In world or marketplace store

[Anestacia]

Years ago there used to be a ton of stores in world but the number has decreased because people prefer to shop on marketplace.
Is it worth having a store in world do you think?

[Quiggles78]

Heya!

 

I keep some of my stock inworld and some on MP. Mainly for the reason of I have a lot of stuff to do on my land, games, beach area ect. It adds to my land. However, I have been thinking about converting to MP alone so I can use my land for the things that I want.

 

If you do builds, furniture, skins, anything that needs demos or rezzers I think that an Inworld store is very much worth it. I wont buy things like builds and funiture unless I've seen it and tested it in world. Now for simple things like clothes or gacha items, I don't think you really need an inworld store.

 

Its really up to you and what you like best. 

 

Best of luck,

Quiggles

[Buttacwup Float]

For me shopping is a chance to get out. MP is a great reference, and I do buy something direct, but much prefer to visit an inworld store. Especially a well designed and decorated one.

[Darrius Gothly]

For me it depends on the products. Some of the things I sell are scripted devices that have to be seen to be understood. You gotta get your hands on it and test it out. These really need to have an in-world store.

But some of the other things are easily understood from a picture and description. These can do with sales on Marketplace alone.

imho

[jackandvera]

I'm back in SL after a long absence....and I've noticed this too.  I think it's a shame as I used to love just flying around the place and just looking around.  The necessity of an in-world store all depends on the type of items one is selling etc...  BUT.....I have to admit that it is nice to have an in-world presence where you can put your own particular stamp on it..  

Perhaps it all relates back to one's childhood....I know that as a young girl I used to love playing shop etc...  To be able to create your own environment either in RL or SL is a wonderful thing in my opinion.  

I mainly create textures, but I like to try my hand at other things too, my favourite being complete avatars....just trying to create entirely new personas etc....  I probably have no need of an in-world store but I have one anyway.....well, it's more like a magical forest and I've tried to make it look as 'un-store' like as possible.....I have it mainly because I just love it there...

If you're in this to make money then you must do whatever you need to.....but the enjoyment and perhaps the little bit of 'power' is what does it for me...:smileywink:

[Bobbie Faulds]

Some of that is the economy. It costs nothing for an MP store. For inworld, you have to have land, a building as well as a vendor system of some kind. Most people use hippovend or CasperVend so their customers can get a redelivery in the case of SL eating their stuff. 

[ChinRey]

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Anestacia wrote:

Years ago there used to be a ton of stores in world but the number has decreased because people prefer to shop on marketplace.

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Whether people actually would prefer to shop on MP under otherwise equal conditions is hard to say. LL has been doing all they can to steer trade away from SL over to MP for a while now, so people tend to go there without really reflecting about it.

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Anestacia wrote:

Is it worth having a store in world do you think?

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For a while the standard answer has been to focus on MP first if you want to sell.

I'm not sure if that answer is right anymore. Yes, most people still buy on MP but there are more than 3-and-a-half million listings there, the search algorithms are poorly made, wide open for cheaters and specially designed to favor old listings before new ones and the place is crammed full of keyword spamming and listings cluttering up the wrong categories. How can you expect anybody to even notice your brand new shiny work in all that mess???

The important question is not where to sell but where to promote and MP is definitely the wrong place to do that. Marketing is done in-world, in blogs (if you can find a good and suitable one) and even on forums like this one but not on the Marketplace.

[Poenald Palen]

Pro's of Marketpalce.secondlife.com:

1. Conventient for customers away from the PC. Historically, and maybe still now, many would say be in world when you use the web market so you don't lose the items in the magic box mess. People still did it though, and also...who says you have to buy right then and there!

2. Many people talk about SL when they are not able (or willing) to log in, so the marketplace is a place to window shop while you are busy. You can drop in there or even to the inworld store when you do finally get to log in!

3. It can be linked to your webpage, blog, tweets etc. This leads to another view of your item, it's name and your stores brand name/logo helps keep your products in peoples minds while they web search for info about product catagories while offline.

 

Pro's of In World Store:

1. Some say they will never purchase from the web store, for reasons to do with being ripped off by things not being sent to just falt out wanting to see it right there. In the case of seeing before purchasing, they may accept seeing one of your other items that is similar so they can trust the quality of textures etc. Demo's may handle this though, so it is not a strong plus.

2. Participate in Hunts and run events. Extra brand awareness and possibly sales, at least traffic helps you come up in search.

3. Some don't shop at the marketplace because they don't know or just end up spending more time wandering and buying and shopping with freiends. Since store shopping is recreational, they use in world stores.

4. Some support a community or "place" and YOU are urged to created a place when you read up on merchant info on the SL wiki. Why? Because people want to do something, some don't have land or enjoy getting out. Most do stay in one place and shop online though, but the marketshare who doesn't may make it worth while...this is something you have to test and maybe why you are asking here.

Sorry I have no answers on which one is the better ROI. I can say this though,  when I was active in SL much more I rented a store space at a race track's mall (a few different ones over the years) because it supported the very tracks I myself drove on and also some of my customers. I also listed online, the online stuff didn't sell as well as the store way back, but then the mall stores never did sell as well as online after a while and I stopped using in world store when it was to much of a loss for me to take. So, these days I choose the online web store because I am less active and can't justify it as much and let some one else get the views and sales from in world. I drop a few lindens into the collection jar when I do drop in a track or two becuase I am not there daily any more.