Reflections on The Kitely Merchant Fair 2015

Well that was fun :)

So the first Kitey Merchant Fair wrapped up last week and I am pleased to say that from the feedback I have received it was a resounding success!

Everyone involved had a great time bringing the project together and I am really thrilled to have been able to meet so many of my fellow creator/merchants and working together was a real pleasure. Thank you to everyone who contributed. This was a real community effort.

It was also amazing to watch the project go from this.....

Original by Zuza Ritt

to this.........

and one of my personal higlights occured before the fair even opened, when the Hypergrid Safari folks dropped in and stress tested both the sim and my ability to type quickly in coherent sentences.

Original by Zuza Ritt

Zuza Ritt also created a terrific video of some of the most beautiful parts of the fair that is well worth a watch.

Every visitor I spoke to had a highlight to tell me about or a general complement. I cant speak to the financial impact of the Fair, as I have not spoken to every merchant. The few I did speak to on the subject related some good sales. But that was not really the point anyway. The point was to create something beautiful, fun, collaborative and interesting for the whole Opensim community to enjoy as they wanted and I am sure in that regard we succeeded.

Heres to 2016!

a sneaky look at the Kitely Merchant Fair 2015!

Well, its nearly the end of another busy year at Worlds End and as usual cobwebs have grown over my blog. Time to dust them off and give you a sneaky look at the Kitely Merchant Fair!

Many readers may have heard that I and over 50 other merchants have been hard at work for over a month to bring you a two week extravaganza of shopping, freebies, new releases and special offers.

While I am not going to spill the beans on what others are planning, I can let you in on the Worlds End area and (some of) the things I am planing.

So the really big news is the release of Castle Caenarfon. An imposing Norman style fortification based loosely on the real Welsh castle of the same name. Every tower is accessible, every rampart walkable. Like all my mesh builds it is fully modifiable and re-texturable.

This is the largest build ever released by Worlds End at roughly 1/4 sim in size and would normally retail around $30 for C/M and $60 for C/M/E. But for the first week of the Fair I am slashing both prices by 50%! And of course, you can walk around and experience it for yourself at this years fair.

Another pretty big release is my Dockside Wall and Boardwalk set. A great addition to any shoreline settlement. This multipart set contains versatile, easy to retexture pieces, everything you have come to expect from Worlds End.

There are also going to be a number of other new releases dropping throughout the fair that will all be discounted by at least 20%.

Not to mention some rather big freebies to be announced later ;)

The Kitely Merchant Fair Opens on the 18th of October and runs for two weeks.

PLEASE NOTE THE LINKS BELOW ARE NOT ACCESSIBLE UNTIL THE 18th!!
Sim Location: Kitely Merchant Fair 2015
Hypergrid URL: gird.kitely.com:8002:Kitely Hypergrid Merchant Fair

A (late) 2014 review and 2015.......

Well, 2014 was sure an interesting year. My first year of serious business on the Kitely Market and it was a very positive start. Though I have been releasing in dribs and drabs in SL, Kitely is really where I have put much of my energy in 2014 and it did pay off.

I learned recently that besides being among the top grossing merchants, I am the top rated Kitely Merchant if you count "total review stars".

Some of my top products from last year.

Weeping Willows

What my customers said:
" You need to see these trees inworld to appreciate how good they are"
"Im a fan of these willows. Wonderful Workmanship"
"Gorgeous - They really make areas around water stand out"

Country Road

What my customers said:

"These items are absolutely gorgeous. The pictures cant really show the detail. You really have to visit the in-world location".
"Easy to use and flexible. Re-texturing to match worlds terrain is a breeze."
"This is a great road set. Lots of options and the ability to use your own textures makes it possible to blend it in with your terrain perfectly."

Craggy Cliffs

What my customers said:

"The cliffs (have) such amazing detail for a virtual world. Its just incredible! Thank you!"
"The original kit was to Ozwells usual high standart but with the 2015 update, well....These cliff pieces are majestic, beautiful, some of the best work I have seen."

Summer Shrubs - Scuse the typo in the image which I just noticed lol.

What my customers said:
"Oz hits another ball outta the park! I like very much!"
"They just add that perfect level of detail that I was wanting."

Tudor Wall Set

What my customers said:
"Wonderful kit for creating tudor style buildings. Great Value."
"A really useful, versatile set."

Thank you for all your wonderful reviews. They really do help and mean a lot. If you own a worlds end product and didnt review it yet, please do!

Looking on to 2015, I will be moving away from the landscaping side of things to focus more on Buildings and Structures and Roleplay materials and props. Lots of plans in the works. Stay tuned for news on an upcoming Castle complete with modular ramparts, plus a Medieval Marketplace stacked to the gills with goods and produce!

Heres to a great 2015!

Oz

Why opening a store in Kitely makes more sense now than ever before!

Its probably no secret by now that I am a bit of a Kitely fanboy.

At the recent OSCC2014 (OpenSim Community Conference, for the uninitiated) Ilan Tochner, CEO of Kitely laid out his case for the Kitely Hypergrid Market 1 year on from its opening. Besides this presentation containing a quote from a rather hansome, rooty looking green fellow, it also made some fantastic points that I think it is valuable to distill somewhere for reference.

You can see the full presentation here:

Ilan Tochner - Kitely Hypergrid Market - one year later....

My main take-away points:

1. Growth on all fronts - Listings, sales and interest are all on the increase. 3000+ unique items, 6000+ variations, serving 49 of the 204 "known" grids. Its pretty impressive.

As Ilan noted in his presentation, my sales have eclipsed my SL takings twice now once in May and more recently, last month. Obviously, not every month is that strong, and in the long run, my main income still comes from SL. But I have made close to 2500USD in my first year, and that's not counting takings in KC, which I use to pay my featured item fees, membership and land fees, and sales are not slowing down. They are growing. Slowly. But steadily. Which brings us to.....

2. Export = Win! - My export sales account for over 50% of my trade in OS, and contrary to what may be expected by most, I have plenty of repeat sales. In fact, some of my "older" items are still my strongest sellers. It has always been my opinion that DRM is not beneficial for sellers or consumers, and it feels good to be vindicated somewhat in this regard by the facts. I also have many repeat customers, and new ones turning up weekly.

3. Kitely and High Fidelity - I am very excited by this. Kitely market can and will deliver to HiFi and possibly many other virtual platforms as they come online. Anyone thinking that a store in Opensim means taking a step backward should think again. Kitely Market is poised and ready to take advantage of new virtual worlds and potential markets in a way that nobody else out there is.

New Mesh Rivers with Materials and Medieval Houses!

Rather proud of this first one. Realistic river meshes with materials. The materials give the water a realistic quality, even when animated. 10 Meshes are included covering various straights, corners and rapids.

Also now available in Kitely - A wide range of residential medieval buildings. These are a forerunner of some more complex builds covering Churches, Taverns, Shops and Crafts, etc right the way up to full fortifications and castles. All will be made available C/M and Export for Hypergrid customers!

Dont forget to check out my thread on the Kitely forums for details of the multiple freebies I am currently giving away at my In-World Showroom.

Kitely Forums
Worlds End - Kitely Store

Time flies!

Wow, just realized it has been a few months since I updated this blog. Far from being idle over the summer, besides changing the look of my store a little, there are now many more products on offer at Worlds End both in SL and Kitely.

Grassy Groundcovers, house builders packs, 4 season trees, scripted lanterns and much more! Why not head over yourself and check out all the new goodies!?

Worlds End - Kitely Hypergrid Market

Worlds End - Second Life Marketplace

For hypergrid customers, as per usual all Kitely releases come as C/M or Export.

Much more to come over the next few months!

Future-Proof products at Worlds End!

There is a lot of noise going round lately about new virtual worlds and platforms coming into view on the horizon. Ultimately I hope to be able to bring you newer, better and more advanced products on these new upcoming platforms, but I can understand people (SL folks especially) worrying about their existing inventory. I thought it might be a good idea to take a moment to assure my customers that ALL Worlds End products are 100% guaranteed for future use on newer platforms as they become available.

This means different things depending on what kind of purchase you made.

For Second Life users - Your purchases will be transferred like for like to the new virtual world from Linden Labs, but NOT High Fidelity. This service is provided upon request and not automatic. Transfer to alts is NOT permitted unless explicitly authorized.

Kitely/Opensim Export customers - You have the right to upload your purchases to any new grid you choose under the original perms supplied. I do also allow people to transfer purchases to alts, but you should notify me with the names of the alts you plan to use beforehand.

So, in short you can continue to shop at Worlds End safe in the knowledge that all your purchases can go wherever you do!