Is it difficult to support multiple mesh body brands?

[Bree Giffen]

Just wondering why I sometimes see only Maitreya Lara dresses or sometimes the clothes are for Maitreya, Slink Hourglass and Belezza Freya only. Is it a lengthy process to support other versions?

[Chic Aeon]

Yes.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

That's why I only buy Maitreya Lara-compatible dresses.

[Maryanne Solo]

I dev for four majors. It can be difficult.

You can certainly join the herd/flock as mentioned above, but are you getting the best product & value for your hard earned lindens ^^? 

[bigmoe Whitfield]

My biggest problem with support each one for skins, is being able to buy said body and buy the supporting items to create for those bodies.    it's an investment worth doing, just takes the $$$ to do.

[ChinRey]

12 hours ago, Bree Giffen said:

Is it a lengthy process to support other versions?

According to a clothes designer friend of mine, rigging an item for Maitreya is a week's work for a experienced rigger, rigging for any other body is a day's work. (I think he exaggerates the difference between Maitreya and other bodies a bit but that's not the point here.) Obviously it will take even longer for somebody not familiar with a particular rigging.

You want Maitreya anyway because it's the biggest market. But which other bodies are worth the extra time and effort a custom rigged version for them require? With the price levels we have in SL, you probably have to sell at least a hundred extra copies, maybe even 200 or more, to justify one extra rigging.

[Alyona Su]

On 2/24/2019 at 2:04 AM, ChinRey said:

You want Maitreya anyway because it's the biggest market.

Which is always the double-edged sword: it also means the biggest competition.

I believe the biggest mistake most apparel creators are making is to box every version of an item they make into the same box. When it is purchased, they don't know why it is being purchased: Is it for the Maitreya version in the box? The Tonic version? The Belleza Version? And if Belleza - which of those three?

The smart ones sell each version independently. They've already done all that hard work in making them, the extra work to make them into individual products is negligible in comparison, but a very wise thing to do. That way they can better judge which bodies to drop and which to focus on more. Because competition.

Know your customer, but also know your competitor.

As for the selection of purchasable stuff? Absolutely the wrong reason to choose a particular body brand.

[ChinRey]

2 minutes ago, Alyona Su said:

I believe the biggest mistake most apparel creators are making is to box every version of an item they make into the same box.

I do see your point but there are some serious problem with how MP works.

Let's say you have 50 different outfits, each comes in eight color variants plus a demo and a fatpack. That's 500 listings already. Now add eight different rigging variants for each - the ones you mentioned plus the two Slinks - and we have 4,000 listings.

[Blush Bravin]

1 hour ago, Alyona Su said:

I believe the biggest mistake most apparel creators are making is to box every version of an item they make into the same box. When it is purchased, they don't know why it is being purchased: Is it for the Maitreya version in the box? The Tonic version? The Belleza Version? And if Belleza - which of those three?

The smart ones sell each version independently. They've already done all that hard work in making them, the extra work to make them into individual products is negligible in comparison, but a very wise thing to do. That way they can better judge which bodies to drop and which to focus on more. Because competition.

I actually did this a few years back after the Maitreya body was added to the mix. I packaged my new hosiery appliers along with system body layers separately so that I could test for myself which body(s) was selling the best. Hands down beyond a shadow of a doubt the Maitreya outsold the other brands 4 to 1 with all the others being lumped together to make the  one. At that time the hosiery I was making for Slink feet + system body were still selling rather well, so I made the decision to continue supporting Slink and Maitreya. But as time passed that market pretty much died. So about the same time that bento hit the grid, I made the final decision to go with supporting only Maitreya for both appliers and bento jewelry. I don't regret the decision at all. Dropping the other brand support did not negatively affect my bottom line, which is making enough money to support my SL shopping addiction while also continuing to enjoy the creation process. 

Oh, and I've never been afraid of competition. I think competition is good!

[Alyona Su]

43 minutes ago, ChinRey said:

I do see your point but there are some serious problem with how MP works.

Let's say you have 50 different outfits, each comes in eight color variants plus a demo and a fatpack. That's 500 listings already. Now add eight different rigging variants for each - the ones you mentioned plus the two Slinks - and we have 4,000 listings.

Very good point.  As a merchant, however, one must choose which is the most efficient and beneficial way to make the most sales, right?

I work for a Business-to-Business training company, so I know a thing or two about how to maximize company efficiency and increase profits and decrease costs. With that said, were I an SL apparel creators my method would be this:

Screw the fat-pack idea from the beginning. (Some creators do this: All their stuff comes in ALL colors for one fair price, GAS Clothing Company is a great example) - I would do the same. As a customer, I see forcing me to choose one color of the same thing as an unabashed "money-grab" or otherwise pressuring me to buy the fat-pack, which I will never do unless your quality is utterly amazing. I prefer to shop smart, so I'm not going to do that unless your stuff is really THAT great. Most merchants are not at the level of quality and design as Blueberry, for example. Now, shopping smart is one thing, business-smart is another...

So I would bundle all colors into one box, preferably with a color HUD (since that's what customers want). This makes my products a bargain for the customer. Not only am I not forcing them to make a choice they'd rather not have to make, but it's also a value-add.

Then I'd sell the same outfit as a separate purchase for each body brand because 1) *I* will know what brands are selling best for me and 2) The buyer doesn't care about any others beyond their own chosen brand and just throw away the rest and 3) for those who do have multiple brands, if my quality is up to snuff, it will be multiple sales.

What is happening in SL business is that most merchants don't know *business*.

Now, if I were just starting out, I wouldn't go for Maitreya for the very reason that the market place is over-saturated with Maitreya versions. I would be barely a ripple in that ocean. I would focus on a "less popular" brand - to start out with. I'd study the market, even ask around, especially those not wearing a Maitreya body, join all the body groups and pay close attention to chat, etc. What I am seeing myself (and obviously it's only my own perspective) is that the Tonic is very popular and those people are screaming for more apparel creators like crazy. Join their group and you will see it.

I would start with Tonic. My next would be all three Belleza (especially Venus since many creators are dropping that and now I see many are dropping Isis, too; I suppose overweight is the in thing now). Then, if successful, I would branch out to more brands. Maitreya, by virtue of the market saturation alone, would be one of my latter products, if at all.

Strictly speaking in *business* terms, this would be the way to go. There is horizontal business: high volume, low margins and there is verticle business: low volume, high margins - in SL just substitute the word competition for the word volume and visibility for the word margins.

BUT, it's all moot anyway as I am not, nor interested in becoming an apparel creator. Hahahaha!

Edited February 25, 2019 by Alyona Su

[Alyona Su]

21 minutes ago, Blush Bravin said:

Hands down beyond a shadow of a doubt the Maitreya outsold the other brands 4 to 1

Absolutely. because you were in there early, which is called "First mover advantage".  However, with the current saturation levels of Maitreya-specific stuff, you can become lost in the ocean or supplement that with other versions where you will have less competition which means better visibility. With first-mover advantage, you automatically get high visibility and it's yours to lose. That's where customer-grooming comes into play and that's as much work as the production of the product as well!

Edited February 25, 2019 by Alyona Su

[ChinRey]

2 minutes ago, Alyona Su said:

Very good point.  As a merchant, however, one must choose which is the most efficient and beneficial way to make the most sales, right?

It's all about ROI, not only return of investment in money but also in time. Here are some factors to consider:

• The maximum number of listings for an MP store is 20,000. That includes not only active listings but all deleted listings that have sold anything at all.
• As far as I know, there is no way to do bulk listing on MP so each one has to be done manually. Even if the listing form had been streamlined for max efficiency and user friendliness (which it isn't by any stretch of the imagination) this takes a considerable amount of time. In my experience it is not realistic to do more than a hundred listings in a day and even that is pushing it. I'd love to hear if anybody can manage more. Gacha listings are different because you don't write very elaborate descriptions and you don't have to make your own pictures.
• Everything you have on MP is included in your inventory. They don't show up in the regular inventory window but they still add to the usual problems with bloated inventories.
• Search ranking is very much based on sales figures and often a few copies more or less sold can have a huge impact. Split your sales over several listings and watch as your ranking drops like a stone.
• If you list different riggings separately, be prepared to spend a lot of time dealing with complaints from cusotmers who couldn't be bothered to read the description an bought the wrong one.
• Not related to MP but how many vendors do you want for in your in-world store?

[Kyrah Abattoir]

Okay I'm gonna get lynched for this but, nowhere do I see anyone considering the "ethical" part of choosing which brands you support.

[ChinRey]

6 hours ago, Kyrah Abattoir said:

Okay I'm gonna get lynched for this but, nowhere do I see anyone considering the "ethical" part of choosing which brands you support.

A good point but think of it this way: With all the tasks involved, one extra rig is probably more than a days worth of work and not probably not work many people enjoy doing. Average income per sale is a lot less than a dollar when you deduct all the various fees and such. Realistic sales volume for a not-too-common mesh body, well...

As for doing it for the good of Second Life as a whole, that often feels a bit like covering yourself in sheep blood and jump into a tank full of hungry paranhas to feed the poor little fishes.

Edited February 25, 2019 by ChinRey