Buisness plans in SL and how they drive economy.

I've been following the SL economic system with interest as I've been able to see a completely new economy form. One thing I've noticed about buisness in specific is how they manage their supply verse demand and I find myself curious about factors. In high demand buisness like hair and avatars where competition can be pretty fierce I've noticed two main business models develop with shops that need to pay for sim land. One being a small selection at high prices, normally to support the shop in question which seems like a failed plan yet IS succesful in many cases. Another is a vast selection with rather low costs, which seems dangerous as it requires a larger amount of sales to reach costs. These are actaully umbrella statements as I'm sure their are many exceptions to both catagories but I was curious to see peoples opinions.

Like for example, buying a neko ensemble fromtemenos will cost you 1000L+ but then agian those avis are in high demand and they use vendoring to expand their coverage of the market, however avi wise are limited. While other places like Grendel's Children sell avis at roughly 100L and are equally competitve despite the fact they use no vendoring or outside sites like SLX (they actually have some of the older avis on SLB but nothing from the past half year) and cover a wide variety of avis. I have many friends who have tried to start business with a cheap model but find they can't make the sales and same go to those who adopt the other. I guess I'm wondering what peoples views of each are and what recomendations people have for people looking to get new products off the ground.

As a real life business owner and a shopper in SL, I have to say that successful business is contingent on the following (among other things I'm likely to miss):

1. Quality products (there are a small percentage of truly quality products in SL -- try making it the best and there will be little competition)

2. Customer service (Zoe of Temenos, swaffette Firefly, Naughty Designs, among others, who also fall under point 1 above) is VITAL and not common in SL.

3. Visibility (take advantage of little kiosks in similarly styled areas).

However, points 1 + 2 = REPEAT BUSINESS plus REFERRALS.

Bread and butter is not from an initial sale, but from happy customers who come back and who tell others and who actually sport the items in public (so that others can see, like, find out who designed it and buy it themselves).

SL is the biggest walking advertisement ever. I'm constantly right clicking and finding out who made what so I can track them down.

That's my two cents on the subject. Hope that's helpful.

Cheers.

Lucrezia

The most successful businesses I know in SL rely on selling quality products at relatively low prices and counting on high sales figures - it's what micropayments systems, such as L$, tend to support best.

Although that said, I tend to think about the market for scripted items, which is a bit different to the ones for clothes and skins. (This is because most people care a lot less about the "style" of a gadget than they do about other things. Technically a script could sell to every single person on SL, while it is unlikely that a piece of clothing would, because there will always be some people who do not like your particular style of art. Of course the downside of this is that if a script that does something already exists, you can't remake it in your own style and count on creating a niche with people who prefer that style.)