A Consumer's Suggestions about How Merchants Can Increase Sales

[Jennifer Boyle]

One of the most irritating things that I encounter when shopping for clothes in SL is lack of areas in stores where I can rez and unpack boxes, so if I want to try something on before deciding about further purchases, I have to teleport home.  Scripted wearable shopping bags that can be worn and unpacked are another satisfactory approach, but selling boxes that have to be taken elsewhere to be unpacked is not.  Depending on the type of article and the type of sim, a private dressing room may also be needed.   I cannot understand why these amenities are not much more common, as it seems that the usual limiting factor for shops is the prim count, not the space.  I know that in my case merchants lose business because of this;  I'll teleport home to open a box and try something on, intending to return and buy more if I like it, but will get distracted by something and never get around to returning.  Other things being equal, a merchant who makes it easy for me to try on my purchases without leaving the store will get more repeat business from me, and, I'll bet, many other shoppers.

Another thing that that would induce me to buy more, particularly expensive items for which no demo version is offered, is a "Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back policy."  Many RL stores have it; why can't SL stores? To make it feasible, everything would have to be sold as a transferable version.  That would work, if sellers of items that were more useful as copyable versions would exchange the transferable version for a copyable version on request.  This idea would work even better if there were a voluntary merchants' organization that gave a seal of approval to members and enforced their compliance with the guarantee.

Finally, some stores take sooooooooooo looooooooong to rez.  Many times, I go afk or do something else in another window on the computer for five to 15 minutes while things rez after I enter a store.  Others that look just as good rez much faster, so I know that it is possible to have an attractive store that rezzes quickly.  I suspect that one problem may be a tendency to use higher-resolution textures than necessary.  Whatever the reasons, having a store that rezzes too slowly is bad for business.  More than once, I have run out of patience and just gone somewhere else to shop.  

 

[Dazler]

My biggest gripe is that I search for an item using the "search" function and I find myself teleported to a large store. However, when I arrive, and the store rezes, there is absolutely no navigation clues as to how the store is laid out. Either I walk around randomly for twenty minutes to find the item or I leave - I always take the second option.

[Ann Otoole]

If you had the Get Parcel Info HUD I used to give away you could simply open the parcel web page, find what you want, and slurl directly to what you seek.

 

But I stopped giving away stuff because freebies are killing SL. Sorry.

[nikita Jefferson]

I agree that why we supply a private dressing room well above the store, we also have an unpacking area in the shop.

What i have also done with the dressing room is provide a lots of boards with information for those new to secondlife.

I think you will find the shops that take forever to rez are on mainland, i hate going there it's usually soooooo laggy,

Otherwisw it sometimes depends on the state of SL, right now there is a problem in SL, vendors are going inactive, chat is slow and some regions are going offline,sometimes i can't teleport or move.

 

[nikita Jefferson]

Unfortunatley that does nt always work, our shop is 3500 ft up and the island is out of bounds so there is only one landing point in the shop

[Amethyst Jetaime]

My main peeve is going to a huge store with no directory and tp system so you have to walk around forever to find something.  Like items should be grouped together in 'departments'  and a good tp system should be available at the main entrance to take you to the department you want immediately, as well as in each department so you can go to others fast.  Frequently I see something I like and go to the store to buy it.  If I can't find it within a very reasonable time, I leave and you lose a sale.

As far as slow rezzing stores, I realize that sometimes its just a bad day in SL for that.  But some stores are consistently slow rezzing no matter when  you go.  I'm not going to stand around for more than 5 minutes waiting for everything to rez.   The problem is caused by:

• The textures used on the build and for display are high resolution. 
• There is too much to rez within view range.  I know merchants think a big open store where you can see everything at once may lead to higher sales but it doesn't in my case.  Break what is seen at any one time by adding visual blockers.
• Way to many sculpted prims used.  Sculpts take a lot longer to download then rez correctly than regular prims.

[Jennifer Boyle]

Dazler and Amethyst, I agree;  It is often hard to find an item once I arrive in the store, and sometimes it's so hard I just give up.  Shoppers need to be able to easily find what they came for.

[Maeve Balfour]

Valid points, and ones I will definitely keep in mind when I get around to creating a store (one day, LOL).

I love the idea of a small rezzing area for customers, however, I would be concerned about griefers causing problems when I am offline. I know I could set auto-return to a couple of minutes, and mayhaps have a customer group requirement for rezzing rights, but I still worry that determined griefers would manage to take advantage of that. (Having lived next door to a sandbox at one stage, I have seen all the idiocy they carry on with).

A possible workaround would be to restrict visitors via age (minimum of a week old or something) via land settings / security system etc... but that would be discriminating against legitimate newbies and give a bad impression.

It's sad that workarounds like this are required to prevent the griefer minority from spoiling things for everyone else.

But yah, I would definitely consider a rezzing area if I could eliminate the griefer potential for sure.

[Jacki Silverfall]

My concern is that people will and do leave the boxes lying around, especially newbs that don't know better.

I wish mechants would include a picture of the item. It is very frustrating to me to have a outfit name something like Betty and not know what Betty looks like. If you take a picture of your outfit for MP, how hard is it to include it in the folder.

I usually have to wear the clothes, take a picture and put it in the folder myself. Which cost me 10L extra over the price of the outfit. It adds up.

 

[Nefertiti Nefarious]

---

Jacki Silverfall wrote:

My concern is that people will and do leave the boxes lying around, especially newbs that don't know better.

---

Having a short auto-return fixes that problem. If they can't rez the box and get the product out in 5 minutes, they get it back and can try again.

[Chelsea Malibu]

We had a large thread on this a while back that yielded some amazing input.  In fact, I posted a commitment to my customers that I have in my stores today around this and other things I see as errors in merchandising.

You can see the thread at: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Commerce-Forums-General/New-to-retail-This-is-what-your-customers-hate/td-p/512637

The pledge I made and hope more will follow is:

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!

[Jennifer Boyle]

Chelsea, thanks for giving the link to the other thread; I was not aware of it.

 

And, even more, thanks for your attitude toward customers.

[Argus Collingwood]

---

Chelsea Malibu wrote:

We had a large thread on this a while back that yielded some amazing input.  In fact, I posted a commitment to my customers that I have in my stores today around this and other things I see as errors in merchandising.

You can see the thread at: 

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Commerce-Forums-General/New-to-retail-This-is-what-your-customers-hate/td-p/512637

The pledge I made and hope more will follow is:

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!

---

This! Excellent advice and business practices! + 5<3

[Kayleigh Fadlan]

For the rezzing part i also like the new shopping bags you attach to open them. No rezzing, autoreturn and being afraid of griefers part.

[Poenald Palen]

The rezzing thing...I figure you can see products via displaying an example of some of them or by using a model.

The idea is, you see a sample of the work and hopefully the models have a range of colors or shades on and a sampling of what they have.

Another alternative is...if you buy one item, how about a Catalog in the box! You can shop at home, or anywhere else. Bonus...if you sell some to your freinds, you get a discount! In fact, you get one for using the catalog anyway...also if you send a present to freinds! I am not sure there are vendors that do this, but some affiliate vendors do at least give you commision when your budies or other people purchase from it!

So, I think there are alternatives! I might explore some of this myself when I open a store in world again. Presently I had to stop because I have far to many issues to deal with and am handling everything very badly to not at all....sort of to much baggage and this is not the thread, if any needs to be hearing it at all really...uh..yeah....onto the next issue....um, stores loading!

This is anther issue the catalog helps, and also small stores with focused product lines. Like, for me...water, air and road. I find sims with each and ...well, since people want to play with the stuff there I place each type of item at each type of sim!!! I mean, when all this gets done....and if other stuff works out...but this is purely an example, only saying this incase someone wants to send a LM of thier malls location ect....I can't right now, sorry about that.

So...well...um, yeah...I think the catalog sort of fixes a few things AND might offer a affiliate sales effort....as long as the customer is not pushy with it. I will have to make it all roleplay like and catalog looking and NOT like a store vendor and sort of emphasise...well, demphasise soem things.....I worry about people basically being a nuecense and pushing the stuff. But, for those who are curios and will agree....maybe they will be nice and not so pushy with sales with strangers? I will have to think about it. Anyway, thanks for the insight...although the slow loading store thing....yeah, I know about it. The worst thing is when I think something looks amazing and then look closer at the ad....it is not in SL! They rendered the image in some 3D program lol. So, the item doesn't look like that...sort of abig no no unless you are doing big branding ads and not product listing ads or product vendor ads!

Money back? Then people will sell no copy items...then they get lost in inventory and the person rails on the seller as never giving them an item....SL loses stuff and sometimes when a land owner is not returning things, they get lost/delted and if you have no copy....not a cool thing! I lost work on the beta grid, lost a fun item when an angry sandbox owner decided to go and delete everything....not a cool thing at all. I like stuff with copy, but yeah...sometimes you would think a person would understand...but really, they can't tell if you have it or not. Plus, most stores are simply not manned! customer service is sometimes a premium thing. I do try to fix any problems with my stuff, people are even offered these fixes for free. I mean, obviously fixing broken stuff...but I mean, it might not work right the way they want it, so I adjust it and 'fix' it for them. But, money back? Well, if they made a mistake and payed twice I will contact them! But, otherwise I really can't do this. The prices for a item in SL are lower than a price for a peice of food you would buy, take a bite out of and throw away because it is cheap. I understand a sit in resteraunt will heat your food up if you are unhappy, but SL is more like a vendinig machine palace lol. You have many fancy vending machines of all the things you migtht ever want...but the owner does NOT care, it is all self serve or whatever...like buying a candy bar. You hate it, it is to soft or smooshed...you throw it out and carry on. You lost a dollar or two...oh well. I offer help, even though my stuff is lower priced....so there are a few out there who do help a bit! But money back....sorry, that is a bit to much to ask for considering I have no way of telling if you have the item deleted or not!

Here is another issue with no copy items. Essentially, you have right of first sale if you get an item with No Copy. This allows you to rip the script out of it that is making it No Trans and then sell it!!! But, if you get copy....this is NOT a finite item but a service! You don't really own the item, you own rights to use the item in SL!!! This is a bit different.....so, I stick with this. I offer upgraded versions to people and this makes it obviously a service and NOT a finite object that has rights of first sale. Strange sort of fact, but it used to be in teh wiki...not sure if it still is. Rights of first sale...it allows you to sell your CD...BUT, you can't make a copy of that CD and keep that backup AND sell it and listen to the back up...you must destroy it. Sadly, the record industry will not give you a new copy of a CD if you send them the worn out one!!! Strangely enough though....I DO fix the car if SL changes enough to break it! I will also be sending out some user experiance based upgrades of one of my vehicles soon and packaged looks upgrades, some user feedback based upgrades and also some fixes I made because SL changed the way the viewer handles menu's! I hope to be able to keep this type of thing up...I currently have to get a list together and finish a mailing system off....I have like 100 users to send stuff to I think...wierd lol. This is for a few vehicles, with all the rent and all...not saying it pays enough to really justify as a job....but, alas...I am uable to do some other things, so I do SL stuff lol. But, yiou can imagine...who the heck will work for 20c an hour lol. Sorry, but you will not find many who will and the ones who will might speak very littel english to help you or read of your plight! Seriously, they could make more translating or working tech support if they knew english! But, you never know....we might see a revolution in customer service and one of the only reasons I can do it is because I am small and dont' advertise and sell much! Word of mouth doesn't bring in much money when you are not and amazing artist....so, I don't make much lol. Needless to say, no on will rez items of mine and speak of the history and vintage of the build and ponder at it as they would a fine painting or some of the neater and more skillful builds that exist....oh well.

But, yeah...wow...to much text...as usual. I will leave this though, some of it might be of iinterest to people wondering about the "why" factor. The why is...not enough time, and not enough money in it to make enough time lol. Plus, sometimes people build for fun...they dont' do the biz end as much for fun, but it pays for all the land and they love looking at the store and so on. Life is like that in some real stores! They like having the store, but hate customers lol. That is why some big retailers have rules and training and scripts lol.