'not enough customers' issue in Cities Skylines 2 is caused by your business not having enough citizens to sell their goods too. As mentioned above, a big part of this is the proximity of your cims to the affected businesses - but it does also seem as if there is a bug that causes this issue to appear when it shouldn't.

There is no timeline to fix this issue, but you can at least try and mitigate the problem as much as possible by using the actions that we've suggested above. At the very worst you'll have a population that is growing and willing to spend their hard-earned cash.

So, that wraps up everything you need to know to fix the 'not enough customers' issue in Cities Skylines 2, letting your businesses thrive in a new bustling city.

Check out our Cities Skylines homepage for plenty more tips as you grow your city, or find out what the best graphics settings are here if you need to improve your performance and get more fps.

Harry Boulton

About The Author

Harry Boulton

Harry is a Guides Writer at GGRecon, having completed a Masters of Research degree in Film Studies. Previously a freelance writer for PCGamesN, The Loadout, and Red Bull Gaming, he loves playing a wide variety of games from the Souls series to JRPGs, Counter-Strike, and EA FC. When not playing or writing about games and hardware, you're likely to find him watching football or listening to Madonna and Kate Bush.

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