Web marketing

["Andrei Stefanescu" <andrei_stefanescu@xxxxxx>]

Ann,
about a year and a half ago I researched possibilities of selling my
sculptures over the Internet. Living in Germany, I contacted several
galleries here and abroad and found out the following:

- in Germany galleries expect about 40% in commission.
- in the US I talked to an Internet entrepeneur who agreed to pass the
selling price through, but asked for up-front payments for unspecified
"marketing and promotion" activities. In addition it was unclear how the
risk was to be split between buyer and seller (risk of the buyer to lose the
money if the seller doesn't deliver, and of the seller to lose the sculpture
if the buyer doesn't pay). Since end-customers are not used to payment
instruments like letters of credit the question remained unanswered.

Eventually I found an Internet gallery in the UK who made no requests for
commission or other payments. They placed my photographs on their Web page
at no cost. The downside is that I never got any enquiry...

So to sum it up, I don't believe it works unless you are prepared to spend
brains and money on devising a strategy for advertising your Internet
presence. The Internet is just another sales channel, potential customers
must be made aware that you exist. In marketing speak it is part of the four
P - Product features, Placement, Promotion, Price. They all must play in
concert, which is probably a bit much if you also want to spend time with
carving. Sounds familiar?

Someone who might and probably will tell you a different story is Walter
Arnold - I admire him greatly for his Web site, but his is  different
concept. Arnold?

Good luck and best regards
Andrei