New Shopping HUD - thumbs up or down?

[ValKalAstra]

Shopping HUDs are weird. In general, impulse buying is a powerful tool for commerce, right? It's why we keep barriers low, make it as quick and easy to buy something. Each extra step allows impulse control to kick in, foiling the purchase.

To me a HUD seems like an odd extra step. It's making me less likely to buy something because by the time I've added a cumbersome HUD my impulse has seen a squirrel and is in active pursuit.

[Chic Aeon]

7 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Hopefully, you follow the advised practice of not having a "flat" inventory structure! (So less stuff should be "gone" / loading should go better, etc.)

Unfortunately I have had NON FLAT since I came out of the pod (lots of computer practice with customer files so my norm). Also made a new "my clothes" and "my objects" folders as advised.  None of it has helped. The database does not and has never LIKED ME :D.  "It is what it is". After the first major loss of my whole Home and Garden folder when I was about TWO, I have learned to sigh and move on.  

[Love Zhaoying]

17 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

Unfortunately I have had NON FLAT since I came out of the pod (lots of computer practice with customer files so my norm). Also made a new "my clothes" and "my objects" folders as advised.  None of it has helped. The database does not and has never LIKED ME :D.  "It is what it is". After the first major loss of my whole Home and Garden folder when I was about TWO, I have learned to sigh and move on.  

I've been on for 16 years (just a baby still) and only lost a few things, but I have a smallish inventory. Perhaps if mine were as big as yours, I'd have the same experience due to "proportional" inventory loss!

 

[Qie Niangao]

6 minutes ago, Janet Voxel said:

say I want to go to top tier event and I can’t get in because the sim is full like for the first couple days. It would be nice to be able to get a hud and shop anyway

That's an interesting use case. Honestly, a lot of busy opening events I'd rather shop by HUD than wait for booths and all those avatars to compete for texture download bandwidth. If they could deliver clothing demos to my own dressing room, I'd be a lot more efficient shopper. It would also be better to visit a build demo location away from the main event, without needing to teleport back into the event to continue shopping.

So I can definitely see a HUD (or a good shopping website) reducing some commercial "friction" inherent in SL events. 

I wonder if high-end events could ever get onboard with the idea, or if they want to maintain the opening hype of "long lines" at opening, like iPhone new model release days used to be.

My hunch is there's a top-tier event team out there that realizes they could really differentiate their event by adding an online shopping experience done right, beyond what other events can do, and branding the hell out of it.

This HUD is definitely not that, and as long as it's a front-end to multiple events it can never become that. Instead, it's Seraphim in direct competition with the whole event business model. Maybe in some possible future Seraphim poaches enough high-end creators to participate in high-end events at dedicated locations with dedicated HUDs that extend the experience in ways shoppers find useful and meaningful. Maybe this thing gives them experience they need to make that happen. Maybe.

[steeljane42]

28 minutes ago, Qie Niangao said:

I wonder if high-end events could ever get onboard with the idea, or if they want to maintain the opening hype of "long lines" at opening, like iPhone new model release days used to be.

Big events are more than just hype and long lines over one product, like in your iPhone example. In a way they have some form of a symbiosis. They are popular because a number of high-profile creators join, a few mid-tier ones as well. People check galleries and booths at the event and see it all together. Put singular listings on such shopping HUD and you get what... a slow and likely badly designed version of MP? Well, it already exists, the badly designed MP by LL, that many creators don't even bother with.

 

[Qie Niangao]

1 hour ago, steeljane42 said:

Big events are more than just hype and long lines over one product, like in your iPhone example. In a way they have some form of a symbiosis. They are popular because a number of high-profile creators join, a few mid-tier ones as well. People check galleries and booths at the event and see it all together. Put singular listings on such shopping HUD and you get what... a slow and likely badly designed version of MP? Well, it already exists, the badly designed MP by LL, that many creators don't even bother with.

Yes, an event is ultimately an outlet for creators, in service of the creators' revenue, so all that really matters is where those creators think they can do the best business. There's no denying there are huge drawbacks to the current location-based event model. There are advantages, too, but the question is which of those advantages might be complemented or enhanced by another medium.

This HUD doesn't do that really at all, and my point was that it cannot do that as long as it serves multiple events at the same time (then it really is just an even clunkier version of disastrously primitive Marketplace), but I wouldn't rule out an enterprising event organizer breaking away from the increasingly crowded pack of barely distinguishable events with something that better serves the shopper's access to the creator's vision, while leaving a more durable event brand impression.

-------------------------

Also, here's a grim practical consideration. We're about to see 2K texture uploads. They'll cost more, but top-tier brands will gladly pay to use them. Shoppers at top-tier events will wear them, lots of them, on every material layer surface of every attachment. It will soon take four times as long to download textures on arrival at a crowded event. Now imagine an event that distributes a pre-arrival HUD that downloads each creator's main product image and brand logo textures as part of a preview shopping experience. A marketing expert fills in the blanks here with what extra features and offers motivate shoppers to preview their shopping trip. Now the creator's imagery appears upon arrival at the event venue, while all the other shoppers' outfits very slowly fill in. At least the shopper can see what they came to see, which is what the creators care that they see.

While we're at it, the HUD can offer cam positions for each booth, no need for texture-blind navigation through the crowds to put the shopper in direct reach of a creator's booth.

At least for a while many shoppers would still value the ritual gathering of mandatory "anniversary" "gifts" and other familiar event promotions. Those may persist with or without a HUD, but they may not be adequate to preserve viability of events that don't precache creator-supplied textures when multiple layers of 4 megapixel images cover every surface.

[BJoyful]

I just tried it for the first time and I'm very impressed.  If Events use this... (mind blown with the potential ease of use)!   Good use of keyword tags will make this very easy and end user-friendly.  So far, not many of my favourite stores are in it and not all products are listed in the ones which are there, but if CasperTech and MP purchase history could also be included... I may never have to leave my beach to shop and I'd love that because Events and crowds aren't my favourite things in SL ♥

Absolutely my favourite feature is the Demo button and the Buy button. 

Next, I wonder if an item is on sale, if it would tell me?  Not that I can see (or figure out) and it doesn't include my MP or inworld Store purchases for Redelivery.

When it does those things, I will do a very Happy Dance!

[Marianne Little]

I tried Seraphims HUD a couple weeks ago, found something and bought it. It was never delivered.

I went to the store to see if I could get a redelivery, it was not registered there. So I have to do it the tedious way; find the transaction, copy it in a notecard, write some lines of blahblah this is not in redelivery, can you please send me this direct. I have to check if the store owner want communication to go via a CEO, then send the notecard and hope for the best. I got what I bought later, so it was not a big problem, because I did not have to use it there and then.

But I think it was irritating.

If I shop on the Marketplace, it is one click to get a redelivery. Redelivery on an item bought in a store takes a bit longer time, because I have to teleport there and find the redelivery vendor, but then it is done.

So if a delivery fails, the only way to get what you purchased is going via notecard? It put me off shopping more via HUD.

[Starberry Passion]

I'm interested in the hud, never knew about it but if it'll tp to the locations without having to go to the site all the time, I'll use it. That's more conveniant.

If it will show what the event has in it, and shows photos, that's even more convenient..

[Starberry Passion]

I checked out the hud, I already love it....

You can buy the item from the stores without having to leave your own sim.

It shows you the items listed and delivers the items to you.

It's like MP but if MP was much cooler!

You don't have to deal with a large crowd of people and you don't have to deal with people telling you what to do, people complaining about spankers, complaining about other people being naked, people complaining about how someone else looks. You can just be at home and order it!