Creating A $1M Virtual Goods Brand In Second Life

28-Dec-2010

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Oct. 27 2010 – 12:28 pm | 6,215 views | 1 recommendation | 7 comments
By OLIVER CHIANG

Social games like FarmVille may have some players paying nickels and dimes for virtual goods, but they could take a page from Second Life entrepreneur Jonty Glaser. Glaser’s luxury brand of virtual high-heel shoes, Stiletto Moody, has sold more than $1 million since it began in 2007, earning Glaser the nickname the “Jimmy Choo of Second Life.”

Glaser sells his digitally hand-crafted shoes for about $4.50 on average, but many pairs sell for over $10 — the virtual-world price equivalent of a luxury item. He’s done this by capitalizing on the age-old desire among humans for status, and to have items or accessories that set them apart from others. Stiletto Moody shoes are seen as a status symbol in the virtual world of Second Life. One pair of shoes even sold for $650 for charity.

“People wanted our brand, it didn’t matter the pricing,” Glaser said.

People aren’t just what they “like” on Facebook, they are what they purchase and what they own. And just as in real life, purchasing an expensive virtual good can send signals of status, wealth and power within virtual worlds and social networks. This is a lesson Glaser thinks Facebook and social games and apps can learn.

In total, he’s sold more than 200,000 pairs of shoes so far. Glaser has plans to introduce different product lines as well, including a brand of cosmetics.

Though the shine is off virtual worlds, owner Linden Lab says Second Life is still doing well. In January, the company said its economy grew 65% in 2009 to $567 million (in real dollars), and that the top 25 residents of the virtual world collectively earned $12 million.

Glaser doesn’t think Second Life will be going away anytime soon either. Though social games are seeing most of the growth in number of users these days, Second Life seems to have a loyal, if stabilized, user base. More importantly, Second Life users are willing to spend lots of money in the virtual world. “It’s a high-spending user base, and they are here to stay,” Glaser says.

Glaser, a serial entrepreneur, founded the company Digital Pastry, creator of Stiletto Moody, in 2006.


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