Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Selling art online

Two weeks into this blog, and still very keen to start an art business of some sort, I am leaning towards the idea of opening up an online gallery. At least initially.

Why? For a few reasons:
  • Cost - This is the big one. Although it won't be cheap to set-up a website, you avoid the cost of hiring a gallery space.
  • Competition - As Mark pointed out, there are already 200 'bricks and mortar' galleries in Melbourne. Is there really a need for any more?
  • Flexibility - An online gallery would give me a little more freedom to work on it when I could. Which might give me the chance to do some part-time work somewhere else, to keep some money coming in while I'm setting up.
  • Experience - I have an online marketing background, and think I could use these skills to set up an online gallery. On the other hand, I haven't worked in a normal gallery before.
  • Reach - there is the opportunity to attract artists and art lovers all over the world ... which is less likely than with a shop-front gallery here in Melbourne.
But of course, I do have some reservations about this. For starters, let's look at the competition - There's already some brilliant online galleries and communities set up - I'd sure need to launch something remarkable for it to work.

And the million dollar question ::
Who buys art online?

Is there a big enough market of people buying art online for this to be a viable idea? I suspect that more and more people will start to.

So to help me answer this question, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
  • What experiences have you had with buying and selling art online?
  • Am I wasting my time thinking about opening an online art site?

1 comment:

The Painted Sky said...

To answer your million dollar question...who buys art online?

I do !

"What experiences have you had with buying and selling art online?"

I have bought paintings, editioned prints and art vinyl from overseas galleries via the internety thing.

"Am I wasting my time thinking about opening an online art site?"

No, a online gallery is only as good as it's content....it's artists and it's cool design.

Many collecotrs in OZ can't be bothered buying from overseas galleries, so tap into that market by getting some big name cool artists ;)

Online galleries can exist in weird, off the beaten track places such as New Zealand ... lol ... yet tap into some really cool stuff.
http://www.popup.co.nz

The real question is can you pick & get the right mix of artists and package it into a very cool site....then market the hell out of it?

The artists are out there, the rest is up to you.

:) JT