How to have a succesful fashion business in Secondlife.

[hh3000]

Hi all,

So I'm starting my first fashion label in Secondlife and I was wondering what do you need to do to make your business a success. This includes events I should look at for showing off my products, bloggers, youtubers and networking events.

Also -

Are there ways of making some revenue from my sim? Like ad boards?

And I was thinking of creating a customer loyalty program where you get a discount every time you spend a certain amount.

Thanks

 

[Orwar]

On 2/27/2020 at 2:30 AM, hh3000 said:

So I'm starting my first fashion label in Secondlife and I was wondering what do you need to do to make your business a success.

   Good quality and/or creativity - preferably both. Then again, to be fair, some of the biggest brands in SL have neither.

On 2/27/2020 at 2:30 AM, hh3000 said:

This includes events I should look at for showing off my products, bloggers, youtubers and networking events.

   Marketing can be extremely time consuming. Having a handful of bloggers and being at a couple of events would be a good place to start, as well as having your own Flickr and in-world group, and/or Discord group, to advertise new releases. Avoid the pitfall of too many events though, start off with one or two to see what pace you can comfortable create at, with the quality standards you set for yourself - also, not all releases need to be at events.

On 2/27/2020 at 2:30 AM, hh3000 said:

Are there ways of making some revenue from my sim? Like ad boards?

   You could, but it's probably not going to help much. When people look for places to advertise, they tend to look at traffic - clubs and infohubs are generally better places for it. Also, competitors advertising at your store doesn't sound too appealing, in my opinion.

On 2/27/2020 at 2:30 AM, hh3000 said:

And I was thinking of creating a customer loyalty program where you get a discount every time you spend a certain amount.

   Some (quite a few) stores do this already, and I think it's a good thing.

   You may also want to consider group/free gifts to boost region traffic - it doesn't need to be anything super fancy, but a single colour of an older release or something simple. Speaking of groups, don't put a join fee on it; it doesn't 'stop spammers/scammers' and, the group is there for you to advertise in and occasionally offer support through; customers shouldn't have to pay for that - unless you've got a VIP group with more discounts and/or free periodical releases.

[Chic Aeon]

If you are new to SL, note that this is not a particularly promising retail time in grids history. Sales are down for many to most brands, there are tons of creators making almost the same thing over and over again so that even the folks that WANT to buy are having trouble finding things to buy (certainly not everyone but a lot of us).  

 

So don't expect to make money quickly.  Improve your skills and enjoy the experience. Just like real life (which SL often follows along with side by side) there are ups and downs in business. The best advice I can give you is try to be DIFFERENT and find a niche.   The loyalty program idea is a good one, I agree. 

Not trying to deter you, I just see a lot of folks coming in to both Sansar and SL as well as other platforms expecting the "grand days" to still be around. They may return, but this is not the season.  

[Semirans]

On 3/3/2020 at 8:14 AM, Chic Aeon said:

If you are new to SL, note that this is not a particularly promising retail time in grids history. Sales are down for many to most brands, there are tons of creators making almost the same thing over and over again so that even the folks that WANT to buy are having trouble finding things to buy (certainly not everyone but a lot of us).  

 

So don't expect to make money quickly.  Improve your skills and enjoy the experience.

I agree ardently with the above.  As a fairly novice designer I find it difficult to compete with the very talented and longstanding brands, but also with the rock bottom pricing of other designers.  When I first started SL, it was not unusual to find some really WOW outfit and plunk down 1000L or more for it.  Now when I browse the MP I see decent mesh designs being sold for 10L or less.  I resolved to stop focusing on "how much can I make on this design".  I found that , for me at least, the drive in SL is to create, if I get compensation for what I make, that is icing.  Good luck and best wishes! 

[Saucey Sinister]

On 3/11/2020 at 5:47 PM, Semirans said:

I agree ardently with the above.  As a fairly novice designer I find it difficult to compete with the very talented and longstanding brands, but also with the rock bottom pricing of other designers.  When I first started SL, it was not unusual to find some really WOW outfit and plunk down 1000L or more for it.  Now when I browse the MP I see decent mesh designs being sold for 10L or less.  I resolved to stop focusing on "how much can I make on this design".  I found that , for me at least, the drive in SL is to create, if I get compensation for what I make, that is icing.  Good luck and best wishes! 

  I know I am responding way late, but I wanted to add something about the way I see competition in the SL retail market. I think there are a lot of factors that not everyone is considering. For example, the biggest retailers do not have the best quality so much as they have visibility. Behind most well known brands are at least 5 or more bloggers in various positions to advertise in various ways and they all have their network of advertising to their following. There are bloggers who devoted themselves to nothing but advertising for brands by blogging on their social media, those who run events that are well advertised, and even bloggers turned to brand creators themselves. Another thing is utilizing SL advertising web sites and services, but most importantly putting your items in the right event. I have been experimenting with events the last year and have found that it doesn't matter how much advertising power an event has. If their following isn't into what you sell, you may barely see your event fees back in your pocket. Yet, put your item in the right match and walk away with 50k lindens in one day. I have a very small full perm store in addition to my main brand and I passively make lindens over time with zero advertising. I don't even believe anyone who shops my main brand would want my full perm stuff. I think they find it completely by looking for full perm on the MP.

  We always have slow periods in SL, but I have seen an increase in my sales since people have been home. You'd be surprised at how much money you can earn by creating a well made sim mini hunt or how much advertising a good gift in a common gift/freebie group can be to bring in traffic to your store and income that ads up very fast. My advice: Do it. Experiment. Create. It's good for your soul! It's the hard work that will be the greatest reward of your success!

[iamyourneighbour]

No one's going to tell you this but it's all in your product picture

That's how you see products with 5x one star reviews. People don't even read the product page.

Your product icon needs to be consistent, supports branding (it will build don't think it wont)

Try uploading the hottest cake in the world the next killer mesh whatever and don't add the product icon = you wont get any sales.

[brodiac90]

I recently opened a store for Tweenster. I spent hours buying the meshes, texturing them, making demos, packaging, taking product photos, editing them, uploading them, making listings, previewing listings, testing deliveries and quality control etc. So far I've just under L$7000 invested in full perm meshes, group set up fees, texture uploads and scripts etc. The store has only been open for a few days and I've turned over L$1000 so far (L$900 - LL fees). 

I was wondering whether this was decent? Since the initial purchases sales seem to have dried up a bit. I've set my prices at what I think I'll make a return on. Say 8-10 units to break even etc but I'm finding it hard to compete with rock bottom prices. How on earth do people make a return?

 

[ChinRey]

9 minutes ago, brodiac90 said:

How on earth do people make a return?

The vast majority don't.

LL once accientally slipped the total sles volume on MP and from that it was easy to calculate the gross income for an average merchant. I don't remember the exact amount but it was less than 100 US dollars a year.