It's a Balancing Act: The Importance of Aligning Studio Pricing with Gallery Rates for a Sustainable Art Practice
A conversation with a new gallery owner a few months ago prompted this blog post. The gallery owner wanted to know what my attitude was to this subject. It has come up from time to time over the two decades I’ve been a printmaker. Sometimes the question comes up from a gallery owner. Sometimes it is a customer expectation who, having seen my work in a gallery, want to buy it at a lower price direct from me.
Tempting as it might be to agree to do that, there are compelling reasons why I have consistently stuck to the keeping my prices consistent since I started exhibiting in galleries. I’ve set out my main reasons here:
1. Fostering Trust with My Customers:
I’ve spent twenty plus years build lasting relationships with my customers. The cornerstone to that customer relationship is trust.
Picture this - you fell in love with one of my prints and purchased it from a gallery. A little later you come to my studio or my website and see another version of it from the same variable edition but the price has dropped. Would you feel differently about your purchase? Would you be happy about it? I keep my prices consistent because I respect the investment of all my customers whether they buy from me directly or indirectly.
2. The relationships I have with the galleries who showcase my work is extremely valuable to me:
They play an important part in promoting and showing my work. They provide a show window that allows me to reach a wider audience than I can reach on my own. Put simply, I cannot afford to allow my studio prices to undercut those galleries destroying the relationships I’ve worked so hard to establish. It would be a very sad day too, if galleries disappeared from the high street not just for the artists but the people who enjoy browsing, and occasionally buying from one of these Alladin’s caves!
3. Reinforcing the value of my work built up over two decades and counting:
I've put a lot of work into building a professional reputation over two decades plus. My skills and experience have evolved and grown over that period and that is reflected in the way I price my work. I hope that reinforces buyer confidence in the quality they can expect, regardless of whether they buy from a gallery or from me.
4. Safeguarding brand identity:
It may seem a bit weird to hear an artist talking about brand identity, but every artist develops their own unique style and creative identity that characterise my work. It’s not just about the creative output. It is also about being seen to act professionally. Fluctuating pricing confuses ones audience and compromises ones professional integrity.
5. Ensuring my business remains sustainable:
Artists' have overheads too! It is a misnomer to believe our overheads are lower than galleries. The reality is more complex. It’s true that some artists overheads might be quite low but that depends very much on their own unique set up and individual approach to selling.
Professional artists’ costs include framing, materials, marketing, travel costs to deliver and pick up work or paying not inconsiderable fees to deliver to parts of the country that are too far away to do the delivery/pick up. As an artist I need to run my business sustainably. If I want to be sustainable I have to pay attention to the true cost of creating and selling art with consistent pricing. It ensures the sustainability of my business in the long run.
In conclusion:
My decision to keep my prices consistent offers multifaceted benefits. As my customer you can trust that the price you see, wherever you see it, will be the same.
Galleries I work with can trust I’m not undercutting them.
My customers can be confident that the perceived value of my work is not going to be wildly fluctuating
I will always uphold professional integrity, ensuring the sustainability of my art business.
This is partly why I have developed a range of gifts based on my work. The range of gifts based on my work allows it to remain accessible to those unwilling or unable to invest in an original print.
That allows me to be consistent with the pricing of my original work so I have been able to continue working over more than two decades AND make a living in the tough world of art commerce.