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Disruption Has Come to the Traditional Art Gallery Business

Latest insights from Unity Marketing about the new art consumer will guide retail art galleries to greater success 

Also includes free copy of Pam Danziger’s presentation at ArtExpo New York 2016, “Marketing Art in New Luxury Style”

Since the recession the retail art business has changed dramatically.  In 2014 there are roughly 5,000 retail art galleries, down from some 6,500 galleries in 2010 — nearly a 25% drop in only 4 years, according to statistics compiled by D&B’s Hoover’s subsidiary.

While the number of retail establishments devoted to art has declined sharply in the last four years, the number of highly-educated affluent consumers who can both afford and appreciate art has grown significantly.   In fact the ultra-affluent consumer segment, those with incomes of $250,000 and above, are the fastest growing segment in the U.S. consumer market today, up nearly 33% from 2010-2013.  Overall there are nearly 30 million affluent households in the United States today, including 3.3 million ultra-affluents.

Question is how to explain that the total target consumer market for art growing yet the number of retailers devoted to art has dropped sharply?  Have people with a lot of money lost their interest in buying and displaying art or has something else changed?  The answer is simple:  People who appreciate art haven’t gone away, but they have moved outside the traditional four-walls of a retail art gallery to buy art. 

Affluents are turning more frequently to buying art directly from the artist, at art shows, like the recent Miami Art Week, which features some 20 different art fairs, including the Art Miami show and Aqua Art Miami, both of which reported record crowds earlier this month, and increasingly buying art online, from such services as Amazon.com/Art, ArtFinder.com and Zatista.com.  For example, in Unity Marketing’s most recent survey among over 200 art buyers, some 30% of affluents made their most recent purchases online and another 10% bought in some other way, such as at an art show.   What retail art business can withstand losing 40% of their business when real customers looking to buy art walk right by their door and go online or direct-to-artist to make their purchase?

Art galleries can fight back and win the competitive game with a new strategically-focused report from Unity Marketing, entitled Art Gallery’s Guide to the New Consumer Art Market:  Retailer’s Guide to Marketing Art in New Luxury Style.  This report gives art gallery owners, managers and anyone else in the business of selling art news they can use from Unity Marketing’s research-based library about art consumers and buyers.  It reveals facts about art gallery marketing and the art market, in particular the affluent consumers who buy art drawn from Unity Marketing’s Affluent Consumer Tracking Study (ACTS) and its “Shopper Track” revealing information about affluent’s most recent art buying experience.  It shows examples of art galleries doing marketing right to stay ahead of the competition and presents strategies for art marketers to get out ahead of the curve and put the internet and social media tools to work to attract art-buying customers.  Order your copy today. 

December 2014 (89 pages)

Published Price:  $299