Last Thursday, 6th November 2008 the long announced and long awaited opening of RIL Shopping in Second Life TM was a fact. This shop, at its first opening selling exclusive chocolate by D’lys Couleurs, is special compared to all other shops in Second Life, because real goods are sold in stead of just goods in pixels. The chocolate purchased at RIL Shopping will be delivered to the customers door within a few days. This very new step in e-commerce will be the first in a new way of shopping on distance.

Compared to all other webshops that have been known until now, RIL Shopping is the first to open its doors in the 3D web environment of Second Life ™, and where all goods can be seen in their real, 3D shape.

And while the customer is making his or her visit in the shop, a shop-assistant is always around to assist. These shop-assistants, who have been trained specially for RIL Shopping, can help each customer personally with his or her choice, but also guide in the registration, which must be done on the RIL Shopping website as well as at RIL Shopping in world.

This personal attention to every customer is one of the reasons why RIL Shopping is special.

Shopping on distance, both in the well known webshops as well as in the virtual environment of Second Life, has never taken the place of ‘real’ or better: physical shops and will never mean to take over either.

Shopping, as a social way for people of spending quality time, will never be replaced by shopping on the internet or even in Second Life. At the other hand, shopping on the internet has turned out to be a great improvement for people who are disabled and therefor not able to go out shopping if they need or want to. The same goes for people who live in rural places who have to travel a long distance to do their shoppings in ‘real’ or physical shops. The market that has been opened, also to these groups, is enormous and the only thing needed is a computer with internet connection.

Although the improvements are great, the one thing that is still missing in webshops, is the personal attention that gives the customer the social perception that changes shopping into spending quality-time.

And this high valued quality is another reason why RIL Shopping in Second Life is special. It adds quality-time to shopping on the internet.

To make RIL Shopping really work, and especially with high quality products against considerable discount, the main challenge now is to convince the residents of Second Life and explain to them that it is easy and efficient to shop at RIL Shopping and that they will really have a delivery after their purchase.

This is the challenge that the initiating teams of Stonfield Inworld and credit bank Sofinco are facing right now.

RIL Shopping, managed for Stonfield InWorld by Richard Malterre, is not opened 24/7 like other, common webshops. This makes it possible to provide personal attention and service to every customer. Opening hours will be announced in advance at RIL Shopping in Second Life, as well as on the website, www.ril-shopping.com together with the specialties that will be offered for sale.

The very next sales, only available for residents who live in France, Belgium or Luxembourg, of special and exclusive wines by Château Labastidié, will be on the 12th of November from 17.00 to 21.00 CET. On the third opening day, the 14th of November from 17.00 to 21.00 CET, exclusive and high-quality gifts provided by Bagatelles.fr will be offered for sale in RIL Shopping against considerable discount.

Tags: chocolate, e-Commerce, innovation, RIL Shopping, second life, stonfield, Virtual Worlds, wine

This entry was posted on Tuesday 11 November 2008 at 16:14 and is filed under Machinimas, Marketing, Media, Open Source, Second Life (tm), Sustainable Development, Virtual Worlds, e-Commerce, e-Learning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.