For better or for worse, artists need to be online these days and that’s why I was looking at Art Storefronts. I am probably the most left-brained artist you’ve ever met. I’ve spent many more years running businesses as a Chartered Professional Accountant (with a computer science degree) and doing software selections than I have as an artist. I know how important my online storefront will be to my success in the artworld and I didn’t take the search for the best one lightly.
FULL DISCLOSURE: As an artist it is smart to have multiple income streams and as Nick, CEO of Art Storefronts often says, “I’ve never met a revenue stream I didn’t like.” I am an affiliate for Art Storefronts. As an affiliate, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my own, and despite the affiliate partnership I will tell you exactly what I think. When I was trying to decide if I should invest in ASF I had to dig hard to find reviews that weren’t part of the ASF website, and I hope my experiences will be helpful to you.
PROs & CONs of Art Storefronts
Obviously, I have joined so I felt the pros outweighed the cons. Here’s the list of what I considered to be the primary pros & cons as I head into my new membership experience.
Art Storefronts PROs
1. Clean Looking Gallery Style Website.
I have built websites before (I hold a Computer Science degree… but we don’t talk about that!) and really liked all the websites that I saw that were created under Art Storefronts.
Side by side you can tell that the websites started with the same base but they are flexible enough that I enjoyed looking at every artist’s website. Some offered commissions others had a gift shop or were promoting special projects they were working on. I could see that I would not be limited by the templates used.
The ecommerce setup is cooked in and I know from experience this can be time consuming when designing your own site. Plus, to get some of the nice features required in an art “gallery” plugins would be required and they are always a pain to mess with and maintain.
Unless you really love the tech side of things, this is a big pro for Art Storefronts.
2. Customer Experience
Designed for customers to easily select their print medium, size, and framing options and add to their shopping cart.
Simple checkout process.
Print fulfillment is cooked in, unless you wish to fulfil print orders yourself.
As much as I want my storefront to be easy for me, I NEED it to be easy for my customers. Art Storefronts has a great customer experience.
3. Multiple Revenue Streams
Your art. Obviously, whether it be originals, prints, sculptures, etc.
Merchandise. It is easy for the artist to include additional merchandise (mugs, totes, stickers, etc.). Not every buyer is willing to commit to the cost of full artwork and small purchases can add up. They make great gift ideas that are easy to promote to a different audience than collectors at art shows or craft fairs.
Affiliate program. If you like and recommend Art Storefronts to others you can earn money or help cover the costs of your Art Storefronts membership.
If you do decide to join, please use my affiliate link by clicking REQUEST A DEMO HERE.
I’ve been in business for many years and understand the value that comes with multiple income streams.
4. Marketing & Membership
You’re in this with other artists and a group of people (real people that you will get to know by name) that make a living helping artists make a living. They have a collective expertise about the art market that they share that would be very difficult to find elsewhere and they literally tell you what to do for marketing step-by-step.
Art Storefronts CONs
1.The Price Point
The price point will filter out anyone who is not willing to commit to making their art into a business. From Art Storefronts perspective this is probably a good thing – no tire kickers joining up here, because that is one expensive tire!
As a new artist who is trying to decide if this is where I want to put my resources, it is a difficult decision to spend this kind of money when you can’t be sure of the outcome.
2. The Bundle
The longer you buy in for and the more features you include, the more reasonably priced and flexible the membership becomes. However, you don’t know yet if it is worth it.
This leaves you with a decision:
- Frontload your costs to get better value for money OR
- Pay as you go at much higher prices if you stay, but less costs if you decide it isn’t for you.
*EDIT: After going through the purchasing process and watching subsequent weekly specials that ASF is running I think that they may always include the “extras” like the free website setup and support, dropping the transaction fees. I think it is just a psychological sales technique to make you feel like you got the deal!
Art Storefronts Stats
On their website Art Storefronts say they have a 98% renewal rate. If true, that’s impressive by anyone’s standards.
I’ve worked as a chartered professional accountant for much longer than I’ve done art. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that numbers matter to me.
I wasn’t able to verify if this claim was true. I did find that when I evaluated websites for clues to see how long users had been with Art Storefronts there were a lot of artists that had been using Art Storefronts for a long period of time. I could see it by:
- dates on blog posts
- news stories
- exhibit/residency dates
- about stories
Quality Free Information
You don’t have to be an Arts Storefront member to read the blog or listen to certain podcasts.
I consumed quite a large quantity of their free information, and I liked what I saw. They focus on marketing art – an area we all struggle with.
Of course, there were many references to resources inside the program, but even without access there was value to the information that was provided.
Free Art Storefronts Demo
It doesn’t cost anything to look. They offer demos frequently and it was easy to sign up. They asked relevant questions on the sign up (but only a handful) which I felt was another good sign.
Conclusion
I know I can create the art. Art Storefronts was addressing all the other areas I was most concerned about:
- Ecommerce
- Fulfillment
- Marketing
As a bonus their program and content is 100% artist focused unlike WooCommerce or Etsy platforms that I had tried in the past or other platforms that I evaluated like Shopify.
In the end, I decided to give it a try…for better or for worse!
Want to see a demo for yourself? REQUEST A DEMO HERE.
Stay sketchy,
