Mandatory event Landmark "gifts" to merchant locations

[Maitimo]

I still have an unsorted folder in my inventory for the 2021 Halloween shop n hop. I'm not doing any more events until I've unpacked and sorted those. Which will probably be never.

[AmeliaJ08]

17 hours ago, Maitimo said:

I still have an unsorted folder in my inventory for the 2021 Halloween shop n hop. I'm not doing any more events until I've unpacked and sorted those. Which will probably be never.

I save them all up for when I'm bored too, I just got to the 2021 Halloween stuff too! there was some I kept.

 

[Perrie Juran]

I have pretty much given up on freebies, especially any form of hunting for them. The 99% discard rate just made it not worth my time. Especially clothes. The vast majority of  freebies are so badly made they give my poor Martian skin a rash.

[Stephanie Misfit]

I don't understand these stores that give away virtual junk that does not represent their usual type of merchandise (clothing stores giving away tiny face tattoos etc.) when they could take the opportunity to increase their sales by giving away the right type of freebies at events. As an example, making a dress to sell, and giving away the accessories that perfectly match it as a gift. Basically making anything that matches a full-priced product, so that people will want to buy the rest of the set. This will create goodwill with existing customers, too. I guess though that some designers are flat out trying to get all their paid products ready for the 10 different events they are in every month, without having to worry about freebies too.

[Persephone Emerald]

22 minutes ago, Stephanie Misfit said:

I don't understand these stores that give away virtual junk that does not represent their usual type of merchandise (clothing stores giving away tiny face tattoos etc.) when they could take the opportunity to increase their sales by giving away the right type of freebies at events. As an example, making a dress to sell, and giving away the accessories that perfectly match it as a gift. Basically making anything that matches a full-priced product, so that people will want to buy the rest of the set. This will create goodwill with existing customers, too. I guess though that some designers are flat out trying to get all their paid products ready for the 10 different events they are in every month, without having to worry about freebies too.

They could give a single color as a gift, while the regular version has a HUD. I think packaging for different mesh bodies, rather than for different colors, is good idea. They don't have to sell a full color HUD either. Maybe just 3 tones in a mini pack.

I think gifts should be thought of as wearable demos, not as some junk the merchant has to give away in order to be allowed at the event.

[Chic Aeon]

I admit that I didn't read ALL of this thread so far as most posts were from folks who hadn't even been there (yes, well) BUT "I" was there right after the event opened, had no issues at all with textures rezzing. The important thing is that the creators apparently HAD A CHOICE as many gifts were right there to be picked up.  There were some "additional huds for the products being sold" given as "gifts" and I agree that is tacky for sure.  

Another important note from someone who picked up many of the gifts (like 50) given out at the event (not makeup that I can't wear and a few other things I avoided) and opened all those boxes --- this has some of the nicest clothing of any even of late -- right up there with some of the Shop and Hops but with much less work.  I have two blog posts in my queue for next week and I had a great time doing the fashion show portion -- something I can just barely remember having fun with.

So instead of everyone complaining -- maybe actually doing some homework before saying stuff that isn't really true might be a better idea.

Personally I am keeping more from this event (again didn't go to the main stores) as any of late. Some venues don't even blog because they are so poor.  

THANKS to the designers who went the extra mile and made worthwhile presents. 

 

[Rowan Amore]

32 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

They could give a single color as a gift

Not if it's mint or lavender.  😐

[Luna Bliss]

What event is this?

[Rowan Amore]

3 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

What event is this?

Uber

[Psyche Starling]

35 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

I admit that I didn't read ALL of this thread so far as most posts were from folks who hadn't even been there (yes, well) BUT "I" was there right after the event opened, had no issues at all with textures rezzing. The important thing is that the creators apparently HAD A CHOICE as many gifts were right there to be picked up.  There were some "additional huds for the products being sold" given as "gifts" and I agree that is tacky for sure.  

Another important note from someone who picked up many of the gifts (like 50) given out at the event (not makeup that I can't wear and a few other things I avoided) and opened all those boxes --- this has some of the nicest clothing of any even of late -- right up there with some of the Shop and Hops but with much less work.  I have two blog posts in my queue for next week and I had a great time doing the fashion show portion -- something I can just barely remember having fun with.

So instead of everyone complaining -- maybe actually doing some homework before saying stuff that isn't really true might be a better idea.

Personally I am keeping more from this event (again didn't go to the main stores) as any of late. Some venues don't even blog because they are so poor.  

THANKS to the designers who went the extra mile and made worthwhile presents. 

 

Oh, that is good to hear! I just picked up the Warehouse ones today so I'll go look at Uber in a day or two.

[diamond Marchant]

On 8/25/2023 at 2:44 AM, Qie Niangao said:

I was just poking around selecting stuff, Contents tab open, looking for hints that a kiosk might be a rare exception to the "all girly stuff" norm

I feel your pain... but I would substitute "porn clothes" for "all girly stuff".  A few thoughts...

I am a committed shopoholic and gift grabber so, over the years, I have perfected a technique that works for me.

- only take gifts from booths where you are familiar with the creator or you see stuff you actually like

- following a LM with a gift card is OK if it is apparel or avatar enhancement, as there is likely to be something at the store you will like  - use the gift card immediately

- otherwise, don't follow the LM unless it is a store you like

- only collect stuff you can immediately process... that is, unbox and evaluate... only keep the keepers and delete everything else - I also rename stuff and sort into folders (e.g. home decor/fireplaces)

- never let stuff pile up in your inventory as it will just sit there, unopened forever

I do these things because I enjoy it. There is also the possibility that you will find something you really like. A brief trip to Uber this morning (no lag) yielded a very nice aloe vera plant and some autumn leaves I am sure I will use. (and didn't see any porn clothes, yet)

[Stephanie Misfit]

One thing that would be really nice, is if gift boxes/vendors at events had pictures of the gifts. Sure, it is more textures to rez but it would really help people out in deciding whether they needed to take the items or not. I have seen some events do this, but most don't, it's just a box with a surprise item inside. Failing that, a picture inside the box of the item is really useful to help people know what they are getting once they have taken the gift.

I know there are probably some who think we should be grateful for every free thing we receive. But we all have to manage our inventories and this is time-consuming, and I believe that merchants should respect their customers' time. I have gifts in both my stores and have given gifts at events, and always provide pictures so that people can decide whether they want them or not. As a merchant, I might think the gift I am providing is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I understand that not everyone may want or need what I am offering.

[steeljane42]

On 8/27/2023 at 3:50 AM, Stephanie Misfit said:

I don't understand these stores that give away virtual junk that does not represent their usual type of merchandise (clothing stores giving away tiny face tattoos etc.) when they could take the opportunity to increase their sales by giving away the right type of freebies at events. As an example, making a dress to sell, and giving away the accessories that perfectly match it as a gift. Basically making anything that matches a full-priced product, so that people will want to buy the rest of the set. This will create goodwill with existing customers, too. I guess though that some designers are flat out trying to get all their paid products ready for the 10 different events they are in every month, without having to worry about freebies too.

And this is exactly why I gave up on gifts many years ago, with very rare exception here and there. Shop and Hop is especially bad on this, because of the layout (it is a bad layout for shopping in general), because of the scale (far too many regions, especially on the last few rounds), but most importantly because it's just unusable stuff in almost every single case.

I still occasionally "edit-check" the boxes with gifts of some stores that look interesting enough, but yeah, in 99% cases it's either a choker, earrings, tattoo or something really really old. SL20B round of Shop and Hop was especially fun in that regard. One of the biggest hair stores on the grid? Earrings gift. Just... why? They are not even greedy with FLF/Weekend sales every other month now, and they have plenty of still nice, but a bit older hairstyles to put in there, but no, it's earrings. I don't even need it, because I buy all their hairstyles that suits me on release, but would be nice for others. Big clothing store? Earrings. Despite not having a single accessory release before. Furniture store with some decent creations every now and then? A choker. And so on.

Thankfully many stores I like do/did post what they are offering either on their flickr or in the group notices, so checking it was pretty fast, and picking those 3-4 actually nice and quality gifts along with a few credits was even faster.

[Persephone Emerald]

21 minutes ago, steeljane42 said:

And this is exactly why I gave up on gifts many years ago, with very rare exception here and there. Shop and Hop is especially bad on this, because of the layout (it is a bad layout for shopping in general), because of the scale (far too many regions, especially on the last few rounds), but most importantly because it's just unusable stuff in almost every single case.

I still occasionally "edit-check" the boxes with gifts of some stores that look interesting enough, but yeah, in 99% cases it's either a choker, earrings, tattoo or something really really old. SL20B round of Shop and Hop was especially fun in that regard. One of the biggest hair stores on the grid? Earrings gift. Just... why? They are not even greedy with FLF/Weekend sales every other month now, and they have plenty of still nice, but a bit older hairstyles to put in there, but no, it's earrings. I don't even need it, because I buy all their hairstyles that suits me on release, but would be nice for others. Big clothing store? Earrings. Despite not having a single accessory release before. Furniture store with some decent creations every now and then? A choker. And so on.

Thankfully many stores I like do/did post what they are offering either on their flickr or in the group notices, so checking it was pretty fast, and picking those 3-4 actually nice and quality gifts along with a few credits was even faster.

They did change up the layout for the better at the last Shop & Hop. It was still huge, but the Adult regions were separate and the shops were arranged in a circle in each region instead of the cross shape. That saves a few steps. Now if we could just get different kinds of stores in their own areas - vehicles, furniture, buldings, body parts, women's clothing, men's clothing, mixed gender clothing, landscaping, pets, gadgets.

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

I stoped getting free things to be honest except for a few select merchants. 
 

 My inventory can not take it!

 

 

[xDancingStarx]

Gifts are eventually a marketing instrument to generate future sales. They're not the act of a good Samaritan. It's all about money.

If I had to follow a landmark from SLB to a store in order to pick up the gift, this would raise the bar to want it enough to pick it up really high, but I haven't run into these. I'm not going to many events where they offer gifts but so far I haven't made any negative experiences in this regard.

The only negative experience I've made was when somebody abused gift cards (collected them with alts) in the recent SLB event of one of the more popular stores, and in the following days you as a regular customer had to listen to rants of the owners where they were addressing "Dear Valued Customers" but changed back and forth between that and addressing the cheaters like "Are you kidding us right now? [...] Kindly take your sorry asses and ***** off." and I really did not like reading of "You" when I actually got nothing to do with this. Even if those parts were obviously addressing the cheaters, but still the whole notecard was addressing the "valued customers", it was just a horrible, horrible response.

[Qie Niangao]

1 hour ago, xDancingStarx said:

Gifts are eventually a marketing instrument to generate future sales. They're not the act of a good Samaritan. It's all about money.

Right, and there are different strategies merchants can use to generate the most future sales, etc., but I guess what puzzles me most is the role of gifts for the event organizer. Before I scrambled the words in the thread title, I meant to be discussing mandatory gifts at events. Originally I was baffled by the idea of gifts at events being landmarks that take shoppers away from those events in order to collect the gifts. This seemed like the merchants undermining the event, like revenge for being forced to give gifts at all, but it turns out it was originally the event's own idea.

That's repeating myself, but now I feel like I don't completely appreciate why events require merchants to provide gifts at "special" event occasions such as "birthdays".  I can make up some just-so stories:

1. Gifts help commemorate the occasion, making it all feel more "special", drawing more shoppers
2. More shoppers will come simply because there are gifts to collect
3. Shoppers will hang out longer at the event and end up buying more
4. Merchants will spend more time preparing for the event, potentially impairing competing events

Merchants themselves may be eager to give gifts for all the good promotional reasons, but those motivations seem independent of whatever events get out of it: the merchants don't need the event's mandate; nothing is stopping them from giving gifts at events where gifts aren't mandatory. I have no merchant-relevant intuition—I haven't sold anything in SL for over a decade—so I can't guess whether merchants think a particular gift would be more valuable promotional tools if given at every kiosk, or more rarely at the whim of individual merchants.

It's not as if I'm going to start running shopping events—like that's what SL needs, more events!—but as SL commerce goes they're a pretty big deal now and I don't understand a lot of what makes an event work and what doesn't.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Qie Niangao
"over a decade" instead of "fifteen years" because… when was Zindra opened, anyway?

[Claireschen Hesten]

1 hour ago, xDancingStarx said:

The only negative experience I've made was when somebody abused gift cards (collected them with alts) in the recent SLB event of one of the more popular stores, and in the following days you as a regular customer had to listen to rants of the owners

The store that did this sent out a rather abusive notecard about why they were stopping their SLB gift card from working. They set up the perms wrong so some people took advantage to the tune of thousands of L$. Personally nothing took my fancy at the time thought I'd save for later. So the majority of costumers (potential) got punished. Based on their response to the situation decided I won't be shopping there anymore.

[Persephone Emerald]

1 hour ago, xDancingStarx said:

The only negative experience I've made was when somebody abused gift cards (collected them with alts) in the recent SLB event of one of the more popular stores, and in the following days you as a regular customer had to listen to rants of the owners where they were addressing "Dear Valued Customers" but changed back and forth between that and addressing the cheaters like "Are you kidding us right now? [...] Kindly take your sorry asses and ***** off." and I really did not like reading of "You" when I actually got nothing to do with this. Even if those parts were obviously addressing the cheaters, but still the whole notecard was addressing the "valued customers", it was just a horrible, horrible response.

6 minutes ago, Claireschen Hesten said:

The store that did this sent out a rather abusive notecard about why they were stopping their SLB gift card from working. They set up the perms wrong so some people took advantage to the tune of thousands of L$. Personally nothing took my fancy at the time thought I'd save for later. So the majority of costumers (potential) got punished. Based on their response to the situation decided I won't be shopping there anymore.

Abuse of gift cards is a common problem at events. This happened with more than one merchant at the last Shop & Hop, and honestly I don't mind when the merchant calls out the cheaters, but I do mind when they punish everyone by removing their gift, because the merchant is also partially responsible for setting their permissions badly. They should make gift cards one person only and non transferable if they want to avoid abuse. Giving out a gift card that was worth quite a bit of money, was also a bad decision made by one merchant whose gift card was abused.

By the rules of the Shop & Hop event, gift cards need to worth at least $L 300 and enough to purchase at least one item from the store. They can't be just enough for a discount where the customer still has to pay something. Since merchants don't have to pay to be in the Shop & Hop event and they get free advertisement to nearly everyone in SL, this is a very reasonable expectation. Far too many merchants at Shop & Hop are giving out crappy gifts, recycling old gifts, and removing gifts early for one reason or another.

[xDancingStarx]

3 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

I don't mind when the merchant calls out the cheaters, but I do mind when they punish everyone by removing their gift

A store can call out cheaters as much as they like, but IMO you don't do that when you write a notecard to "Dear customers" and then keep talking of "you".

The same way of communication was used when it was announced that the gift cards expire.

"Due to the ongoing *****ery, 

ALL GIFTCARDS AQUIRED AT SL20B WILL EXPIRE 31st of JULY"

This is just not a language or a tone that you can or should use when talking to hundreds of "innocent" people, especially when this is related to an official SLB event.

[AmeliaJ08]

11 hours ago, steeljane42 said:

And this is exactly why I gave up on gifts many years ago, with very rare exception here and there. Shop and Hop is especially bad on this, because of the layout (it is a bad layout for shopping in general), because of the scale (far too many regions, especially on the last few rounds), but most importantly because it's just unusable stuff in almost every single case.

I still occasionally "edit-check" the boxes with gifts of some stores that look interesting enough, but yeah, in 99% cases it's either a choker, earrings, tattoo or something really really old. SL20B round of Shop and Hop was especially fun in that regard. One of the biggest hair stores on the grid? Earrings gift. Just... why? They are not even greedy with FLF/Weekend sales every other month now, and they have plenty of still nice, but a bit older hairstyles to put in there, but no, it's earrings. I don't even need it, because I buy all their hairstyles that suits me on release, but would be nice for others. Big clothing store? Earrings. Despite not having a single accessory release before. Furniture store with some decent creations every now and then? A choker. And so on.

Thankfully many stores I like do/did post what they are offering either on their flickr or in the group notices, so checking it was pretty fast, and picking those 3-4 actually nice and quality gifts along with a few credits was even faster.

For Shop & Hops I've always just used the spreadsheets that people publish of the gifts. Not ideal since no pictures but descriptions often help. Yes, it's not really in the spirit of it but I like to collect gifts and it has shown me a few creators that I didn't know about.

 

[AmeliaJ08]

11 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

They did change up the layout for the better at the last Shop & Hop. It was still huge, but the Adult regions were separate and the shops were arranged in a circle in each region instead of the cross shape. That saves a few steps. Now if we could just get different kinds of stores in their own areas - vehicles, furniture, buldings, body parts, women's clothing, men's clothing, mixed gender clothing, landscaping, pets, gadgets.

Yeah SL20B Shop & Hop was huge! but as usual impossible to find specific stores. Really there should be a directory with the store's primary focus listed, it was too big to just browse reasonably... I took a noobie to show her but the scale of it meant all we could really do is bounce between the gift locations and have a quick browse in each region, knowing exactly what we'd be likely to find would make the Shop & Hops a lot more useful as events imo.

 

 

[Psyche Starling]

Regarding Uber, I just picked up the gifts this morning and while I've only unpacked...a whopping one gift so far, it's exactly what I like in a gift! 🥰

The booth is selling a dress. It's a nice dress. The gift is another color of that same dress. I like it a lot and plan to go back and buy another color or maybe even the fatpack. The gift serves as a wearable demo of sorts, and piqued my interest in a store I've never heard of before.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

Re: Gifts at events - they're there to bring more traffic. Quite a few times, I only hopped over to an event to grab the gifts and it led to one or two purchases. I wouldn't have gone without that lure, though.

Re: Shop & Hop, I'm over it and likely won't attend it again. I found the last one to be a mess. Just way too many stores/sims, browsing via spreadsheets and Flickr and trying to plan out where to go to avoid having to visit every single region like I used to do, taking notes on my gift cards as they all expired in dramatically different time frames, some trashed because despite offering 1500L, nothing in the store was under 2000L, offered amounts changing, group gifts I picked up a year ago being given out, etc. Just not worth it.

I'm generally really satisfied with event gifts and have incorporated many into my wardrobe, but events like Shop & Hop are just way too big and a bit too general. I much prefer smaller, themed events so I can prepare my inventory ahead of time. 😂

[Blaise Glendevon]

I know the Lindens wanted to put a big to-do for the big birthday Shop & Hop, but there was as much tacky template crap as there were original mesh designers. 

Uber, at least, seems to have guidelines about the shops in their event.