Well, it's been a week since we picked the keys up for the gallery and we've been busy renovating the spaces as we work towards a February opening.
It took quite a while to get the physical point of moving in, but we didn't sit on our laurels while we were witing. Confident that it was going to happen we set about designing our branding and creating a website. Luckily the team behind the Terrace Gallery have a lot of personal experience with design, content writing, photography and website creation, so it was easier for us than most start-ups. However, none of us had ever put together an e-commerce website so we were all on new ground. I’m not going to say it was easy. There were a few head-scratching moments and a couple of early morning epiphanies, but we got there in the end. And we are quite proud of what we have created. It will no doubt change as the gallery evolves but that is the nature of progress.
Why did we make an e-commerce site to complement the art sales through our gallery?
Hiscox has reported that new art buyers are the most engaged audience with 36% saying they have bought online in the last year, which is up from 31% last year. 70% of these said they had bought art online more than once which is an increase of 64% on last year. If this doesn’t say it all we don’t know what does.
An online shop is now a very important side of the gallery business and although it will never replace seeing a piece of art in the flesh, it allows buyers to revisit the piece and purchasing it at a later date. Having this beneficial thinking time gives clients the chance to go home imagine the artwork in their own home, check their finances, discuss the purchase with other family members and arrive at the right decision for them.
As art buyers ourselves we think this is an invaluable process particularly if you don’t live near to the gallery. So we will be offering all the artists who exhibit at the Terrace Gallery a dedicated web page and the opportunity to sell their work online for up to six months after the exhibition has ended.
The work of Dave Pentin - our first exhibitor in 2020 is already for sale on our website if you fancy a sneak peek of what will be on the walls in February...