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DECOR Magazine- July 2007
Selling Success
by Kristin Stefek , Associate Editor
For custom art gallery/frameshop owners, selling prints and posters can be challenging these days. Competition from Internet art companies and major retailers that sell pre-framed art strengthen the battle for the consumer dollar in this market.
Nonetheless, some independents have found ways to keep customers shuffling through the racks and buying this type of art. DECOR recently interviewed several DECOR Top 100 Art & Framing Retailers Award winners to find out their secrets to success.
Host Special Events
In the 28 years she’s run The Print Gallery Inc. in Southfield, Mich., Diane DeCillis has discovered many strategies for selling the 10,000 prints and posters her store offers. One of the most successful: hosting special events.
Many of her standing-room-only functions have featured a guest lecturer, usually an art professor from a university. An exhibit she put together several years ago, for instance, focused on movie posters, so she invited an authority on the topic to speak to her clients. For four weeks one summer, DeCillis hosted an impressionist exhibit, and an art history professor gave lectures. She stretched the event for six weeks, so as many clients as possible could work it into their schedules. All the while, DeCillis and her staff promoted the various impressionist posters the gallery offered.
Aside from the standard art genres, DeCillis also has branched out to niche areas to expand her customer base. One of her creative endeavors was an exhibit called Art & The Law.
A special lecture at The Print Gallery Inc. on artist Frida Kahlo draws a standing-room only crowd to the Southfield, Mich.,-based gallery. The event coincided with a print exhibit on the late Mexican artist.
“We made an invitation that looked like a subpoena demanding recipients to show up for the lecture,” she says. “An artist gave a lecture and pointed out prints that had legal action taken against them, and the event was rather successful. A lot of lawyers attended, and they needed more than just framed diplomas for their walls.”
Jan Marion, owner of H. Marion Framing Studio Inc., hosted a particularly successful event in March at the Glenview, Ill., based gallery. An avid bicyclist, Marion had a connection through a friend to Floyd Landis, winner of the 2006 Tour de France, and he invited Landis to attend a special exhibit featuring fine-art bicycling prints and memorabilia. More than 300 clients and newcomers attended and made lots of purchases. In mid-June, the H. Marion Framing Studio was still receiving customers as a result of the function. “Business just continues to roll in,” Marion says.
Set Up A Computer Kiosk
The Frame Up in Phoenix, Ariz., stocks 1,000 prints and posters, but if there’s an image a customer wants that isn’t in-store, the retailer offers plenty of ways to purchase it.
“We’ve become a great research outlet for clients who are looking for certain images,” says owner Bob Carter.
In addition to catalogs, The Frame Up now offers a newly installed computer kiosk at the end of the sales counter. Customers are free to sit at the computer and search online for their print. If they locate the item at Art.com and order it at The Frame Up, the retailer receives a 20-percent commission on the sale. Another bonus: The chances of the customer having the print framed at the shop are much higher than if the person ordered the image from home. The user-friendly search station gives The Frame Up an opportunity to regain some of the market share lost to Internet art companies.
The decision to add the kiosk stems largely from The Frame Up’s recent efforts to reach out to younger generations, members of which are making up more and more of its customer base.
“We have a lot of people under 30 come in here, and they’re not crazy about coming up and talking to salespeople,” Carter says. “They are much more comfortable with a keyboard and monitor than a person.”
To sell more prints and posters, some gallery/frameshop owners recommend hosting special events. Jan Marion, owner of H. Marion Framing Studio Inc. in Glenview, Ill., recently hosted an art show that featured vintage cycling posters. The event was also used as a fund-raiser for Floyd Landis, winner of the 2006 Tour de France. "We raised $15,000 for Floyd, the proceeds going to help defend him against doping allegations.
Go The Distance
It’s not uncommon for customers to approach employees at The Print Gallery Inc. with a vague request. Maybe they saw a print at a restaurant while on vacation. They don’t know the title of the piece or the artist. They only know certain colors or the basic look.
“If they want help finding it, we immediately become detectives,” DeCillis says. “We’ll call and talk to the restaurant. If it’s a server that doesn’t know, we’ll ask to talk to the manager. We’ll keep working until we find out.”
The Print Gallery staff is known for going out of its way to locate images. That goes a long way in print and poster sales. “No matter what anybody asks for, we’ll find it,” DeCillis says. One of the first things she tells her employees upon hiring them: “I never want to hear the word ‘no.’”
One time, a customer brought in a postcard and wanted the image in poster format. An assistant at The Print Gallery tracked it down at a gallery in Italy.
Offer What Major Competitors Don’t
As vast as Art.com’s art selection is, there are images the Internet company doesn’t have. Those are the ones DeCillis seeks for her gallery. In 28 years of running the business, she established a lengthy list of resources, including various museums and art publishers. DeCillis constantly is on the hunt for unique images, ones that aren’t as easily accessible to consumers.
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