Thursday, February 19, 2009

Where Do You Purchase Art?


Do you know that over 90% of art is purchased while people are on vacation?

Interesting eh?

I heard this statistic yesturday and its been rolling around in my head ever since.

Most of my business at the Portland Saturday Market is tourists traveling thru the city. The PSM is one of the number 1 tourist destinations in Portland, on any given weekend there are thousands of out-of-towners that come and peruse the artwork at the market. So its no surprise that the bulk of my business is these tourists.

While on vacation people are looser with their credit cards, more impulsive with their choices and eager to take home a reminder of the amazing places they visit.

Buyers of art apreciate a good story that goes along with the artwork they collect, and having the associated memories of a great vacation only makes this story more personal and meaningful.

So the question is this: how do we deal with these statistics when trying to market our artwork online? Psychologically, the power of associated experience is profound, its hard to tap into this when we sell online. I just think its really interesting food for thought...

3 comments:

aimee said...

Hmmmm. Maybe find a way to associate the piece with an exotic destination? I have a few necklaces I've made that were inspired by the colors of the ocean in the Caribbean... it seemed like it was a different shade of blue every day (maybe every hour), and I used that in the item description.

Unknown said...

we did see your booth at the saturday market while my family and I were on vacation last summer, but I couldn't buy anything at the time because we had too much stuff at that point, plus I didn't want to risk anything breaking. So I was SO pleased at the fact that you had your online store! I ordered the first mobile within weeks of returning home! So, I hope that encourages you!

Leah said...

Ombra - that is great encouragement!

Aimee - a good product name goes a long way! you are brilliant as always with that observation!