Marketplace/Shoppers FAQ

• Blog post announcement is live. Check it out here!
• Pictures of SL Marketplace Beta are in this Flickr set.
• Office Hours May 4th at 10am, 4pm, 8pm SLT. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Xstreet/34/95/22

We're pleased to announce a completely redesigned shopping experience for Second Life, set to launch in beta this summer. Second Life Marketplace Beta will make it easier and more intuitive for anyone to buy and sell Second Life goods on the Web, replacing Second Life's current ecommerce site, Xstreet SL.

If you haven't seen our blog post announcement, please check it out here. Below you will find a list of FAQs. If you don't see your question listed here, then visit this conversation thread in the Commerce Forum and we'll do our best to get your questions answered in a timely fashion. If you're a merchant, be sure to visit the merchant specific FAQ here.

What is the timeline for Marketplace Beta and what will happen to XstreetSL?

We're are aiming for a summer of 2010 launch. We'll announce an exact date at least two weeks prior to launch. Once SL Marketplace goes live, we will run XStreet SL in parallel for a period of time while we finish transitioning items. When the migration of data is complete, we'll close the purchasing and listing sections of XStreetSL permanently and redirect to SL Marketplace. Forum archives will remain available.

How will the transition work for shoppers?

During the transition period, shoppers will be able to find and purchase any item on either platform. While merchants are making the transition, shoppers may see some inconsistencies in how items are viewed in the two platforms. During the transition period, purchase history will be separate and recorded on the site where items are purchased. Watch for an email and Message of the Day from us, as well as another blog post, letting shoppers know SL Marketplace is open!

How was feedback taken from Residents in this project?

We utilized several feedback channels including:

• Quantitative: Two extensive surveys were conducted last year, as well as extensive Web analytics and sales data about usage of the site.
• Qualitative: We pored over many PJIRA issues, comments in office hours, forum posts, blog comments, inworld meetings and interviews, and notecards. We have also been working closely with merchants, of various sizes and Second Life experience levels, during the development of SL Marketplace, to help guide and prioritize our decision-making process.

Will all the features from XstreetSL appear in SL Marketplace?

In many instances, SL Marketplace will mirror the features--and beyond--found on XstreetSL. Each feature change you will experience was based on our research and was made for the sake of improving the shopper and merchant experience. We invite users to send in feature requests via PJira.

What are some of the new features shoppers will see?

The first thing shoppers will see is an entirely new look and feel to the site. The modern, clean visual design makes it an attractive and enjoyable shopping expereince with new touches such as larger product photos on listing pages and new ways to view search listings. Shoppers will also benefit from a more streamlined shopping experience, where they can find items quickly and easily with the new search engine, fill their shopping carts with multiple items, and gift their loved ones and friends as well as create wishlists for the things they want.

How will items now appear in search in SL Marketplace?

Improving the quality of search results was the number one request of merchants and shoppers alike and SL Marketplace has a new search engine to power better and more effective search results. First, only the title, feature list, and search terms box will be searched, dramatically reducing the number of inaccurate results. (Previously, the long description was searched which yielded inappropriate and long results lists.) Second, the algorithm itself is a well-regarded open source engine called Lucene/SOLR that has a great relevancy track record.

What is the roadmap for future releases?

After SL Marketplace Beta releases, we go into regular release cycles roughly every 2 weeks. To request a feature, please use PJira.

What is your development platform and language? How did you make the decision to use it?

We are moving from PHP to Ruby on Rails. We used a number of out of the box features of Spree Commerce such as the shopping cart; but of course we heavily customized them for the unique nature of SL Marketplace. The entire commerce team was trained in SCRUM/Agile methodology and now works in that manner, which is driving the two week sprints that we'll start delivering post release. We chose these platform and development methods for their speed to market, flexibility, scalability, modularity, and extensibility. We did an extensive review of our options and in the end these met our needs most effectively.