Weekend sales taking over?

[PixelBerry]

I don't know whenever this has been asked before or not, but I've noticed lately that more and more popular/bigger stores are joining Fifty linden fridays and other weekend sales.

Do you think that regular events are losing popularity and sales, and that is the result of that?

Or perhaps even when products are lowered to friendly prices that they actually earn more by selling stuff at that price?

I also notice that some stores put pretty new and recent products from events into weekend sales not so long after.

But also a part of me might think that I guess people are becoming smarter about their purchases, I myself realized it would be better just use money on the weekend sales instead because you save money that way, and for the most part you can actually afford stuff that way if you have a tiny store with a little income, without having to put real money into it.

It's just that a part of me obviously love buying stuff at low prices but at the same time I feel bad for the creators, since they do put a lot of work in most cases into these products to earn a income, just my curious brain with a lot of questions.

Edited February 18, 2022 by PixelBerry

[Ayashe Ninetails]

I can't speak to the popularity of non-discount events, but the person (one of the people?) who runs the FLF inworld group often asks group members which stores they'd like to see participate in the near future. I assume they then reach out to those designers to see if they're willing to join the event. If you're seeing new stores joining in here and there, that could be one reason why. Chat gets pretty busy when we're asked that question. 😂

[Bree Giffen]

Discount sales are a good marketing tool for creators as long as they don't end up making customers purchase only discounted items. I think sales events in general are pretty much the main form of advertising in SL to introduce new people to a store. I know that I wouldn't have known about many of the stores through a search in the SL viewer on the the SL marketplace.

[Janet Voxel]

I don’t think it’s effecting sales at events. They’re still as popular as ever, especially top tier events. 
 

What has happened for me personally, I find myself saying “I’ll catch it in a weekend sale” for things I’m on the fence about buying though. Which works out for me, because if it doesn’t end up in a weekend sale, I forget about it. If it does, I end up with a bargain.

[Sorciaa]

While I still try and go to the bigger events these days i really don't buy a lot there unless its a must have.. I think this is me and a lot of other shoppers these days

 

 

 

[Sid Nagy]

My inventory has become so diverse and full over the years, I have almost everything that I really need in everyday Second Life. From sand dunes for a beach to black socks for under my tux. So I can afford to wait until the right items show up in a weekend or whatever sale. And I guess that is the case with a lot of oldbies in SL. Tier, textures and texture upload are the biggest expenses for me at the moment.
So yes, I totally can imagine that to keep your normal L$ flow as a merchant, it becomes more important to be present in sale events.

That reminds me, it is Friday isn't it?
 

Edited February 18, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[LittleMe Jewell]

 

[Chic Aeon]

5 hours ago, Janet Voxel said:

I don’t think it’s effecting sales at events. They’re still as popular as ever, especially top tier events. 
 

What has happened for me personally, I find myself saying “I’ll catch it in a weekend sale” for things I’m on the fence about buying though. Which works out for me, because if it doesn’t end up in a weekend sale, I forget about it. If it does, I end up with a bargain.

 

Well the creators that I know aren't agreeing with you --- LOL.

Many have dropped  out (these both top tier and second tier  -- or what USED to be those designations a couple of years ago) of events or only doing a very few each year. Again, the folks that I talk to are not making the money they used to. 

 

If you have been keeping track of the NUMBER of booths in many of the top events, they have diminished a LOT over the last two years. And I have been able to get into all but a couple of events on the first day where as in the past it took several days before I could get in.  

 

So your experience is definitely different than mine  

[Sid Nagy]

I expect the SL economy to go further down the next couple of months/year because of the roaring inflation in a huge part of the world.
A lot of SL customers will have to make choices when RL money gets tighter.
I for instance will not hesitate for a second if I need my SL expenses in RL.
RL comes first. I'll sleep under a SL bridge if needed.

That will make merchants (who depend (partly) on SL sales as their RL income) even more willing to be present in sales events.

On the other hand I expect LL to raise prices for their services within the next months.

Tinfoil hats anyone?

Edited February 19, 2022 by Sid Nagy
I improved readability somewhat.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

21 hours ago, PixelBerry said:

more and more popular/bigger stores are joining Fifty linden fridays

Maybe I should join too. I'd finally make a buck or two by increasing my prices from L$10 to L$50 on Fridays.

[Annie Nova]

I enjoy FLF sometimes, just depends on what's being sold. The thing I hate about them is the fact that they pick the UGLIEST colors to put on sale, while adding the really nice ones to be sold for full price. 

[Sid Nagy]

16 minutes ago, Annie Nova said:

I enjoy FLF sometimes, just depends on what's being sold. The thing I hate about them is the fact that they pick the UGLIEST colors to put on sale, while adding the really nice ones to be sold for full price. 

Yes, it might be a bit annoying, but the other way around would be really terrible for business I guess.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Janet Voxel]

15 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

So your experience is definitely different than mine  

That’s fine, that’s the beauty of SL. 😊

 

15 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

Many have dropped  out (these both top tier and second tier  -- or what USED to be those designations a couple of years ago) of events or only doing a very few each year. Again, the folks that I talk to are not making the money they used to. 

This may be true, but there may be other reasons for this that you may not have considered.

15 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

If you have been keeping track of the NUMBER of booths in many of the top events, they have diminished a LOT over the last two years. And I have been able to get into all but a couple of events on the first day where as in the past it took several days before I could get in.  

I’ve noticed some events that are considered top tier have gotten smaller, sure. Here’s another perspective: the number of booths diminished because of ridiculous rules, blatant favoritism and other behind the scenes shenanigans that occur with those events.

And maybe….just maybe, those creators went off on their own and created other events. Those events aren’t listed on a certain site, so to the average person that uses said site, it may appear that top tier events have diminished. In reality a certain segment of consumers have moved with them, because they are no longer being catered to. Therefore freeing you to get into an event much easier.

It also might be possible that…I dunno, those top tier events only cater to one or two bodies are seeing a drop in sales because there are in fact people that have moved on from them, so they go to events that have things they can wear. It may be not enough to unseat the most popular body, but it might be enough that creators feel it, no?

Just some food for thought.

[Chic Aeon]

2 hours ago, Janet Voxel said:

17 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

Many have dropped  out (these both top tier and second tier  -- or what USED to be those designations a couple of years ago) of events or only doing a very few each year. Again, the folks that I talk to are not making the money they used to. 

This may be true, but there may be other reasons for this that you may not have considered.

That may certainly be true. I was only talking about reports from folks I am friends with -- not the creators I don't know :D.  

[Marianne Little]

This thread started about weekly sales, not monthly sales. 😉

So I can not say if it is more or fewer booths in Uber and other monthly/quarterly events.

What I know, is that I want something, I still buy it for full price, I do not wait and hope it is in a weekend sale.

I spend too much on weekend sales, so I believe it is better for the merchants than for me. It is something about sales... it is so much easier to buy cheap stuff "because I can need it in the future". What happens? A: I forget I have it or B: I never need it or C : it was not so good as I thought, so I buy a full priced item from one of my favorite designers and never use the cheap stuff. For instance a hair from Doux instead of the hair from (no name shall be mentioned).

Money wasted. Happy seller. Me not so happy and decides to be a less enthusiastic shopper next weekend. Ha.

[Marianne Little]

On 2/18/2022 at 7:10 PM, Sid Nagy said:

My inventory has become so diverse and full over the years, I have almost everything that I really need in everyday Second Life. From sand dunes for a beach to black socks for under my tux. So I can afford to wait until the right items show up in a weekend or whatever sale. And I guess that is the case with a lot of oldbies in SL. Tier, textures and texture upload are the biggest expenses for me at the moment.
So yes, I totally can imagine that to keep your normal L$ flow as a merchant, it becomes more important to be present in sale events.

That reminds me, it is Friday isn't it?
 

I have all I need, but newer stuff look better. Since you mention sand, I have some beach building sets, and I use only 2 of them. I should delete the others. I have been good and deleted lots of old clothes. They just sit there. Same with furniture. I have "my" creators that I use. All the other stuff... no. I have lots of pre-Bento poses. I thought I should keep them because I could still use them with a separate hand pose HUD, yes? No, because I am flooded with new and better poses. I should rip out my sentimentality and delete all of them.

But yeah. I will delete more old stuff. I promise myself now.

[Annie Nova]

5 hours ago, Sid Nagy said:

Yes, it might be a bit annoying, but the other way around would be really terrible for business I guess.

Maybe, but seeing the ugly colors on sale and the fatpack at full price does not make me want to buy

[Sid Nagy]

In responds to Marianne's post (I forgot to quote):

Yeah sorting the inventory is a pain.
I currently make sub folders with the name "old stuff" in every important folder and dump all the older stuff in there.
Once I've sorted it out that far, I will start to delete.

I guess it will be 2023 by then.
Thankfully my inventory is reasonably well sorted, so I still can easily find stuff.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Sid Nagy
Hobby.

[Sid Nagy]

2 hours ago, Annie Nova said:

Maybe, but seeing the ugly colors on sale and the fatpack at full price does not make me want to buy

Labeling something as ugly color is in the end very individual of course. Some even don't want to be found dead in pink, others love that color.
Best is to put up the whole fatpack for 60 L$.  😅

Edited February 19, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Annie Nova]

41 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

Labeling something as ugly color is in the end very individual of course. Some even don't want to be found dead in pink, others love that color.
Best is to put up the whole fatpack for 60 L$.  😅

Yes ugly from my prospective, and it would be great if the fatpack was 60L. I have seen a couple of places that do offer fatpacks at 60L or a drastically reduced price. 

[Jules Catlyn]

God forbid that a creator makes any money. But: Customer is always right...............right?

 

[Marianne Little]

7 hours ago, Annie Nova said:

Yes ugly from my prospective, and it would be great if the fatpack was 60L. I have seen a couple of places that do offer fatpacks at 60L or a drastically reduced price. 

I am avoiding the single colors... until I see something I like so much that I buy them. I am very flexible with the rules I set for myself. 😄

But fatpacks is very tempting. The odds of me buying them is much bigger, even if I am not 100% taken with them. How many sandals with straps up the ankle can I have? It is some pair(s) in every weekend sale. I am sure I have lots of pairs I haven't unpacked, because they were fatpacks. And it is 60 or 75 L more in the creators pocket, instead of me giving the single color sandals a pass.

I am not sure about what it costs to participate in the Happy Weekend, Fifty Linden Friday, Saturday Sale? It can not be free?

But it is cheaper than a booth in one of the big monthly events, isn't it? And it is four times in a month that they can sell their goods, even if it is at a lower price than in a monthly event.

I think the weekend shopping sales is taking in a lot more money than counting on selling at full prices, and that the creators can see it.

[Anna Nova]

For most stores, like Blueberry and Addams, who's regular prices are very high, I maintain a list of things who's demos I have tried and liked.  Then when they have a sale I can pop over and get them.

As for FLF and TSS things, these are often special textures, so I like to check them out.

No one will get rich with me as a customer.

[Salt Peppermint]

from a creators perspective: because of an oversaturated market and a lot of things repeating themselves the customers became more sensitive to what to buy at what price overall. A while ago you could make a nice item and it would sell in a somewhat " stable" range. Now it has to be a specatacular item and it will sell awesome but if it's just "nice", sales quickly drop into the gutter. There is a much bigger rollercoaster in sales and it bcame much more difficult to keep a stable range there. The mass of sale events is for sure influencing customers buying behaviour and therefore also other mothly events. While instore sale events are super to promote your brand , too much of it will be very toxic and actually do the opposite to the brand. This is the part that I feel many creators are not realizing. They sell well at a sale event , and keep doing those more and more, losing the balance between normal prices and sale prices, so of course customers will just wait until the items will go on sale and not buy them for regular price this way. Which is totally understandable. In the long run, this creator will struggle more and more with growing frustration :/. Finding the balance there is certainly not easy but very crucial 

[StarlanderGoods]

I wonder how many fatpacks at 60L a merchant would need to sell, to pay for event fees, and for the time it took to create the item.  The time it takes to make an item will change depending on how complex it is, but even with a perfect streamlined process, you still need time to simulate the clothing, rigging, texturing, baking it, assembling it in SL, and packaging it to be sold.