Advice on Sales!!

since you are all TPing around and giving advice, i'd love some feedback on 'Wren ~ Japanese Mall'. i'm going to make you search it if you're really interested in looking, because i don't know how to get the slurl.

the only thing i have been advised is to allow vendors to make TP's at their stores, but some people rented based on TP location, so i can't change that now.

also, it was noted that the cobblestone was too dark. however, it does give the effect i was after. so comments on that are welcome.

i'm about to decorate for autumn, so the plants and general decor are about to change to earthy colors of plants and groundwork to greens, reds, browns, oranges and yellows (more than they already are). also, in mid september i was thinking about making a special sale area totally decorated for halloween (over where the open pond area meets the shoreline is) for each of my vendors to place one item of their choice (preferrably halloween-y), and would love some ideas on the platform. i originally thought to make it clear glass, but i don't know if that's going to give the effect i want. i have pumpkins and corn rows to place there, so that will help. feedback welcome on all fronts.

also, several of our regulars in these forums have shops there, so please view them and take their freebies... errrr, i mean buy something. LOLOLOLOL

if you experience unacceptable lag, please let me know. thanks for your feedback on any topic, in advance.

Firstly http://slurl.com/secondlife/Katla/161/114/22

that was easy enough as searching for it was simple, it was top of the list, so thats a good start.

The cobblestone, not too dark imho, I think it suited the area and decor of the shops very well.

Lag? Well I can't really comment on that as I have lag everywhere I go, unless I am on the laptop, so If I get on later I will comment again. Things are still rezzing for me as I write but so far I love the design of the Mall yet it really does not feel like a mall, which for me is a good thing. It has a very welcoming warm feel to it!

i only get lag with one of my avatars, that being the business owning one. it's really a hassle, because that is obviously the one i use to build with.

i always want lag feedback, because sooner or later i'm going to have something in common with someone who has the same experience and then i can figure out what the problem is.

so far, it's not the hair and bling, which was a big problem with this avatar at one time. i had to give up my fave hair.

thanks for any/all feedback. i like it there too. i enjoy just 'being there'.

Does your business one have a lot bigger inventory than the others? I assume it would especially with textures.

Thanks to Ralektra and Nimue for dropping by, and especially to Nimue who took the time to type up a really helpful notecard for me (I did get to read it in the end!).

My prices *are* low, yes, mainly because I simply wasn't selling anything when I priced them higher, so I figured it might be easier to sell 10 things at 50L$ than one thing at 500L$. However, I've only just started making more of an effort with the store, as opposed to piffling around with it, so hopefully with some of the tips I've picked up and been given, I should start to generate more sales.

I'm not quite sure what happened with your teleport, Ralektra. I do know that sometimes floors turn phantom for me when SL gets glitchy, but the store TP usually works without a problem. I would like to get a ground-based store so that people without flight feathers can find me. I realise it's a bit daft to have a free male newbie kit that contains a flight feather up above 400m where newbies without flight feathers can't get at it...

ridiculously HUGE! hmmmm...

That is one very good use for alts- texture mules - it helps to make lie less laggy for the main.

I had an idea for archiving full-perm textures (all the freebies we've no doubt picked up, plus the full-perm ones we buy at places like TRU) which means they're packed away and not taking up individual space in inventory, but they're also not shoved into some prim somewhere we can't get them easily.

Notecards!

Open a new notecard and name it after the texture set (or the type of textures you're putting in there, such as 'metal grates'). At the top of the notecard you might want to write a quick description, then drag and drop all the textures across into the notecard. Save the notecard, then (if you really don't trust notecarding as an archive option) put the textures into a prim and take it back into inventory.

Now, all you need to do to find the texture you want, is open the notecard, click to view the textures, then copy to inventory the one(s) you want to use for whatever you're working on. The inventory texture can always be deleted when you've finished that particular project.

This will only work with full-perm textures; any that have one of the permissions unchecked won't go into a notecard. But it's a thought, anyway, and something I'm going to start doing, if only for all the freebies I've gathered that I know are weighing me down.

Pros:

- Don't need to be in a build-enabled area to check out textures you might want to use later (whereas if they're in a prim, you'd need to rez it)

- Can pull just one or two textures from the notecard into inventory (whereas if they're in a prim you'd have to unpack the lot, or at least rez the prim, edit it, view the textures and drag them over)


Cons:

- Textures will bundle together in a lump if you drag them over together, rather than on separate lines

- You'll still have to sort all those textures into groups (which is the biggest task I think most of us shy away from!)

breathe in, hold breath, read:

so, if an alt uploads the texture, and stores it, but gives it to the main for use to then be deleted from main shortly thereafter.... does the object created give credit to the alt in the creation process? you know, in the "inspect" mode?

exhale.

Guys this is all fabulous stuff! It is great to see such support...I have visited some additional stores but have nothing different to add. But i did want to comment on a couple of things.

I agree about keeping the pics of products simple. I need to detail on the pic, not words unless it is to indicate in really small print what items are included. But the pic is what sells me and the price, not any text.

I would also invite any comments about my store...as ive said before, it is a mish mash, but it works lol. But im always open to suggestions and a new perspective.

I need to spend more blog time... and id like to link to all of yours...can someone compile a notecard of the urls and maybe we can pass it along?

As for being in my store...for me it helps me sell more. I work to make a genuine connection and often someone will ask a question that i can answer or that leads to custom work. I tend to do those things for no additional charge while they are there and that impresses them. All i ask in return is that they tell their friends about my store and join my group...and many do. I also drop free things on people, ask how they heard about my store, or what they searched on, etc. Ive made some very good friends of my customers and gotten many referrals for interior design work etc all because i said hi to someone and welcomed them. Just my take on the in person greeting...take care and keep the good input coming!

Hi 3ring.
I saw this question, and realized I wasn't sure. I know that editing an object and looking at the creator of the prim is unaffected by the creator of a texture. (Otherwise, texture sellers would be barraged with IM's for customer support for random things made with their textures ALL the time.) I wasn't sure about the more>more> inspect feature though. I'd never thought about it.

I tried it out in world just now, and I don't see any evidence of the texture makers name even in the detailed "inspect" window.

Based on my test, it seems all clear. If, however, the texture was in the inventory of the prim then one could look at the creator of that texture.

I'm also not *certian* if one got the UUID of the texture used, that it would be impossible to back track to the original creator of a texture, but I think that would be pretty difficult for a typical user.

I'm also not sure the implications for clothes, as I don't make those.

This is by far, the best tip I have seen as of late, and I will be archiving a lot of textures over the next little bit (perfect for me, as I tend to try to keep the textures used to make clothing, in the specific clothing folder, just in case something goes amiss in SL and I need to recreate) this will help a LOT

thank you!

Yeah, I should have said before, that is a GREAT tip. I need to make up some of those notecards myself!

I have a question. How many of you have mouse-over text enabled, and do you read what it says? (Mouse-over being the text bubble that appears over an item when it is for sale, or, sometimes, when it has a touch script enabled.)

I'm asking because I rely on the description field of an object for sale to describe its features (where the embedded poses are, how to change the pose in a multi sit item, etc). I've started putting out some info notecards bc/ I am afraid people aren't seeing the mouse-over info. I recently got an IM from a customer asking if I have a "male" version of a chair she'd bought. She had no idea that it had multi sit with four or five poses to toggle through. If this happened to one customer who actually BOUGHT the item, I am concerned about how many come in and never realize products have these features.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for your review!
Definitely something I will check, though most of my stuff is color changeable. But it might add to the atmosphere Newer stuff may not even be tropical oriented though, I am getting requests for more modern stuff as well so might add those too.

As for copy: Not much furniture is copy. It would make the prices way too high too. Many people just want a few chairs for example, so they benefit way more from the no-copy price. On request I did some copyable chairs as well, but not many. Upto now I had no requests for vanished stuff, but it is quite easy to replace an item that SL somehow ate

About the more poses I am still in doubt, as it would make the chairs more expensive too. My stuff is all modifiable, and animations can easily be added to the menu's. If I have to add a handful of B&B poses that has to come back in the price, because people can easily rip out the animation to put in another item. The animations themselves go for I believe 300 linden, so the value in a chair of 99 linden is already 600 linden on animations



Thanks a lot! We are going to expand a lot in the future (after my holiday) and our theme does fit the location we are at. If you go a bit more in-land, you will see the other sims are urban, so we provide some beach air in that The animals you saw is about half I have in my inventory, there is too much to display all. And the bad thing is that I purchase about every bird that Animania makes, so I have to switch the ones on my parcle ones in a while.

Well I certainly got to this party pretty late but I think I can add one thing that no one seems to have mentioned yet: The more merchandise you have for sale the more sales you will make.

Please help,

At the age of 20 I decided to emulate Howard Hughes and have subsequently been collecting all bodily waste in jars for the past 20 years.

I now have over 10,000 jars of poo.. but no-one wants to buy.

Is my marketing strategy to blame?

Or is it simply that you can stock and market as much Sh*t as you want.. unless it's good for the roses, no-one's going to buy?

3 ring.... i visited your mall just now... it is actually only a few sims away from my home sim The rez there does take a while. Longer than some but not awful. your fence took FOREVER to rez though. Dunno why. Once things had rezzed the lag was minimal

The overall feel of the mall is great and i LOVE the signs you use for rent this space... better than the normal boxes.

I would suggest blocking out those huge red for sales signs if you can. Also the path from the space with the koi pond through to th bit where u have mixed contributors and resale items?? if that was bigger it would be more obvious there are more shops there. I wouldnt have looked normally.

Bartlebus, the point you are trying to make is quite valid, but the way you are making it, makes is less visible.

Providing you are making good stuff, indeed power is in numbers. The more different items you sell, the more chance there is, a visitor ends up buying. The chances someone likes 1 of your 3 dresses are a lot smaller then the chances someone lines 1 of your 100 dresses.

What I do is looking how many people enter my store, and how many actually buy. I know my items for sale are good, but apparently many people come but do not buy. This means they did not find what they were looking for. So, I have to create more choice, in order to have them buy, it is easy as that. The problem is that it means more time needed, more prims.... well something for after my holiday

I Marcel,

Yeah.. sorry for the facetious post.. I've got to amuse myself somehow..

As for the "power is in the numbers" argument, as in all things it depends on context.

Stock availability is key for most businesses selling physical products, but width of portfolio/catalogue often isn't.

For retailers, and the top-end/bespoke business areas then flexibility and width of catalogue may be a good thing.

Unless you're really huge though, for OEMs/manufacturers in general, being focussed and concentrating on what you do best is often more economically sound.

Just my thoughts.

B

GREAT tip!! Thanks, Skell.

Each personalized item I make requires a new texture upload. I ship those textures off to an alt for backup, but I like to keep an archive in my main inventory. I'll make great use of your tip!

I'm glad several of you have commented on this topic. I've often wondered whether it's best to leave the customer alone or not.

I think it has helped sales when I welcome a customer, offer to answer any questions, and then wander off out of the way so I'm not hovering over the customer. (Of course, I try to stay within chat distance in case a question is asked, so it still may look like I'm hovering.) Most of my card designs come in three varieties, so questions are inevitable, especially with the personalized ones (as Eclectic's comment above indicates). I have notecards, signs, display items on a reception desk, and hover tips that answer most any possible question, but I know people don't like to stop and read while shopping in SL. (btw, I don't force a notecard on visitors upon entry because I've read that many people don't like that.)

While I believe that there have been times when I've run off a customer by being around, I'm pretty confident that in my shop, saying 'hello' and offering help boost sales.

This weekend was hectic but I have about 8 people on the list to review. I will send notecards. Thank you to all the people who visited my store. Make sure you have your store in your picks (that's part of my test since a lot of people do look at your picks or classifieds for a TP) so I can get there

Linden Lifestyles (RIP) had a good marketing page but SL Fashion Notices http://slfashionnotices.wordpress.com/2007/06/11/marketing-your-stuff-in-second-life/

Has one that's about a year old.

http://shoppingcartdisco.com/?p=126#more-126 (this is more recent)

Comments on this one are good as well.

I personally create a presskit to hand out to bloggers/whomever whenever I feel like doing it. (I don't do it as often as I should). If you want a sample of mine just ask me inworld.

Nimue, I use it in my items. Like you, I've found that customers don't always read it.

One time I got a question in IM from someone who received an invitation I had created. (My invitations are in a greeting-card style, and you touch the cover to open the card cover. I include "Touch cover to open" in the hover tips description field.) She asked how she could open the card to get the information. When I told her to touch the cover, she said I should provide instructions. I mentioned the hover tips, and she indicated she had never heard about that feature. I helped her turn hover tips on in her menu and she was amazed. She wasn't a newbie, but had never seen hover tips before.

btw, in my viewer, my hover tips turns itself off approximately twice a week, so I have to go to the menu and turn it back on. I've heard that others have experienced the same bug.

Hey Bartlebus,
No need for apologies, it was just that I thought your message could easily get lost the way it was packed in a joke

My experience so far is that the range of products ie the amount of diffferent choices is very important in SL. Imagine you are looking for a couch. First shop you are in has 8 couches to choose from. Chances are big that none of those have a design that appeals to you. Store 2 has 50 different designs. Chances are a lot higher that one of them is your choice.

Looking at my branch it is even harder to cater to everyone: Low prim furniture can mean a lot. After I started with dining chairs/tables and living chairs/couches/tables, I noticed too many people tp-ing in, take a quick look, and tp out. So I added beds, more tables, cabinets, fireplaces, and with each item I add, my revenue is higher. People suddenly find the item they want. But there are sill a lot of categories of items they cannot find at my place, so work enough to do. The ideal is, that everyone TP-ing into your store, finds the item they were looking for. An impossible goal, but I want to get as close as possible

For the clothing industry, I guess the same goes. If I can find 100 different dresses, one of them is likely to appeal (if the styles are different anyway). Important this though, that the more items you are having, the better your shop must be planned. Seperate sections for different styles, so people can find what they want easily.