What attracts you to a shop in Second Life?

The products. A new product post in the forums with a picture (please!!) will get me in the door, if I like it. And if you have a New products board RIGHT THERE, and a sensible layout for the rest, I'll come back.

I'll add my voice to the chorus of "no solid windows and don't make me fly around the building 3 times to find the door." The shops I like best are open air and built for fly in - fly out. Also, please don't make me walk up stairs or ramps to get to the second floor. Make the center area an open atrium so I can fly up, or if that's not possible, put in a teleporter (there are free ones available that are very easy to set up.)

There are a couple of things you can do. First I echo Joannah's suggestion of looking at the offerings at SLBoutique and SLExchange. Find something the has the style you like and IM the creator to see if they will customize it for you; or ask for one that has modify perms so you can customize it yourself (most of the good building creators sell with modify and copy perms enabled, but no transfer.) Second, you can always hire someone to build something for you - I would again find a style you like and see if the creator does custom work.

This is an interesting thread and close to home since I'm in the mall business. Some people like to fly around, others camera shop, and some (like me) would rather walk up to the items in question. Small cramped stores suck since its harder to view things, and having lots of items jammed into one location makes it easier for items to be lost in the shuffle so to speak.

Presentation of the items are key, what you want is people to look at your stuff in your store. I can't think of how many stores I've seen not do well because the owners didn't put any hooks in to lure people. Hooks don't have to be a huge cheesy particle shower, just something simple like a sign "Horris's Smoke Shop" helps and having some ATTRACTIVE photos of your items that are low rez so people don't have to wait 10 minutes to see them.

I've seen some fantastic designers put up photos that had models with crappy poses and no matter how good the clothes are, casual buyers will notice the pose and think "another crap store" before actually looking at the items.

I do a lot of shopping for my wife and friends. Regardless of what gets me into the store, if items are no-transfer, I immediately leave the store. No-transfer clothing bugs me, but what bugs me more are vendors that don't say if they're no-transfer, and stores that don't have signs saying "My stuff is no transfer". I had to learn the hard way to check the contents first before buying. What sucks is when buying from networked vendors where I can't check the contents. Networked vendors are great, but put up a damn sign if the clothes you're selling are no-transfer! grr.

I echo what Dragon is saying on the no transfer thing.
If I buy it.. I should be able to give it away rather then deleting it when I am done. If that means buying something with "no copy" enabled so that someone doesnt mass produce and sell someone else's idea then I am ok with that.
I have an alt and sometimes it is better for me to just pass something along to it then paying twice. Skins especially annoy me. No mod, no copy AND no transfer? If I am buying it I should be allowed to do something with it other then leave it parked in my folder when done.

As someone who hates shopping as much in sl as I do rl, I am very easily put off. If I can't find what I am after within a couple of mins, I'll hop to the next place on the list.

I won't shop in anything other than seperate self-contained stores. I never go shopping in malls, clubs, or any other multi-purpose busy areas full of vendors of all sorts.

The shop has to be very open, uncluttered, and organised. I do take note of the building that houses the products, as a badly built shop doesn't fill me with confidence when considering the quality of items inside.

As far as finding somewhere in the first place, I've actually never used the classifieds. If I am unsure as to where to start looking for something, I have always used a keyword search in find > places.

There are many that prefer copy/no trans, though. Some people like to have many copies of an item in their inventory so they can file them as outfits. Ideally, both options would be offered.

About the no transfer thing.

If one would like to buy something for someone else, just IM the owner of the store. Copy allows the owner many options like the ability to give another copy to the purchaser when that person, lost the item, or accidently messed up the prims. Or possible the purchaser needs it sized for them, so that would allow the owner of the store to make another one sized for them.
Its been a couple times where I updated an item and gave out updates. I was able to because the items were only copy and no transfer.

Quite a few skins is modable though, so for these allowing copies rather than transfer makes sense as it allows to safely make tweaks and experiments, without fear the only copy gets broken ^^;

WARNING: Very "I"-heavy post ahead, but then you asked for opinions. Heh.

Presentation is very important to me. You can have the greatest product in the world, but people won't look twice if the ad is grainy - they'll think that since you didn't put much effort into the ad, you probably didn't put much into the product, either.

Post your stuff on New Products. A lot of us watch those fora like hawks. A few pictures of any given product is great - showing different angles and different colours will give us a better feel for what your product is and *does* (yes, even clothes do something: they express our personal style AND protect us from ARs in PG areas).

I really appreciate when I Find a shop if they have a logo in as their land snapshot, or some sort of general ad for the store (a picture of the build is fine; it'll give me at least some sense of what your style is).

I hate cramped builds, I love New Product boards, or at least having the new merchandise displayed prominently / near the entrance. I like TPing into the inside of the shop, if it's a bigger one (ie Dazzle and BareRose, who also have new products right there when I get there - yay!). I tend to avoid malls - having to wander around to find what I want is a big turn-off. I remember once going to Amsterdam trying to find a Sylfie's, and giving up about an hour later having scoured the sim with my partner. To this day I still haven't bought the boots I was looking for. Eh.
If your build has multiple floors, a teleporter is a plus - flying inside can be a pain in the ass.

Posting your products on SLB and SLE is also a great idea! There are times when I can't be in-world and shop there instead. You don't even have to change a word from your New Products post, if it's well-written.

One last thing: I appreciate having permissions clearly marked on your boxes or vendor images, so there's no mistake about what I'm getting. In the case of things like builds, a prim count and footprint are pretty much essential - I like to have them on the box AND in a notecard that gives other info/features for the build.


My L$2.

ETA, 19:32 GMT:
Oh yeah. Get a blog! You can link to it in your sig or whatever, which allows people to look at older releases instantly if they see an ad or new products post of yours for something they might like.
Also, be sure to promote yourself to the fashion bloggers as well. Linden Lifestyles just did a great piece on this a few weeks ago.

As an Shopper Addict..here are some of my thoughts. Forgive me but I didnt read ALL of the previous posts.

I love to sit down in the morning with a good cup of java and scan thru the NEW PRODUCTS section before logging into SL. It relaxes me. I just cant wait to see the new kewl ideas.

First thing is..when posting under NEW PRODUCTS in the forums..please..please have LARGE enough pictures..and not DARK ones. Thats what draws me to the stores.

And the prices I had scanned an new recent item and missed seeing the price. It was a LIMITED ADDITION so when I got to the store I was so bummed. It was way too high even for this addict!

As others have said..please please include location. Some have put.."ADDICTS..you know where to go" Not all know where to go

Another important thing regarding the actual shop is..Display pictures. I tend to leave stores that have pictures that take TOO long to rezz. Maybe thats just me being an Aries and impatient..but It does bother me.

Another is please have the teleport CLOSE to the actual store? I know designers are constantly upgrading their stores or sims..but even the addicted can get lost Having to walk or fly abit just to get there is a chore. *Im lazy..shrug*

And a BIG thanks to all the designers..who have responded to my IM's. All have been very kind and helpful with all my questions!!

i love limited edition

The thing i look at are

1) How does the shop look (I don't like shops that look like I just entered Lego land or Barbie's Pink Mansion with an overkill of Pink that just screams 'cheap')

2) Are the products easy to reach. (not too much stairs or other things that take up too much time to get to the product...things have to go fast)

3) How are the products displayed (a fancy picture that cleary shows what the product is...and not a picture that shows other things and confuses the people of what product is actualy being sold...if the product is displayed with style and class...and not just plain cheap)

4) The shop's reputation.

I can understand that for outfits that come with prim attachments, needing to be able to make a copy if one screws up resizing something, but for clothing only items, I don't understand why someone would need multiple copies of the same outfit.

As far as IM'ing the creator to send an item to someone else... more often than not if a vendor is being used where the buyer can't view the contents to check the properties of the item, and there's nothing around saying 'these are no-transfer', the buyer will buy the item, then be forced to contact the seller. I don't know about anyone else, but when I'm shopping for gifts, I like to be able to give the gifts myself, within a day. Having to IM the seller to send someone to someone for me... often times it's more hassle than I'm willing to spend my L$'s.

Please bare in mind these are only my personal preferences.

It's for convenience. If you use the same piece of clothing in multiple outfits (as many people mix and match pieces rather than wear complete sets straight from the store) you can have copy of it put into folder with each outfit, then change simply by dropping the folder on yourself instead of hunting pieces of garment all over your inventory.

Personally I don't think being able to have the same shirt in 8 folders is more convenient than being able to buy something and give it to someone else within minutes of buying it.

I doubt any of this will change how any sellers set the perms on their products. I'll continue missing out on purchasing certain things, and sellers will continue missing out on my purchases.

I guess it simply depends on which one of these two one does more often ^^

Besides, since there's always option to IM the maker and ask them for item with swapped permissions instead of the ones available by default (that's for items not available on slExchange and SLB which offer their own 'gift' delivery iirc) ... just not sure if it's just such big issue to begin with ^^;

Ease of browsing. Attractive displays. Wise use of vendors. Good customer service if I run into a problem. Reputation.

Good presentation in Find Places (and doens't use dumb attention grabbing techniques like silly ascii graphics (*@~-) or ALL CAPS, etc)

A good exterior and interior. Stores in LL are creative ventures, so the quality of the shop says a lot about the owner and likely the products.

Good displays with an image I can actually see. No postage-stamps please.

I like unique shops, shops that you will go back to 100 times just to see the display. I also like WELL LIT vendors, I wont look twice at a vendor where you cant see everything your buying.

I also agree with the no-transfer stuff. If I can't get one for my best friend, then I don't want it either.

Some items really do have to be no-transfer though... either because people want to be able to make multiple copies to go with their outfits (hair is a prime example), or because they're sold with copy enabled (skins often are, because the asset server seems to have a habit of borking them from time to time, and who wants to repurchase an L$3000 skin when that happens?)

But yes, item permissions should always be made clear in a store. And if you sell no-transfer items, offering them on SLExchange or SLBoutique is a great option (and put up signs in the store letting people know they are available!), because you can easily send an item as a gift through either of those.

There is also the option of giftcard systems. Rather than buying the item, you buy a giftcard and give it to the person you wish to have it. I've seen this done in a few places with no transfer items.

I would have to go with presentation. Courte Isle is a wonderful example of great presentation. The easier it is to move around and navigate through the store the better.
I'm a shopaholic so i like to walk aound and stare at all the pretty clothings and such.

I wonder if I did the right thing here. I bought a prefab store which is much bigger than my original store, but things aren't going right. I thought I really made things nicer too. I put up signs saying where everything was. I decorated outside a bit. It's certainly a lot more open. It even includes teleports to the 1st and 2nd floors and I put signs right by the teleports. Sales just aren't right though and I'm wondering if sales are just slow or if its the store layout. I really belived it was the right move because the old store was just too crowded and cramped.