Inworld store?

[Kandee Koray]

So, when i first started my store, it was inworld and on marketplace, but i had no traffic, and was doing it all alone, now i only sell on marketplace, and ive been told and asked by some people if i have an inworld store, and that i should get one.

Ive been offered free space inworld, and all sorts of places, but i dont think im ready, i dont believe i have enough items, or a set theme, and none of my pictures match. I dont have regular items coming out. I think i need more help with getting it ready, with a steady flow of sales before i can have anything inworld. So i think i need people helping me. I guess, what im trying to say is, what are the "keys" to a good store, weather in-world or on marketplace or both. To any other Merchants, do you have any tips, as a buyer or a seller? it would be so apreciated :)

[Randall Ahren]

If you don't have many items or much traffic, you could probably get by with a one-prim vendor that rezzes items on demand for inworld customers. That way you could get by with a small parcel, but still be able to list a slurl in the marketplace for customers that want an in-world location to visit. It's understandable from the customer's viewpoint as there are so many delays with marketplace deliveries.

[Nalates Urriah]

If you can get a place for free, just go for it.

SL is recreational unless you want to make RL money. Either way I suggest putting up your goods and selling what you  can. You can fix your display images and packaging as you get to it. 

If you really plan to run a business, start taking steps and move forward. If you want to play, play and don't worry too much about appearance.

[Ziggy21 Slade]

My inworld sales are much lower than they used to be, although my marketplace sales are much higher.

At this stage I am not sure you would have lots to gain financially as skins and clothes don't really benefit from inworld display, on the other hand an inworld store adds gravity to your operation, helps to build and market your brand, and will help you to find direction.

I think it really depends how serious you are, you say you don't have regular items coming out, I think this is something you will really need to address especially at the start while you have a fairly limited range. Building a store, fitting it out, and building your range is a fair amount of labour, for many merchants, myself included we love doing all this stuff, if you do too get a store, if your Second Life is full of other stuff and tinkering with skins etc is just something you enjoy occasionally then my advice would be to leave it till you give the BF the boot and have nothing better to do.

[Nefertiti Nefarious]

Ive been offered free space inworld, and all sorts of places, but i dont think im ready,
If you don't think you are ready, then don't do it.  It's that simple.

i dont believe i have enough items, or a set theme, and none of my pictures match. I dont have regular items coming out.
These are all part of having an online or in-world shop, but more important for in-world. You can have 5 items on the marketplace and it's fine. Stick 5 items in a rented 10x10 shop and it looks like you are out of business, unless it's 5 multi-panel vendors full of things.

I think i need more help with getting it ready, with a steady flow of sales before i can have anything inworld.
Definitely. Wait until you have enough products listed in the Marketplace to fill the shop, with some to spare, and enough Marketplace sales to pay the shop rent and set-up before you launch. It takes much of the stress out of having a shop.

If I closed my in-world shop, I would save way more on parcel rent than I would lose on sales. 95%+ of my sales are from the marketplace. I have it because it's a quiet place to build, give classes in texturing, and to play with.  Occasionally someone will make a run through the vendors and buy a few things, or a few dozen things, but it's the steady Marketplace sales that keeps the parcel going.

So i think i need people helping me. I guess, what im trying to say is, what are the "keys" to a good store, weather in-world or on marketplace or both.

For both:
Good product, in an area that is not overstuffed with product compared to demand. Skins, fashion and furniture are very competitive. You can do it, but you have to make some niche for yourself - in style, detail, theme or whatever.

Good pricing ... this is very subjective. High prices are not a guarantee of high quality, and pricing something high because it took you a long time to make won't work. Look at your competition, rate their product quality and features, and decide whether you should meet the price, go higher, or lower.
I sell inexpensive stuff - I'm one of the ones people gripe about for "ruining the market with cheap crap" - but it's good quality, good niche, and I sell a lot of it.

Good product photos, clear and well-lit with legible text, if any, with the product easy to see. If it's not clear in the thumbnails, people are less likely to click. Practice taking and editing photos.

For Marketplace:
Good ad copy ... can the potential customer tell from the title what the item is? Will it show up well in search if the customer searches for the words that describe it? If the creator of this one - * Bahar Vega * ANASTASIA  - had written a better title, he/she might not have had to pay thousands of lindens for a featured spot.

For In-World Shops:
Good layout with dividers if necessary, so the shop can rez the part the customer sees quickly.

Good section labeling and shop organization so if you sell several product varieties I can quickly find what I'm looking for.

Good vendor pics - sized to show detail, but load as fast as possible. Easy access - a teleport to the entrance is best, a teleport to a mall shop finder TP device is OK. A teleport to the middle of a big mall with yout shop somewhere in the mess is not OK.

[Freecilla Kuhn]

If you can get free space get it and get started.

Do NOT plan on getting a store and making it all in one day, it will take time. It may take seeing your first attempt at your store to know what direction to go to make it better, find a theme and expand. Like most things on the internet they never get to a point of being finished, they always change and grow with the times but you have to have a starting point to grow from.

[Marcus Hancroft]

---

Freecilla Kuhn wrote:

If you can get free space get it and get started.

Do NOT plan on getting a store and making it all in one day, it will take time.

It may take seeing your first attempt at your store to know what direction to go to make it better, find a theme and expand. Like most things on the internet they never get to a point of being finished, they always change and grow with the times but you have to have a starting point to grow from.

---

This is absolutely correct.  I have a large store on Bitterblue and a large product mix.  I am adding new items constantly, have put in a Midnight Mania board, free gifts and constantly look for ways to make the store layout better.  Even so, I have very little traffic.  Most of the traffic I DO have is people trying to get to a store that was in my parcel right before mine so they TP in, see that that store is gone and then TP away.  99% of my sales come from the Marketplace.  I have only had 3 or 4 inworld sales since I opened in July. 

Getting traffic to your store is horribly difficult.  Trust me, I know. 

[Kandee Koray]

Thank you everyone, all this has been really helpful

[Mylar]

I've seen a lot of comments about people having better sales on the marketplace than they have inworld. I know LL is really pushing the marketplace, and I read the financial report and see that the marketplace is growing in sales. Oddly enough, although I haven't run all the numbers, I seem to be doing better inworld than on the marketplace.

[Pamela Galli]

My inworld sales are more than twice MP sales -- but the % of MP sales  is still growing.

[Chelsea Malibu]

I'd have to say about 4 times more sales in world than on MP for me but it depends on the product.  In my case, I compete with others who's products photograph well such as their 3 Pirm Alpha Panel Chandeliers where mine are built to look good from directions and are fully 3D, not just pictures.

As such, my store presents much better than in MP however, this is different for each of us.  What I do find is that MP drives sales to my in world store.  Even customers who shop at my store regularly, don't buy from MP but come in and shop.

In all, I think the shopping experience gets lost on MP and I for one, love going out shopping.

I put together a pledge I created some time back that many on this forum had very good input to add which is a creed I have trying to get other to follow as we are all responsible for the end users experience.  Feel free to use this if you want or at least read is as something you may get some ideas from.  As I said, this is from a lot of us here and gives good assurance to our customers.

 

As a conscience business owner who is more concerned with creating unique works that others can enjoy than making lindens, I am committed to good customer service and value in my products.  As such, I pledged to support my customers and to understand their wants and needs while providing the best of my talents at a reasonable price. 

Therefore I pledge to you, my valued customer to provide you with the following:

• I will not spam you with group joins, landmark givers and note cards. You can make that decision after you have seen my work and I hope you do return, but I will not fill your inventory my stuff unless it is what you want.

 

• Anything you buy here, you can rezz here. I will not sell you items in a box that you cannot open in my stores. If you do leave something here, this land is set to auto return.

 

• I will keep my stores set up in logical order and by department. I will make it easy for you to buy my creations while also making it easy to find them.

 

• Everything I make is modifiable.  If you own it, it’s your right to modify it. My scripts are not mod therefore, you may see something in your inventory that shows No Modify but I assure you, when you try to adjust the prims, they will modify.

 

• Anything that you cannot make copies of, you can transfer and anything you can transfer, you will not be able to make copies of.  It’s a fair trade off and I believe you deserve one or the other.

 

• I will show my work to you as it is without misleading ads, images or claims. I work very hard on my wares and I take pride in my work.  I want to earn your business and hope you recommend me to your friends.

 

• I will name my products appropriately so you can find them in your inventory and include as much information as possible in that name to help you should you have problems remembering what you bought.

 

• I will spell check my note cards and if needed, will help you personally when you need assistance.

 

• I will come to your home or place of business, if needed, when you have issues with any product you bought from me. I stand 100% behind my work even if it’s working perfectly, I want you to be happy with your purchases and I truly want your home or business to look the best it can look.

 

• I will not force you to land in one spot and will allow you to teleport to anyplace within my store, or teleport your friends here.

 

• I will not scan your IP address or attempt to capture your personal information through RedZone or any other devices. I will remove anyone in my store that does this and is not respectful to my customers.

 

• I will replace or refund any product you purchased that you are not 100% satisfied with.

 

• I will respect your taste, your lifestyle and your background and I will never treat you as if you are a nuisance. You are important and to me, you are never a newbie, we just have different rez dates.

 

• As much as I am a creator and merchant, I too am a consumer and these are what I want when I shop. If you find anything you want or need and I do not provide it, I am always open to suggestions. Your opinion matters to me!



[Madeliefste Oh]

It depends what you make if you need an in world store. When you make objects that you cannot show in their full glory on the marketplace is it worth to invest in a in world store. For example when you sell animations, the marketplace cannot give your customer the experience of trying your animations on their own avatar, while in an in world shop you can put up some stands or poseballs that show the products. Our for example when you make butterflies that fly... you can ad a movie at your product on the marketplace to show the movement, but the experience to see them in world might be more attractive for your customer.

When you sell clothes, you sell them by the picture. Whether a customer sees your picture on the marketplace or in an in world store, it is by the picture he must decide to buy or not. A picture in world has no additional value above a picture on the marketplace. The only thing what in world shop can do what the marketplace can't is to create an atmosphere around your products. 

 

About sales in world versus marketplace:

For me is it about 20% in world, 80% on marketplace. It was like that when the marketplace did not exist yet, but was still Xstreet, and it stayed like that after the changes.
This has all to do with the shopping habbits of my target group, builders and creators. 20% of them wants to see the objects first in world to jugde them, and 80% doesn't want to loose valuable time on in world shopping, they want to go on with their projects.

But even if it was only 5% that bought from my in world shop, I find it necessairy to have this in world shop. The customer must have a chance to see how the products behaves in world. For my products it's an important part of the service that my brand offers. 

 

[Lyra Blackthorne]

If the space is free you have nothing to lose. 

[Madeliefste Oh]

You sure have something to lose: time.

Building up a store takes time. Often the places that are free, are for limited time, a few weeks or so. Then you have to pick up your things and go again. In the time you invest in building up your store and moving it again, and change the landmarks and such, you might as well make a nice product 

[Pamela Galli]

Good point.  I am always very conscious that what I am selling in SL is my time.  (One reason I am so appreciative of those who don't waste it.)