How can I improve my MP sales?

[Que Dexler]

I don't know if I am doing something wrong, or if I have just not gotten lucky enough to have a "true sale".

I had a store a while ago on the marketplace selling tank tops, and they sold fairly well (a couple every day or so). Now I've decided to rebrand and sell a larger variety of products. I might not have a huge selection yet, but I still have no sales of items that actually cost L$.

I have two listing enhancements, which have gotten about a dozen click throughs and thousands of impressions in the past week.

The only things I have sold are my two freebie items, totaling around 34 sales in the past week...

If there are any suggestions, or maybe a bit of insight into this problem - I'm all ears!

I put the freebies up there to sell, and it doesn't bother me that they are selling - it bothers me that I can't seem to sell anything -but- freebies! Haha.

[Claireschen Hesten]

i can see one instant issue the clothes your selling you have several different t-shirts and other clothes sold in various colours but you use the exact same image for each instance of a design it's fine to use the same pic but it would help if the potential customer could see the actual colour they are getting with out having to open up the item and see additional images

[Chelsea Malibu]

I agree with Que while also adding that you have a somewhat limited inventory of items that are fairly common in SL.  One thing that is always going to shoot you ahead though a big risk is in making things that are unlike anything else in SL.  Jeans, T-Shirt and Bracelets, however good they are, are going to be very competitive items.

Another idea for your freebies, if they are intended to sell your products is to make them demos and not freebies.  A demo would have Demo written over it making it far less appealing as a freebie but a good way to promote your products.

I didn't notice if you had any prim attachments to your clothes but these days, things without prim cuffs or prim sleeves/colars, etc. are a pretty hard sell.

In the end however, this is a good learning point for you and far less costly to make mistakes at this level.  I applaud your effort and know you will learn a lot as time goes along.  On the enhancements, save your money for now, they probably will not yield an ROI.

[Que Dexler]

Thank you both for your constructive comments

I see your point Claireschen, I had considered that from the beginning and I still am. It's just so difficult to take pictures of the same product in a different color 30 times and then edit and upload them, but I may have to give in and deal with the frustration of it, haha

And to Chelsea - I totally understand what you mean about "Common" products, and was worried about that going into this. Simple clothing will not be my final product, once mesh drops I'll be mostly doing home goods and accessories that are more unique. The clothes were really a "starter project" if you know what I mean, sort of to get my feet wet and get my name out there. I saw a semi-niche market in men's clothing, since it so lacking in volume, and being a male avi I thought I'd contribute. Also, I don't use prim attachments - not yet at least. My future clothing goal is to create products that can work with or without a prim attachment. Just as a side note - I had no idea that clothing with prim attachments weren't selling well, very interesting!

While my freebies are intended to promote my business, they were mostly created as a good gesture to would-be customers.

It just confounds me that so many freebies can be sold without one sale of a product that actually costs L$. But now I am just ranting

[Josh Susanto]

You could try reselling a few of my items.

The ones that show as free are about to go up in price, so there's a little window for opportunity for you here.

[Que Dexler]

Thanks for the offer Josh, but I only sell what I create. Good luck with your business, though

[Claireschen Hesten]

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Que Dexler wrote:

Thank you both for your constructive comments

I see your point Claireschen, I had considered that from the beginning and I still am. It's just so difficult to take pictures of the same product in a different color 30 times and then edit and upload them, but I may have to give in and deal with the frustration of it, haha

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you don't have to waste time taking pictures some designers use one single image as an example of the product then copy & paste the colour varients of the clothes from their files on to the poster it requires some effort but not as much as taking 30 pictures and preping them

[Que Dexler]

That's a good idea! I'll see what I can do, thank you

[Madeliefste Oh]

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Que Dexler wrote:

It's just so difficult to take pictures of the same product in a different color 30 times and then edit and upload them, but I may have to give in and deal with the frustration of it, haha

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It is not difficult, it is a lot of work. When you want to be succesfull in fashion, it is very important to realise that the picture is the thing that sells the product. Your product picture must catch the eye of the customer. There are other things, like permissions that influence people on buying or not buying, but the very first thing is the picture.

When you don't want to spend much time on your product pictures, you could consider hiring someone who does it for you. Presentation is a too important part of selling fashion in SL to be negligible.

[Chelsea Malibu]

Yes, and that was the heart of my comments.  You may be not be rocking at the moment but don't worry.  You have a good start and as I am sure you know, it all takes time.

It's taken me nearly 5 years and I learn more each day.

[Sassy Romano]

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Que Dexler wrote:

While my freebies are intended to promote my business, they were mostly created as a good gesture to would-be customers.

It just confounds me that so many freebies can be sold without one sale of a product that actually costs L$. But now I am just ranting

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Read the above again and identify the problem and the solution.

SL is flooded with freebies, if every merchant offered one free item, people could (and do) complete their look without spending anything at all.  Yet people will insist that they need free items to bring people to the shop as an advert while in the next sentence remark that those people didn't buy anything.

Do what makes you happy but I generally will not rent anywhere where there is Midnight Mania because it smacks to me of a traffic gimmic and the customers are freebie hunters, which is fine, if that's the market that you want.

[Nalates Urriah]

Rather than take 30 pictures... make a white or light grey top and photogrpah it. In your image editor select the top and change the color. I've seen tutorials online showing how it is done. In Photoshop I use a color gradiant. 

Kirsten's viewer has some options for the camera that are not in the SL Viewer. One of them will give you an image you can use as a mask for clipping the avatar out of the image.

[Mila Edelman]

This simply doesn't work for me. The lighting in SL is very different from what it is in Photoshop.

Personally, I don't mind, if I have an outfit with 10 variations, taking 10 photos of a single pose. I just pop my avatar onto the photo studio, hit ctrl + `, wear the next folder, ctrl + ` again. Don't ever move your camera once you've decided on angle, and you can pretty much edit all 10 at once in Photoshop. It allows me to make some uniformity with offerings.

While it can be argued that viewers and photo studios ALSO change the lighting a bit, it's still MUCH closer to the final product, for me at least, to take the photos properly.

[Que Dexler]

Thank you guys for all of the suggestions on ad formatting, when I get the chance I'll post individual pictures of the color choices.

Mila - That's generally how I've done it in the past, but I've just never tackled so many at one time haha. It is the best way I've found to get things done though

And thank you for the encouragment Chelsea ^.^

[Mila Edelman]

hehe, I used to think that product sets of 10-20 were a slog.

That was until I released my first set of 100 (50 regular, 50 demos, but they ALL need individual adverts). Surprisingly, the amount of time to do 100 was only a bit more than the amount for 10-20.

[Que Dexler]

That sounds insane! Haha. When I'm tackling this project I'll have to try and remember that for encouragment

[Sredni Eel]

Menswear is a vastly untapped market but, to be honest, teeshirts are everywhere, and often you get them free.  As others have said, you need to offer things that a million other people are already making.  Heck, there's even a teeshirt template offered by the Lindens that allows people to upload a simple texture and apply it to the shirt layer. 

I make menswear, and tend to steer clear of the teeshirt and jeans thing, because I don't wear them anyway, and it's always best to make things *you* like.  It's just a bonus when other people like what you're making enough to pay for the stuff.

I have noticed people tend not to buy clothes that don't have prim attachments.  They give a more finished look to clothing layers.

As for the listings you do have, you really should buckle down and take pictures of all the different colors.  When I make an outfit in several colors, I just sit on a pose stand and cycle through the outfits as I take pictures, then just add the text and price in photoshop.  It really doesn't take all that much time, and it will show your variety a whole lot more.