Customers

Selling photographs at the local farmers market for two years was enjoyable and interesting - interesting because if you haven't worked retail before (not since a summer job many years ago), you learn a lot about customers.

I learned that:

People over 50 usually have little wall space for art so only buy if they are enthusiasts.

Young people are more likely than older to buy black and white.

Customers who almost buy but don't sometimes come back as much as a year later to purchase images - so be nice.

Chatting is a big part of selling images - which may go a long way to explain why I don't sell dozens of images in galleries but do well in person.

The information on the back of the print is as important as the image and often commmands more time of the customers than the images themselves - I describe the image and the circumstances of taking it. I used to go into the technicalities of shooting but now compact that into a single sentence. Customers like a story with the image and make a point of taking the 'blurb' and attaching it to the back of the frame and in one case to the front below the image.

People like to thumb through baskets of prints. If they see prints on stands, they often assume every print behind the first one is the same image and won't browse.

Women show more interest and buy a more prints than men, probably 2:1.

Young people tend to like abstract images more than middle aged people but it's not a hard and fast rule.

People surprise you with their ability to appreciate what you were trying to do in your images and it is quite common to get some very perceptive comments.

Colour far outsells black and white (even when they occupy equivalent space in the display - but much of the colour work is sold as decoration rather than as art so if you look only at 'art' purchases, probably black and white holds it's own. Mind you a fair amount of my colour work is abstract 'artistic' and wouldn't be purchased by the calendar liking public. Otherwise black and white would probably far outsell colour to art loving customers.

Some people insist on haggling about price but most do not, mind you I advertise substantial discounts for multiple print purchases.

A significant number of customers do subsequently come back to buy more artwork so it's vital to leave them feeling this was a good experience.

I offered an iron clad guarantee - they could return any print they didn't like, within a month, they could exchange any print within 3 months, they could purchase additional prints at discount for a month after purchase (and I would extend it quite happily for returning customers). I let customers pay for two prints but take four home with the idea that they'd pick the ones that worked best for them in their home. I took cheques and Visa and while a couple of times people didn't have room on their credit card when I ran it though, I was never once stiffed and no cheques bounced.

In two years I had one print come back that wasn't subsequently replaced with more or bigger prints. No one ever brought a print back and wanted a smaller one, fairly often though they would upgrade to a larger one.

I never sold enough small prints at $19 to even break even, but my daughter swore that looking through the cheap prints led to purchases of bigger prints and I think she is right - they'd stop for the $19 prints but purchase the larger ones.

Customers often wanted larger prints and I was able to pay off the cost of my 24 inch Epson 7600 selling large prints.

Panorama prints were quite popular and sold well despite the added cost - and of course it's a way to make larger prints without a bigger printer - bonus!

Some customers know their own mind but others really do need help.

Predicting which images will be popular is iffy at best and the images which generate the most positive feedback aren't necessarily the ones that are purchased most often.

It's rare for a customer to take home a particular image and change their mind - more often they come back looking for a companion image for the first one.

People amaze me at how quickly or slowly they decide on what they want - ok I can understand someone coming back and within seconds confirming that they want print 'A', but there are customers who discover you by accident and purchase a print in less than a minute, others who agonize over several prolonged visits - human nature at it's most varied.

Customers are interesting and interested and I regret none of the time spent talking with them.