While I appreciate that Mary Ellen wishes people to read the article to be fully informed, we must also remember that there is a price for this article which makes it seem less of survey and more of a money making activity to me. Where money exchanges hands I would also have to question the impartiality of those involved so for me this seems like a waste of time and I certainly wouldn’t pay to read it.

Just my two pennies!

I’m not sure it will ever be possible to completely avoid that kind of thing since it isn’t fully within our control, but I definitely intend to do my best to ensure that any future articles, etc. about this or subsequent reports do provide a more complete picture and don’t use individual pieces of data out of context and/or in a way that makes it likely that they’ll be misinterpreted.

As for the number of items in your inventory, I’m not exactly sure how it’s relevant unless you’ve used some systematic process for selecting it and then done statistical analysis to see the composition of what’s available in SL based on style, function, color, price, prims, permissions, etc. If you have done that, I’m sure many people would be interested in seeing what you found. That’s what we’ve done and it does show what drives the prices being charged across the board in SL and not just by a single store (since obviously those who set prices for a single store know what they based their own prices on). It also describes how those same things influence customer willingness to pay. Everyone can comment on their own perceptions of what they personally are and are not willing to pay for, and perhaps individual stores have done the analysis required to figure that out for their own customers, but I also have not seen any other attempt to look at that across SL. Once again, if you have that information, I’m sure others would be interested in seeing it.

1146 items comprising 2988 individual pieces of clothing? Sorry but that’s nothing. I have more than that in my Bare Rose folder alone. Yes BR could raise their prices and still have a lot of business. But that would go against the grain of the BR philosophy which is high-quality inexpensive items. (disclosure: I work for BR and have for a long time).

Stores that aren’t doing well should lower their prices seems like a no-brainer to me. I do business management in SL and have told some of my clients that — and I didn’t need market research to figure it out. Conversely, yes some stores with a regular clientele could raise their prices — but they risk loosing their loyal regular clientele. Case in point: I no longer shop regularly at Pixel Dolls. Sorry Neph, I love your shop and your clothes and when you put stuffs on sale I rush over and buy everything — but shopping there regularly is just too expensive for me now. Similarly, Nonna, arguably the most expensive shop in SL, is a once in a while trip for me. I daresay that, despite very loyal followings and some of the highest quality designs and textures in SL, both designers risk loosing business by raising their prices.

I think a blanket statement such as you’ve made doesn’t take market research to figure out and cannot be applied across the board. I think you do designers and businesses in a grave disservice by touting this ‘market research’ you’ve done without, apparently, understanding the market and what drives costs and shopping in SL.

As far as the price goes, as you’ve said market research in this environment is a huge endeavor. For example, the focus in this discussion has been on the survey data, but the report also includes observational data on 1146 items comprising 2988 individual pieces of clothing. Collecting that much data takes a lot of time, and operating our panel requires considerable resources too, so we need to be able to recover some of that investment. Also, information dates quickly, so our plan all along has been to drop the price of reports once the information does start to become dated. So the information will be available at a lower price later, but it will be much more valuable to those who make use of it sooner rather than later and that’s reflected in the pricing. If there is sufficient demand, we also plan to offer reports on a subscription basis, so that would also bring the price down for those who commit to a subscription for a specific number of reports.

Anyone who does want to meet to discuss these issues is welcome to e-mail or IM me, and I can set up a mutually convenience time for those who are interested to get together.

As for the broader question of “why” that observation about averages really answers it. Sure, some people are just interested in making what they like no matter what anyone else thinks, but other people may be trying to make things that appeal to a particular group of people or appeal to as many people as possible. Some of those people may welcome the opportunity to get additional input (beyond what they are able to get through any formal or informal data they collect on their own) about what it is that people do want, whether people are indeed finding the things that are already available that are consistent with their own preferences, and what factors influence the prices being charged by others offering comparable items. People have different preferences about the amount and type of information they want just as they have different preferences about the amount and type of clothes they want. So the same logic applies, why expect everyone to be the same?