What do customers think about selling the same cloth in different textures as different products in the SL marketplace?

[MeshPromo]

It is very common practice that selling the same cloth using different textures as different products in the inworld stores in addition to the fatpack. There are some creators who do the same in the SL marketplace too.

When I started I did the same but then feels it is difficult to make/send updates as has to do it for dozens of listings at the same time. So I unlisted all the different color textured listings of the same products and combined those as fatpacks.

There are pros and cons of that multi-listing practice:

Pros for customers:
1. Can buy the cloth with an exact texture wanted, with a lower price than the fatpack.

Cons for customers:
1. Marketplace search is full of the same item (but with different textures) so has to spend a lot of time therefore it feels annoying and even other good items might miss during the long search.
2. Makes it hard to find some particular product from a favorite store page, if it is full of the same product in different textures.

Pros for merchants:
1. Can use different keywords to be visible in different searches. That makes it more possible for the products to come to the front search page and it might increase the sales.
2. Gain from the "price discrimination". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination

Cons for merchants:
1. Some customers might dislike those merchants by thinking of that practice as spamming, so it loses potential customers.
2. As SL marketplace getting full, LL might introduce SEO algorithm that prevents the same products come to the front.
3. It is time-consuming to make updates for the products.
4. When a customer comes to the merchant's store in the marketplace, they have to spend a lot of time to search what they wanted so they might feel bored then leave the store page. That also loses potential customers.
5. If a customer has a very negative thought about the "price discrimination" listing, there would be another reason to get a reduced rating for the product if they wish to rate.

Some might think this should be posted in the merchants' forum but I'd like to see what customers think as their opinion is very important, so that's why posted here.

Edited October 10, 2021 by MeshPromo

[Echelon Alcott]

As I consumer, I'd like to have the option to purchase the fatpack or a single texture. I would not mind if the marketplace only lists the fatpack, but the fatpack listing indicates that individual textures can be purchased separately at an inworld store. Hope this strikes a good balance, given the concerns mentioned.

[Rowan Amore]

3 minutes ago, Echelon Alcott said:

As I consumer, I'd like to have the option to purchase the fatpack or a single texture. I would not mind if the marketplace only lists the fatpack, but the fatpack listing indicates that individual textures can be purchased separately at an inworld store. Hope this strikes a good balance, given the concerns mentioned.

I totally agree.  However, so many merchants don't have an inworld option so they list their 37482 different colors of the same badly textured/colored item that we must weed through.  I despise the MP for just this reason.  They need much better filters.

[Sid Nagy]

It is the crappy way the marketplace layout is designed.
There should have been the choice of different colors for one listing. Just like almost all fashion websites in RL have. Fatpacks being one of the available options.

But because that isn't the case I feel that every merchant will rightfully so list every available color separately.
One has to work around the flaws that SL and its websites come with.

[Max Quirky]

I think merchants that combine their multiple items into just fatpack listing will find themselves missing out on a ton of business. Some people purchase fatpacks but the vast majority will be quite happy to purchase just the one item that they want thanks very much. By all means list them as fatpacks as well (with a discount of course) for those who for some reason must simply have all the options available despite probably never actually ever going to wear them.

[Silent Mistwalker]

56 minutes ago, Echelon Alcott said:

As I consumer, I'd like to have the option to purchase the fatpack or a single texture. I would not mind if the marketplace only lists the fatpack, but the fatpack listing indicates that individual textures can be purchased separately at an inworld store. Hope this strikes a good balance, given the concerns mentioned.

Could add a note in the description letting customers know that singles are available inworld. The question is, would people actually read it.

[Silent Mistwalker]

31 minutes ago, inb4u said:

I think merchants that combine their multiple items into just fatpack listing will find themselves missing out on a ton of business. Some people purchase fatpacks but the vast majority will be quite happy to purchase just the one item that they want thanks very much. By all means list them as fatpacks as well (with a discount of course) for those who for some reason must simply have all the options available despite probably never actually ever going to wear them.

Must be why some clothing uses texture changing HUDs.

[KT Kingsley]

LL do have colour variations on their Marketplace to-do list, according to Inara Pey's report on the September 2021 SL Web User Group meeting, but the timescale appears to be "don't hold your breath".

Quote

Item variations (e.g. multiple colour options for clothing items) is still a feature LL plan to add to the MP, but the work on providing / implementing it has not yet started, so no time frame as yet on when it might surface.

 

[Finite]

1 hour ago, Rowan Amore said:

I totally agree.  However, so many merchants don't have an inworld option so they list their 37482 different colors of the same badly textured/colored item that we must weed through.  I despise the MP for just this reason.  They need much better filters.

Same. I avoid MP as much as possible. Only really use it if I am looking for something very specific and have struck out at stores I thought it might be at.

[Finite]

1 hour ago, Echelon Alcott said:

As I consumer, I'd like to have the option to purchase the fatpack or a single texture. I would not mind if the marketplace only lists the fatpack, but the fatpack listing indicates that individual textures can be purchased separately at an inworld store. Hope this strikes a good balance, given the concerns mentioned.

Same here. I would much rather have a fatpack than a single color or texture. Generally if the fatpack isn't at a reasonable price I'll just walk away altogether. That being said a lot of people are starting off and still figuring things out. They'll come around eventually.

[Chic Aeon]

1 hour ago, Sid Nagy said:

It is the crappy way the marketplace layout is designed.
There should have been the choice of different colors for one listing. Just like almost all fashion websites in RL have. Fatpacks being one of the available options.

But because that isn't the case I feel that every merchant will rightfully so list every available color separately.
One has to work around the flaws that SL and its websites come with.

That is what Kitely (prominant Opensim grid and the one with the marketplace for the "whole" of Opensim) has been doing for many years (maybe always).  But while it is on the table with LL I seriously doubt it will ever happen. AND if it did it would be a total nightmare for the folks selling individual colors. 

 

I don't buy a lot of clothing as I have so much but when I do I often by the fatpack now.  I think the idea of single colors as well as a fatpack WITH BONUS CONTENT is the best way to go. Plenty of options for buyers. But agree that having just the fatpack on the marketplace would be good.  Again I don't foresee any changes -- just musing. 

[Sid Nagy]

1 hour ago, KT Kingsley said:

LL do have colour variations on their Marketplace to-do list, according to Inara Pey's report on the September 2021 SL Web User Group meeting, but the timescale appears to be "don't hold your breath".

 

I have winning the lottery on my to-do list.
Probably the chances are 50-50 that I will beat LL with the color variation options.
It is most likely stuck in their 'too difficult' pile.

[Rowan Amore]

13 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

I have winning the lottery on my to-do list.
Probably the chances are 50-50 that I will beat LL with the color variation options.
It is most likely stuck in their 'too difficult' pile.

Which is against their best interests regardless of how difficult they might fine it.  They take a percentage of MP sales as opposed to inworld sales.  I'd shop more on the MP as I'm sure others would if it were a more pleasurable experience.  I hadn't really thought about the drop down menu for colors but that, in and of itself, would be wonderful.   

[Lucia Nightfire]

[Prokofy Neva]

What Second Life is about is:

1. You take a thing, you put a price on it and set it for sale.

2. Another person buys it.

If someone doesn't like the thing, they don't buy it.

If they feel practices are shoddy and misleading and they may have even been burned once, they don't shop there again.

The end.

 

[Kathlen Onyx]

I think merchants lose out big time. They price their fatpacks at some ungodly price that i normally end up just buying one...maybe two of the one I want.  If the fatpack was priced more reasonable I would consider spending the money on the fatpack.  When a fatpack of a top with bland plain colors is $1299 and I can get the one shirt for $249 then I'm just buying the one and it's usually white or black. 

If you can only get the piece with the patterns by buying the fatpack I just don't buy it at all. No seller has made anything that I just can't do without.

[Rowan Amore]

I'd love if more places did mini fatpacks.  I don't wear bright colors normally or pastels. No, I don't want it in purple, green or watermelon.  What I want is a neutral fat pack choice.  White, black, brown, tan, etc.  Fat packs that always include black.and white then an assortment of other colors.  One with pastels, one with brights.  And corresponding HUDS.  Do not give me 5 colors packaged separately.  

[Stephanie Misfit]

10 hours ago, MeshPromo said:

4. When a customer comes to the merchant's store in the marketplace, they have to spend a lot of time to search what they wanted so they might feel bored then leave the store page. That also loses potential customers.

Yes, I notice this a bit when browsing the marketplace. Stores who have masses of listings because they have tons of single colours of their products, and don't necessarily make great use of keywords to enable searching. I give up on browsing their stores quite quickly. This isn't a problem in world but it certainly has an impact on the marketplace.

I don't really care how people want to sell their products but I will make my shopping choices according to my budget. If someone makes original mesh and wants to charge per colour for each item of clothing, and a substantial amount of lindens for the fatpack, good for them, they've worked hard meshing and rigging and everything else that goes along with selling in SL, and who knows, maybe they rely on the income. I personally don't like paying 1200L or whatever for a fatpack so I can count on one hand the number of times I have and that's usually been for a full outfit. I do like Rowan's idea of mini packs and there is one store that does this that I buy a lot of stuff from, black and white in one pack for not much more than I would pay for an outfit somewhere else, yes please.

 

[Jaylinbridges]

I only buy clothing now that has a color/texture HUD or HUDs included, so I only need to buy one copy of a clothing item, or one outfit.

No HUD, no sale.  And I have a list of dozens of great designers that now include color/texture HUDs for nearly all of their products.

Strange no one has mentioned color/texture changing HUDs here.

I also look for mesh  clothing that is mod, so I can change the textures.

It was day ONE of my SL experience, having never been in any other VR or 3D program in my life, that I found the Edit and Color chart and started to change the textures and colors on my freebie t-shirts, pants and socks.   Something that took me less than an hour as a complete newbie to figure out can't be that time consuming for an experienced designer.  Did I mention I only buy from designers that now provide color/texture changing huds with their outfits?

Quote

Cons for customers:
1. Marketplace search is full of the same item (but with different textures) so has to spend a lot of time therefore it feels annoying and even other good items might miss during the long search.
2. Makes it hard to find some particular product from a favorite store page, if it is full of the same product in different textures.

From the OP quote above, of course with a color/texture HUD included, you only need one MP ad, not a dozen for the same item!

Win Win for the Consumer. 

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Jaylinbridges

[Jaylinbridges]

Why are you confused Rowan?  Have you ever bought clothing, shoes, hair, jewelry, even trees - with a texture changing HUD?  They are nearly as common today as pumpkins at the shopnhop.

Should I post a pic of a typical color changing HUD here (I'll strike out the business name), in case this is a new thing to you.

 

[Kathlen Onyx]

5 minutes ago, Jaylinbridges said:

Why are you confused Rowan?  Have you ever bought clothing, shoes, hair, jewelry, even trees - with a texture changing HUD?  They are nearly as common today as pumpkins at the shopnhop.

Should I post a pic of a typical color changing HUD here (I'll strike out the business name), in case this is a new thing to you.

 

Because a HUD is what is typically included when you buy a fatpack. We are talking the differences between buying Fatpacks and single color items. The clothing with the texture changing HUD is typically much more expensive than the single color item, which may or may not have a HUD with the items you didn't buy grayed out or unable to be used. Of course not all stores are more expensive. I've found nice things for $L99 that have many colors and textures.

So from your post are you saying you only buy fatpacks or clothing that has many different colors?

Also most quality mesh clothing is no modify which typically means you can't add a texture or change the color with tinting. 

[Rowan Amore]

What Sam said.  That's a fatpack.

[Jaylinbridges]

3 hours ago, Sam1 Bellisserian said:

So from your post are you saying you only buy fatpacks or clothing that has many different colors?

No, I am saying there are many designers that include a color changing HUD with the ONE style item they sell. They do not sell fatpacks anymore.  And their outfits with HUDS does not cost anything near what a fatpack would.  Most of the outfits with a HUD range from 100 to 450 $L.  From the Huds you can set up thousands of color and texture combinations.

There are still old school designers who think charging for each color, or buy the entire fatpack is the only way to sell, because it is more profitable for them.  They are losing sales to the designers who do not sell fatpacks because they are not needed.  Maybe we need a list of designers who now only sell with HUDs, and still sell their items for fair prices.  It sounds like some in this forum are not keeping up to date with the new designers.

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Jaylinbridges

[Rowan Amore]

15 minutes ago, Sam1 Bellisserian said:

Because a HUD is what is typically included when you buy a fatpack. We are talking the differences between buying Fatpacks and single color items. The clothing with the texture changing HUD is typically much more expensive than the single color item, which may or may not have a HUD with the items you didn't buy grayed out or unable to be used. Of course not all stores are more expensive. I've found nice things for $L99 that have many colors and textures.

So from your post are you saying you only buy fatpacks or clothing that has many different colors?

Also most quality mesh clothing is no modify which typically means you can't add a texture or change the color with tinting. 

Now some template type stores only sell fatpacks.  They're usually the price of a single item at the quality mesh stores.  They do have some interesting patterns but eh, it's hit or miss.

 

[Rowan Amore]

Here's an example.  It's a full perm template dress.  Texturing HUD included.  This isn't something new that designers are doing.  Price...199L

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Bens-Boutique-Korina-DressAnimal-Print-Hud-Control/21965418