Advice on Sales!!

Thanks for the mention! LOL I have sold less overall day to day, but i also have had my highest one day sales in SL ever over the last week or so. I think things like event postings no working, objects not rezzing, excessive lag and other SL weirdness over the last couple of weeks has had much more of an impact than the RL economy. If i cant do an event notice or post on the forums or send a group im - that kinda sinks my whole marketing campaign. Right now, i am even having an issue with the forum loading...it is VERY slow. I also will say that ive sold more on SLEX this week than normal so i truly believe that it is SL stuff impacting sales. If i cant market....i dont sell.

So it's not just me then? That's a small relief, although I definitely still need to get off my ass and update my product line a whole bunch. The current drop in sales has me pretty spooked, considering how large a chunk of my finances SL represents.

Yep my sales this last week have also dropped... before that I had been getting around 4 sales reguarly a day... im down to one this week. Im not sure what is going on. One factor for me may be that i havent released anything new. I just havent been in the mood to create and I never force myself to make anything, I have to be in that mindset.

I have however found when people do come into my store now they tend to buy more than one item. I think the main reason for this is my stock is steadly building up. This is a nice trend for me to have

I do think people arent shopping at the moment, there are less people visiting my store too according to my visitor counter than before we started this (well in the last week or so anyway). This may be related to my lack of releases. Anyway I am not too fussed right now .... i will create when im in the mood and send out the notices etc.

I am excited about a space at Rhia's store though and have been slowly planning an inventoryfor over there as I think it is a huge opportunity for different people to see mywork. As at the moment my traffic mostly comes from the freebie groups... my mall spot at my club and the space at the big dog mall (which actually makes sales O.o I was really suprised by this... but for a free space it sells one or two items a week in a place with almost no traffic).

That's what I felt (relief) when somebody posted it and I responded. We don't like to think it's just us, so we don't like to mention it in case it is

Daily sales fluctuate in my place but they never sink like they've done these last 3 days (assuming today ends the same, as it looks like doing). I have such a lot of items (almost 1000) so I'm certain it isn't anything to do with not creating new stuff. For a long time now, any new stuff that I've made has been swallowed in the whole so as to be unnoticeable anyway. I frequently add new stuff, but unless you know my store like the back of your hand, you wouldn't notice.

I'm sure it has to do with the current RL financial situation, and many people choosing not to spend on unnecessary things like SL. I've heard of residents looking for extra SL jobs to finance their SL so as to avoid using real money because of it.

My sales have it rock bottom again. x_x
And rent is coming up. Figures!

hm, good info for me to mull over. To add another data point, note that I've been selling in SL so long I don't even remember the last time my sales were this low (a year ago? a year and a half?) Even on days SL was down half the day for updates my sales were better than right now, so whatever the situation is, it's even worse than that.

Pretty dismal commentary on the current financial situation in RL: things are so bad, it's even worse for SL sales than when SL isn't even open.

I second this, both on the biggest thing I've learned from the thread and a huge thank you to Jojo!!

I'm still in the process of getting my permanent store location going and am also really looking forward to a spot at Rhia's store soon, but I have to say that Jojo's marketing tips have revved me up enormously. If you can get to one of her business classes at Etopia, I HIGHLY recommend it!

A new thing I've done in the way of marketing is to combine my two lines of SL income: selling content and my passion - teaching. In one of Jojo's classes one of the tips was to get people to come to your store in all kinds of ways, and holding classes was mentioned. The school I taught for just closed down, so that excited me. I had been planning on making a class skybox on my land but never thought about connecting it to promoting my shop. DUH!

So far I've held some classes on Etopia. I begin the class with my visual board showing my logo. I offer a "Class Discount" to the students and announce it in class as well as a notecard in their class materials (where I also thank them for taking the class). Without a shop location at the moment, it's a bit different, but I feel like I am getting my name out there, both as an instructor and for my shop.



Yeeeaaaa!!! Another from Celtic background!!!

I haven't been selling anywhere near as long as you. Some time next month it'll be about a year, but I had very few items for sale at the start. Yesterday did recover slightly but the previous two days were so low that I'd need to go back to very early this year to find days that low. Today has started extrememly well after 2 hours, but with so many items for sale, it only needs one person to buy a fair number of things to make it look good in a short space of time, so it's nothing to go by yet.

I don't think the U.S. government has hammered out a 'save the banks' agreement yet, and I wonder if things will change for the better when it's finalised. The agreement will affect more than just the U.S.

Sorry for going off-topic with this, but it is about sales and knowing the current state of sales must be good for the thread.

I dunno, our sales were pretty good in August when ppl said they would be bad, and theyre up even more this month (knock on wood)

but i tend to make new stuff all the time.. a lot of new stuff.

we also had a rather big festival this month which seemed to have brought us a new bunch of now regular clients.... who are bringing their friends too

I also spend quite a bit of time prettifying the area around the shop...

its not all about sales and products, i think.. presentation and the shopping experience itself is also important to some (maybe a lot) of people.

nope it's not off topic, this thread is about all aspects

I started to see a slight downturn in sales in August, but having read a number of threads on here (and my own gut instinct) put that down to holiday season, & people just being outdoors rather than sitting at their computer. So I expected to see things pick up a little in September but so far they haven't, to the point of I am concerned about making tier this month, for the first time since I bought my own sim & relocated my store.

I have picked up on a lot of the tips int his thread to help things, set up a Hippo Group, that now has about 60 members. I also try to IM & thank people who make purchases, though am a little behind on that this week. I usually send them a small gift, & ask if I can add them to the update group, so far only one has said no so that all helps. Also held a treasure hunt, which gave me some good sales for a day or 2 aswell. What I really need to do is get my creative head on & make some new stock, start utilising the update group & see if I can generate some interest.

I think the RL economy is bound to be hurting SL, & completely agree with the PP who said it's often about perception too. I know I am spending less in world, as I look at the L$ balance & think ok you don't really need a new $1500 skin, you have about 20 already, save it for tier, so the knock on effect has to be having an impact.

Being a latecomer to this thread, I haven't contributed to it in a positive way, so here comes my bit, FWIW.

Lots of items for sale!

While writing my previous post, I was thinking back to my early selling days, and I remember being so pleased when I told a friend that I almost made 10,000L in a single day, and delighted soon afterwards when I took over 10,000L in a day. I started selling from a 1024 space. I had an 8k piece there but I wanted the shop to look full, so I walled off a 1024.

I kept on adding more items, and pushing the walls back when needed. For the first few months my sales increased by around 50% each month. Then the lighter evenings came and sales stopped increasing, but they didn't go down. Since early this year I've had sales well over a million L$ a month and, in spite of what we've just been talking about, this month will be the same. On those two chronically poor days I still took over L$21k and L$22k, and yesterday recovered slightly to over L$26k. My best day ever was over L$60k. I consider 60k+ to be very good, 50k+ to be good, 40k+ to be ok, 30k+ to be poor and 20k+ to be bad.

I'm not trying to boast. I've stated those numbers to encourage, and to make the point that the more items you sell, the more sales you'll make. For instance, take a person who goes into a furniture store looking for a couch. If the store has 2 or 3 couches, the person may not like any of them enough to buy. But if the store has a dozen styles of couches, there is much more chance of the person liking one of them enough to buy. And if the dozen couches each come in a range of colors, there is even more chance of getting a sale. I don't have that many couches, but I think it makes the point. I do have plenty of varieties but even then, people ask for other varieties, and I usually make them and leave them out for sale. Many of my items came about by people asking for them because I had something similar to what they wanted but perhaps not in the color they wanted, or perhaps they wanted it with the animations that another piece has.

Sometimes too much choice can be negative, and some people can find it hard to decide, but the positive of making many more sales far outweighs that.

So my positive input to this thread is add, add and add - in that order. Don't be concerned whether or not a particular item sells well - keep it on show and add more. The more choices you have, the more sales you will make - and the better the shop will look. Don't settle for filling your current premises - outgrow the space and get bigger premises. I started in a 1024 space and now my store is huge - really huge - and it continues to get bigger. If you haven't seen it, go and have a wander round.

I can only dream of sales in those numbers

so far my sales today....

0
none
nothing...

I am depressed

think I will find something else to do.

yes I have a lot of stuff for sale, yes I put out new stuff as often as I can. I have tried everything I can think of and the suggestions in this thread to boost sales, but it has had the opposite effect. at least before I was getting some sales, granted nothing like phil describes, hell I don't think I have had a million L's in total sales since I started

Maybe I need to rethink what I sell and try something new... but I love making clothes...

I completely agree about adding phil...seems like my place is now pretty hot for folks coming to look for a few items that i have TONS of diff varieties of. I try to weed out things that dont sell well and expand on those that do constantly.

Rhaorth. Don't be too discouraged about current sales. The RL financial crisis is affecting things. If you already have lots of items, then it'll most likely be down to marketing (getting people into the place to see them), although you may be able to think in terms of adding more varieties. I don't know - I haven't seen your store.

Hiya JoJo

JoJo and I became friends when I was still selling from the 1024 space - or not much more than 1024.

waving to phil who is my idol...LOL

LMAO!!!

Have to agree with everything Phil has said, the larger our collection has grown the more our sales have increased. And yes, the current economic climate rl is having a definite knock on effect in sl. hardly been inworld at all today as been out doing rl stuff so where we were hoping the rebuild might have been in place this weekend it is now looking less and less likely, don't want to rush it, so if it has to wait until next weekend so be it. Sales are slowly improving but not back to normal by any stretch of the imagination. I keep going back over my notes from this thread and adding things to the new build, I am sure I am driving my partner who does most of the building crazy hee hee Working on some new designs to go with the unveiling of the new build as well, so very busy, but am happy with it so far.
Sounds like you all are doing really well despite the slow sales the last few days, I am hearing lots of positives still coming out in this thread. And I also think times like these are where this thread and the people in it are even more important in being able to support and encourage each other through the rough as well the smooth.

huggsss with love

Rhia xx

Hi Rah.

I'm at your store and you do have a lot of items and varieties. What you don't appear to have is any search presence. The store doesn't get listed for it's name in either the All search or the Places search. Is it a search problem or intentional?

Any one having problems with their Fashcon Kiosk? I went in world and got a message about missing url and i fixed it- then it decided it didn't see a valid name- my name is still in it- I tried to chat to see if there were problems and it said i did not have the ability? Any one experiencing problems? I can't get back in world now but if anyone can ask in Fashcnon or to any Officer there- I woudl appreciate it. Maybe the kiosks scripts became broken? I also got an im from the LM Billboard- it has a problem to and they need to replace the billboard... related?

Honey sent out a group notice. It's a glitch. She's getting it fixed.

lack of knowledge

the one thing I am lost and confused on, is how to get the most out of search, without having to pay out for it

I can not afford ads in the classifieds, I am lucky to make tier

the show in search "should" be checked, but for some reason it keeps getting unchecked, I will have to look when in world

not intentional, I want to be found, I want people to know I am there.

I sometimes feel like my stuff is not good enough, but then I stop and think about the nice stuff people have said, and also think about me.. and how I use my stuff

I wear my own creations, and not because I want to try to use that as a way of advertising, but because I like the stuff I made.

I used to shop at places like simone! last call, bare rose, and a few other places I can not think of the name of off the top of my head. but for the last 6 months or so, I don't because I just wear my own stuff and realized that buying the other stuff was spending money I could be using for tier, or tools to better my own creations.

I just wish I knew how to get others to know I am there

I know sometimes I come across as woe be gone me, poor rha never gets any sales, blah blah blah... and I am sorry for that

but today I am about in tears as this is the worst day I have ever had. I mean sometimes I had bad sales where I might get 100L in sales, but... so far today, still at 0
not even a 1L sale

I need to sit and think long and hard about what I can do, to get more exposure, and not have days like this.

maybe I do need to expand into furniture, tattoos, more skins, more shapes, more jewelry, more shoes, etc and just ease off on the clothes for now (I have furniture, and kids stuff, and all that, but they are not in the main store, maybe I need to redesign a little bit so it is easier to find, and is off the main store)

and make more stuff! (heck if I can make some stuff that I can sell for 50L even, that is better than no sales at all)

I thought about remaking the kids' stuff with my alt, and let her have her own little kids store, which is not part of Rha! then just slowly add to that.

I find the kids stuff doesn't move much at all, maybe because it is not out there to be seen. (maybe the alt could rent a place to sell it)

would not be hard to remake, just send the alt the textures hehe

sorry for the long post, as you can tell my mind is heavy with this.

I got a msg in my email from the fashcon kiosk saying I was missing the name, url etc

they might be having issues with their system

Rha I will drop you the class notes on how to increase traffic which details how to be "seen" in search. There is also an extensive sticky thread at the top of the RA section here that also gives even more detail. It is a simple process to do, costs almost no money - except for a minimum classified payment and group formation cost. It is effective. Let me know if you have any probs.

Thanks Danielle- although I rpoly ruined it now trying to fix it