Nowadays, online platforms selling art are expanding and developing globally. According to an article published by The Washington Post, by the aid of this business format the number of collectors among millenials is increasing. Reportedly, Bloomberg states that the monthly traffic on Artsy is about 2.5 million visitors, whose average purchase is $20 million. At Cosmoscow in 2018, an entire Frame section that united projects that do not have a permanent exhibition space or work as a showroom was built up. There are only few big and reputable online galleries in Russia. To find more answers on this matter, we spoke with co-owner of the pop/off/art gallery Olga Popova, who recently opened the ARTZIP online gallery.
Is it right to judge the preferences of the audience who buys contemporary art online?
I understand very well that preferences of the audience are very different. In my opinion, when you have plenty of options to choose from, you should go for a well-known name (brand) and a reasonable price. That is, for example, a small or mass-market project, which is not very interesting for an online gallery to sell due to the low price. As well as a spectacular and attractive work of a young artist might catch someone’s attention.
Is it profitable for artists to sell online?
It is profitable for an artist to sell either way. Of course, we do not exclude the possibility of communication with the customer offline if he wants to see the work of art himself. We mostly rely on customers from regions who are physically unable to visit Moscow or St. Petersburg galleries, but have a great desire to purchase something. We are always ready to help them. We provide a work certificate, as well as a correct package and provide delivery service, along with catalogs and additional information about the artist and work of art, if necessary.
How can an online gallery help both artists and gallerists?
The online gallery is more about selling the works of art. We do not take the responsibility of promoting the artist, and we do not invest in the production of works and exhibitions, with some exceptions maybe. As it turned out, the artists already have a large number of works in the price range we need in their workshops, which have not been presented anywhere yet. Firstly, this is a huge amount of graphics. This is one of our goals, getting such works out of the storage rooms, helping them find their customers. I am sure that any sale helps to increase the market activity, which is slowly developing, but still there is progress, and we are all participating in this.
Why our gallerists are not using online platforms yet?
There is a number of professional online platforms worldwide whose experience we have studied, but not all of their methods are applicable in Russia, because, as I think, there are some buyers who aren’t used to doing everything online. Most offline galleries do not have their own online shop today, although any major retail brand has it. Perhaps this is because of the product itself – it is unique, even if it is a mass production. But I am absolutely sure that online sales is the future.
What is potential customer’s reaction to a new brand on the market? How to earn their trust?
I rely on the fact that a personal trust has already developed towards me as a person, as a co-owner of the well-known gallery. When we started the discussion of this project, it seemed to me that it should be anonymous. But people, due to their nature, respond to the person who carries on history, knowledge and experience. As for new customers, there is a lot of work to be done with the website, social networks and offline. I hope that the quality of our work will speak for itself.
How was the ARTZIP artist team formed? Did you choose from those who represent the gallery?
Of course, I used resources of the gallery. However, we work with other Russian galleries, and even with artists who are not presented in other places. The list of our authors will be updated on the monthly basis, but will not be infinite. We have plans on adding some foreign authors as well. Now we have on our website, for example, works of the Latvian art scene star Andris Eglitis and affordable mass production works of the famous Takashi Murakami. Our webside represents various generations of artists, ranging from young stars to contemporary art masters, including Erik Bulatov, Oscar Rabin and Vladimir Nemukhin. When choosing works, I focus on high quality, affordable price range and attractive to view through various gadgets.
What advice could you give to those who start online art business?
It is too early to give any advices, but I can share the principles that I followed when creating this project. You need to fully understand what you want to sell, determine the concept of the website, analyze the market, find competitors and find out how are they different from each other. The main thing is to understand what the sales strategy is. As well as, you need to know your customer and how to find him. Despite the lack of direct communication, you need to have detailed information about everything considering the art market. And, of course, you need to be patient. Success does not come immediately in any business project.
