Couldbe Yue

I don't use a visitor counter because I don't like to track visitors to my shop (privacy and all that) but I'm thinking of putting one in to assess how many sales from the marketplace come from someone being in the shop then choosing to buy from slm.

The other way is relatively easy as I see a purchase from slm then they go inworld and buy more but the other way around is rare, inworld shoppers seem to stay inworld shoppers rather than moving to the marketplace.

It's the ones who check out the store and buy from the web that intrigue me as I have absolutely no feel for those numbers but I suspect they exist in reasonable numbers.

So, has anyone done this yet?

ultimately if I can't demonstrate some kind of correlation then the shops are moving closer to being on borrowed time, so any straws I can hold onto may give them a stay of execution.

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Sea Warcliffe

I haven't kept records, but I can say that it does happen. I try to make sure that the "see this item in SL" link lands people near the item, and while on my platform I sometimes see my landing point tattle tale say that someone has arrived and then a few minutes later see sales on marketplace by that person.

But I sell building supplies - so I make sure examples are rezzed for inspection. Not sure if its the same for all products.

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Aliselia Aeon

I only shop inworld. I will check marketplace and look for things I like, then go to the shop inworld. I'm really not sure how you can track that.

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stora

I track landing points in my vendor area.

I have different LM's depending on where I advertise.

Erich Templar

Clever.

I get more sales from the Marketplace than inworld (considerably more), but I'd be surprised if people see my stuff inworld, then go to the marketplace to buy. Why would they do that, when buying from the inworld store is pretty much a one-click operation?

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Beebo Brink

I do that routinely, and I think many merchants seem oblvious to the way in which Marketplace and online/inworld shopping interact. Here's a very typical shopping approach that I've used for years:

1) I want a specifice item -- new prefab, new piece of furniture for that empty corner, a fountain for my garden, whatever

2) I search for it on Marketplace, sift through the listings until I have a set of at least 3 or 4 items I'm most interested in, sometimes saved to my Favorites. If I'm in a hurry, I'll just keep the web pages open.

3) I TP to each location to see the item in person, to contrast the quality and price with the other items I'm considering

4) After seeing them all, I TP home, mull over the Marketplace listings one more time for my final decision, then buy.

There are very few items left in SL that only one person makes. Instead of shopping for an item, finding it, buying it, I'm searching for items to compare and contrast. I'll choose the "best" one based on quality or price, depending on which is my priority at the time. Sometimes I want really high quality and will pay for it, other times I just need an item and even a mediocre one will do if the price is right.

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Robert Jung

Yep same here.

I don't do a lot of buying in SL anymore but when I do it's often

1 check Marketplace
2. look at faorites in SL
3. do a quick in world search just it case it turns up something different
4. if I'm sure I'll buy in world, otherwise I'll think about it and shop on the marketplace later

IsisAlexander

I agree with Beebo, but want to add a few points.

When it comes to furniture and houses, I always go inworld and then buy on MP.

Yes I want to know what it looks like. But I buy on MP for many reasons. I have had alot of problems making purchases in world. Granted I am a year old and rarely shop in world and have a slow internet connection. So maybe I havent gotten the knack yet. Sometimes lag messes it all up for me so I dont get the item at all inworld (yes i know the lag meter and have reduced lag alot since i first started but sometimes it hits at the worst time for no reason)and other times the way things are packaged in world is confusing.

For example one furniture store I went to had living room sets of five pieces. They had one booth with one set rezzed to view and a box out front to purchase the whole set. Great set up. But in the next booth they had items from two sets in one booth and two boxes in front. Some of the items in that booth didnt come with either set. They werent cramped for space so i didnt understand why they did it that way. It was really confusing as hell. So I went to their MP store to figure out which set was which etc.

Lastly I like thanking creators of awesome items with reviews. I can only do that on MP. I see it as my little way to give back to the community. I review 90% of all the items I buy.

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Beebo Brink

Quite a few merchants have posted on SLU that they make more sales on MP than inworld and that their stores just aren't relevant, even though they sell furniture or animations or prefabs. They'll say things like "I know it's suprising, but people are buying these items sight unseen."

I think they're dead wrong.

Like me, shoppers are checking these items out inworld, especially big ticket items such as prefabs. Money is tight, we check things out thoroughly, compare, and even wait a few days before pulling the trigger. When we finally spend the money, it may well be through the MP, but that sale would never have happened if we didn't have the option to look at the product inworld.

Aliselia Aeon

This. I simply wouldn't buy something if I can't see it inword. I was burned badly that way in the past. If I can't see it inworld, I won't buy it.

Beebo Brink

How many merchants gather the names of people who come through the stores and then compare that list with the names of people who buy on MP after the visit? That might tell you whether this is a significant shopping pattern for your products.

Beebo Brink

For really big ticket items (say L2000-3000 and above), I may hem and haw for weeks, if not months. I think I spent a year visiting the Woolman Tower showroom demo and never buying. Much as I loved it, the build was No Mod and had way more space to fill than I needed.

When the designer updated the building to Mod, I bought it immediately. On the Marketplace. By that time I knew the tower inside and out and didn't need to go to the store to buy it. Just looking at statistics, you'd think I was a MP only shopper, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

Maggiedoll Alter

I'm pretty sure that in-world stores also contribute an awful lot to branding and image.
I just can't imagine the luxury brands having the same image impact without an impressive-seeming in-world location. Plenty of people are going to buy from them on the marketplace for all sorts of reasons, but they wouldn't be known in the same way without the store.

Raindrop Drinkwater

I often buy from the marketplace; I always check the in-world store first (sometimes with an alt). So far I haven't bought anything from marketplace-only stores. I don't quite trust them as much (it's not logical, I know).

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Couldbe Yue

Thanks for the input everyone

I have always suspected that people behave in the same way in sl as they do in rl but my purchasing behaviour is different. I buy clothing/hair etc by inspecting people wearing stuff I like and then search the creator and tp (the best bit about when I used to go to the adult content office hours was checking out what innula was wearing then going shopping, that woman has style) and for building components I buy directly from slm.

I'll have to get a visitor list maker and check it out.

Erich Templar

I occasionally have a look at my visitor list and compare it with the marketplace report, but I've never actually checked the order in which this happens -- I've never looked to see if they visited the store then bought from the marketplace, or the other way round.

Going to start doing that...

Aribeth Zelin

I should set one up too, out of curiosity if nothing else.

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Robert Jung

Just remember, though that there are some procrastinators who might purchase stuff on the MP one or even 2 or 3 months after visiting the store!

Not that I would ever do that of course ;-)

Eboni Khan

I do not have actual data but I know for a fact that people buy gifts on the marketplace and if the person they have purchased the gift for has never shopped in my store before, they come and shop.

Also since I sell mesh, many people will buy demos on the marketplace and shop in world. I have noticed since I started listing all new releases on the marketplace many of my long term customers just shop on the marketplace now, which for me really helps with release lag and traffic.

I feel the marketplace and my main store in world work together hand in hand. I wouldn't have one without the other really at this point. They compliment each other perfectly. The only thing the marketplace makes obsolete is mall locations, there is no way they can compete with the eyes that are on the marketplace.

Seasoned

This is sort of related and this thread got me thinking about this again. I cannot help but notice the amount of decent quality freebies on the marketplace. After speaking with some merchants, the ones that do list freebies say it is for promotional purposes to get people to notice their brand for free. However, none of these merchants had any information on if these freebie sales are pulling in more paid sales in general either in world or on the marketplace.
So my question to merchants: Do you track who buys your freebies, if so, do any of these customers later spend money in your store (in world or marketplace)?
My question to customers: If you buy a freebie and you are satisfied with the quality, how likely are you to spend money with this merchant?

Inhandra

Depends on the quality. I went from wearing a fantastic freebie hair I saw blogged about to going and buying several fatpacks probably a couple months later. A new hair shop (for me) lured me in with a great hunt reward and I have just bought my first hair from them. I am still pleased and I have joined their VIP group (with a fee) so I can see new releases and get access to sales and other new gifts. I have other freebie hair from gifts and hunts but if I am not impressed I am unlikely to check them for new releases. This also is a matter of taste, as well.

This doesn't work as well with me for clothing, but I do remember the better ones to recommend to others. I imagine everyone will have their own quirks when it comes to the effectiveness of freebies.

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Aki Shichiroji

I do keep a record (mostly because i record all of my transactions anyway).

Making associations between purchase of freebies and purchase of other stuff can initially appear disappointing to many merchants. I do find that announcing a freebie does bring in a lot of people, and yeah, a lot of people are just going to come for the freebie and nothing else. There's not a lot you can do about those people other than offer other interesting things they might be interested in and hope they return in the future.

The ratio of freebie buyers to non-freebie buyers will shift over time, but the time spent tracking this sort of thing on one's own is probably better spent on other things (such as improving or producing new things). The accuracy of that ratio will be skewed over time too, since (hopefully) you will have created new things since then and are managing your customers' and potential customers' expectations appropriately to your brand.

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Mercedes

I think a lot of people come in and pick up my freebies and never purchase anything else, but that is all right with me. I figure if they go out and wear my freebie and someone sees it and likes what they see they might come in and buy. Plus, I just like to give back to the platform that has been good to me.

I also believe that a lot of people shop on the Marketplace, come into the store to rez the demos and see the items in person and then make their purchase on the Marketplace. I recently moved sims and I had a lot of people messaging me asking where my in world store was because they said they wanted to see the demos in world. Later I saw they made purchases through the Marketplace.

Barrington John

One thing I do notice in the in-world store that doesn't happen on MP is that people will have a bit of a buying frenzy, buying several different items in a short space of time. That doesn't seem to happen on MP anything like as much.

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Aki Shichiroji

I have a feeling this behaviour might have been conditioned by the habit, on MP's part, of not delivering full orders from multiple merchants. This was particularly bad some months ago just prior to direct delivery. I imagine the problem still exists to some degree with those who still haven't switched their listings over.