Holiday Sales in the Toilet?

I don't know FOR SURE...if it's the Search engine...but I have had trouble finding a few spots I could find in the past, just because it works different now.

I went to look up City of Lost Angels because I heard it was a cool RP Sim, and I had to already know and type the EXACT name of the Sim to get a result. I sure hope they get a decent Search system some-time soon. I haven't been in "SL Business" for months, but I'm workin on some stuff, and it would be nice to actually have my keywords bring people in

The simple math is that

Residents in SL keep going up,

The number of people in SL selling stuff keeps going up,

But the daily LindenX activity is pretty darn Flat.

The Pie hasn't been getting much bigger, but its getting cut into way more slices ..

So with less being spent per person on stuff I don't think people should feel bad if their sales have dropped over the last year.

Its the ones who have managed to succeed that should be grateful.

I sell wrist watches. 2 weeks before Christmas, I changed the name of my shop to Watch Shop Watches and mentioned watches about a dozen times in the property description. I set out 50 boxed watches to go along with my vendors, each box with description filled with the words watch and watches. That was enough to get me on first page of search for watches. Since the watches are transferrable, they make nice gifts. I pulled in over $L50,000 in the 2 weeks before Christmas which was more than I had made in the previous six months put together. So the new search worked out pretty well for me.

Very good, but do you not think it's the fact that people can buy the watches in a box rather from a vendor that your sales have increased? People generally ignore my vendor even though it has similar but cheaper products in it.

Indeed

As someone whos been trading for 3 Xmas's now I can tell you last year was amazing.
The general turnover went up by 1/3 and stayed that way throughout the year
I expected the same thing this year but ( and I'm not complaining ) its been overall the same as the turnover per day/week/month as it has been since last Xmas.
And heres the odd thing.
As you point out more ppl are joining SL, more ppl are finding my store ( I can tell as the LM giver is being used a lot over the Xmas period which would suggest new customers grabbing LM's for future visits ) more ppl are new from the Classified ads that I have only just started using since Dec 2007 ( used to think they didnt work ) but based on the TPs and Map/Profile results they are working for us. BUT the daily turnover remains the same

I used to think it was something we werent doing, As a business you try to lean towards growth always but as I say, new customers more ppl finding us through word of mouth ( mostly ) and classifieds and yet the L$ remains the same level.

That would imply to me ( at least) that people arent spending as much as they once did.

I'm hoping its just this Xmas due to the dollar being weak.

My industry is heavily dependant on other SL content creators businesses and if they cant build because of bugs or their sales are flat then they will spend less time creating new stuff or splashing out on new textures for creation of new stock.

I was waiting every day upto Xmas for it to go mental. We had one day were we peaked a little but our avarage takings are the same and have stayed the same through November which is a positive as according to SL eco statistics Nov saw a huge decline in sales.

I also think different ppl are joining SL for different reasons.
Maybe they "want" to come and make money by creation but then see all the exsisting stores and thing " why bother?"
It was hard enough for me 4 yrs ago and there wasnt anything like the competition there is now. Arriving in SL now as a noob hoping to make some extra cash is bound to be an anti climax.
Its all well and good LL advertising " come and make real YES real money" but the reality of that is much much harder. I feel its almost like MLM you have to be in early on to benefit ( or a least for the majority )

Theres been an increase in copyright issues generally for 6 mths for us. And a real leap in customers who dont speak English breaching copyright then claiming they couldnt read the signs or license we issue ( its written in 7 languages )

Full perm stores are a plague to texture stores in general and assume full perms over rule rl IP and copyright laws.

Then you have the New accts V Alt accts
How many accts older than 2 years do you see in SL these days?

I'm proud my acct was made in 2004 it shows I have nothing to hide lol and no one to hide from. No drama I had to escape from ( dull me! lol )
I think running a business really helps if you have been in SL longer than a year. Its shows consistancy

Maybe thats just me but it always makes me a little sceptical when I see an "obvious" alt act thats 3 mths old and running a store.

Ok I am rambling here ( I do that - sorry ) This thread has been interesting so ty for who ever started it. I think its always good to compare sales with other stores even better in your own field.

As I read through this thread and see the common desire to succeed it makes me wonder if we shouldn't form a 'Chamber of Commerce'. I'd not expect people to divulge sensitive business information but if information was exchanged that proved mutually beneficial I'd be willing to help organize such a group.
Anyone interested IM me in-world.