A new view of a big store...i pulled the camera way way way back. THe lit place is a patio in the center. There are stores/departments scattered around the plaza and they all seem to be connected inside

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Fashion%20Earth%20Sky/41/137/26

Interesting packaging

I visited Truth hair...a favorite among fashion bloggers

here is a picture of the outside of the building. They have their own sim, which i need to explore.

Here are 2 pics from the new hair style display area. It's where avatars teleport into the store. The area is labeled on the floor where everyone will see it. There are pictures showing off the styles. The boxes have pics showing the different colors that style is available in

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Truth%20Hair/133/56/27

A different look - no light woods here

Many of the stores I"ve been visiting have had light colored walls, light colored woods on the floor. Today I visited one that was very different as you can see in the pics below. As I explored I discovered that the store also carries antique furniture where the dark woods and stained glass make a little more sense and stained glass which explains its liberal use around the store. the walls are more crowded than some other stores I"ve been to also..need to think about how much content to display and how that affects the image people have of your store

The first pic is a shot of the outside of the building - i aimed a bit higher than the door to show some more of the dark wood, the stained glass and the tin ceilings inside thru the windows

They have a couple of interesting things at this store. They have 2 ways to teleport between the 5 floors of the main building and the out buildings around the island. The first one is outside..it's a big map on the ground of the sim. The user clicks on teh green dots to teleport to specific locations.

The second device is a sign that takes you to different floors of the main building.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Paektu/56/177/94

A whole town

Sometimes stores are on sims that look like towns with streets, sidewalks, street lights, billboards..Another choice new merchants in a virtual world have to make - own sim, rent space, be in a mall......


Here is one example - the Leezul store..i'm at one end of the street taking the picture. There are stores on either side (related to Leezul)

Here is another example - the K2 Loon sim..in this case I don't think the stores are related..There are lots of styles, things on the street to see. To me it seemed more lively as well as kind of chaotic. Notice the big billboard in the 2nd picture - some old school real life advertising

Other big stores

This store has a lot of space for people to walk around I like the light color scheme. Nothing competes with the pictures of the clothes on the walls. Some of the pictures are just art - see the big scrolls in the 2nd picture..There are some big pictures with ideas of how to wear the clothes as outfits as shown in the 2nd picture

This store uses the pictures of the products approach to displaying items for sale. But they are spaced out around the room, color choices are shown in the dots on the side

I am not sure of the purpose of the little space..The store has apple in its name which explains the giant apple here and elsewhere in the store..just not sure why a little space surrounded by curtains. It did break up the floor space, added a little touch of color to the floor.

An interesting marketing idea - a room with stuff for new users..I think these things were free for people whose avies were less than 30 days old..It's a way to get a player hooked on your brand from the beginning, get traffic into your store, get your goods out there for others to see. This room was not easy to find  up on the 2nd floor, kind of back in a corner..so they have to "work" for their freebies

Here's some pics from another big store (i have got to remember to write down SLURLS for the stores)
More light colors.

THis store has floors, small nooks, departments..content spread out across the big space with some organization to help the user find what they want

Here's a big open space..with seating in the center of the space...Something important is going on with seating..most of the stores have it. I've only ever used ti to sit and wait while things rez around me. But real life stores have seating because people need to rest their feet or husbands need to wait for wifes...Why is there seating in SL?

Big..i mean BIG .... stores

I'm checking out different stores..trying to get some ideas for a project (see some notes about it a few posts down the page). So today for some reason a bunch of the stores i ended up in were humongous..that's a scientific term meaning really really honking big. Warehouse big. Echoes thru the space big.

Here are some pictures from Curious Kitties..a Japanese store. Big space, big signs, lots of space for avatars to move around.

This first picture shows one particular outfit for sale.It has a big picture of it in one color and then small pics/buttons on the left that you could click to get the dress in different colors. The dress was marked copy and mod, but no transfer. It's seemed a little different from a picture of a product on the wall, but not sure why it struck me that way.

This shows the size of the space..items for display go up to the ceiling and stretch back to the window. You don't get a sense that the space is crowded although some of those walls of pictures do kind of loom over you as you stand there. And you have to be good at camming to see them.

Another wallof things to buy..i liked the shape..

Another shot to show the size of the store. They have a lot of products and the store is divided into departments. There is a teleporter system to help ya move around which is very handy in that big space.

Here is Callie Cline's store. Another big space but this one is light and airy. It has a more formal feel with the magnificent staircase, the patterned wallpaper, the balconies.

There are several side rooms with different parts of the collection. You can see one in the picture below...the side room has an aqua floor.

Another store interior

Another store I really like - light woods, white walls. It's circular which is different.. I like the display area in the center - shown here in the first picture. Stacks of boxes, piles of stuff, some signage on a raised platform in the center of the room

 

Here's a view pulled way back so you can see the curve of the store space..and some windows that let you see the sim outside I like how the clothes are displayed - hanging on hangars around the walls.

 

 

Another way to display products in SL stores

This store puts dresses on hangers in niches on the walls. You really feel like you could walk up and touch them. You can see the folds in the cloth, the details of neckline and hem. THen there were bags and items on the tables. This store seems more like a real world store than the ones with lots of pictures on the wall. THis seems like either an exclusive shop with a few well chosen items..or maybe a store at the end of hte season with just a few things left. I go with the former thought - it's neat and well organized, not all in disarray like at the end of the season of frantic shopping.

Lots of dark wood on the floors and white walls - another popular color scheme. Nothing detracts from the colors of the clothes.

A museum I like on Fruit Island

Here are a couple of pictures of another kind of marketing space - an art gallery There are 2 floors, assorted spaces. THey use temporary walls and art placement to move the visitor thru the exhibit. They have embedded the gallery into the hillside making use of the island's topography. Lots of windows, sliding doors out onto balconies.

More Store Interiors

I've been thinking about retailing in SL...to some people it might look like i'm shopping, but really...I"m thinking about retailing. There's some research out there on how real world companies can market to real world customers using virtual worlds (as well as other technology like twitter and such)

But it's important to think about how virtual companies can market to virtual customers in virtual worlds.  I'm interested in how companies that are created and exist only in Second Life can market to avatars, virtual world users. There are real world people behind the avatars spending real world money that has been converted to virtual world currency. They're buying and selling virtual goods - things that exist only in digital formats.  I don't think that the fact that it's all happening in a virtual world, happening digitally, is a limitation or makes the commerce any less important. (see - - told ya I'd been thinking about this)

So here are some pictures of store interiors..I've been visiting stores haphazardly so far, taking some pictures, making notes about how they're marketing. I'll use those initial observations to put together a more orderly content analysis and build up an interview schedule for store owners/designers. Then gotta figure out how to attack the customer side of the transaction

A store with men's clothing downstairs and women's clothing upstairs..that light brown with the dark brown shadows is really popular in stores...I like all the windows here. It's easy to move around in this store..the floor is uncluttered and there aren't things messing with the camera angle.

Not all stores are large boxy spaces or permanent. Below are 3 pics from the ZombiePopcornSL Carnival - small temporary spaces, tents, boxes...and carnival rides! Here's a SLURL tho I don't know for how long this will be around - http://slurl.com/secondlife//193/51/24

DarkerSide - a store in a sky box. That cube in the center has a staircase up to a small 2nd floor room that you can see in the 2nd pic. I liked the black and white color scheme and the foliage decorations on the walls. Pictures of items on the walls. Sales, freebies and cheepies on the stairs.

New music venue

I like Pol Arida - get to hear him in Second LIfe...boot stomping, guitar thumping, scary song singing musician.

He has a new venue...called home....hopes to host performers new to SL. He has video screens, it looks like you're underwater or in an aquarium. I had a ball watching the octopus squish around backstage. There were quite a few people at the opening and the lag wasn't bad.

Here are some pictures - the first from the opening with tons of people and then a few I took when i went back today

Here's the SLURL - it dropa you onto a plaza above the club..look for a staircase down to the club
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Arctic%20Circle/76/34/15