The William Morris Gallery in east London launched its online shop as part of a package of measures to build its financial resilience.
In 2014 the gallery received a grant of £100,000 from the arts council’s resilience fund, £14,000 of which was used to set up an online shop – a move that is designed to boost retail sales by 8-10%.
According to the gallery’s development officer Mhairi Muncaster, one of the biggest hurdles was deciding on what payment system to use on the website.
Paypal was eventually chosen for its ability to convert website visits into transactions and its popularity with online shoppers. The next step was to demonstrate Paypal’s security credentials to Waltham Forest Council, which runs the gallery.
“The local authority were very rigorous on security issues and wanted to know how Paypal would interact with their bank accounts. There was also a lot of consideration of how people’s details would be held,” says Muncaster.
The website was built and tested with a “dummy” login, which allowed every step of the purchase to be carried out in full before the site was launched. Once the site was live further testing was also done with stakeholders and people across the gallery to iron out any more minor glitches.
The team working on the website were also careful not to overload the online shop with different products until its functionality had been fully tested. This was particularly important because the gallery is managing all the back office processes and deliveries in-house. Online shops, says Muncaster, need to be “turning over a lot of money” before it is worth employing a third party to manage stock dispatches.
Currently, the online shop offers a limited range of products based on bestsellers in its onsite store. There are plans to offer an exclusive online range. “One problem we have, and we probably have it in common with a lot of museums, is that we just don’t have the space to hold lots of different stock lines,” says Muncaster.
Jewellery, stationary, gift cards, homeware and toiletries are among the items for sale online. Customers can also purchase items from the Celia Birtwell Collection, which has been inspired by the gallery’s collections.
The gallery has a history of collaborating up with retailers and designers and has previously worked with Jigsaw and the House of Hackney. The grant from the arts council has allowed the gallery to investigate these and other licensing opportunities.
Marketing the online shop was not hugely challenging because of the popularity and notability of the William Morris brand, but targeted promotion of online products was done using Facebook.
“With Facebook advertising you can be really specific and drill down to groups focused on the Pre-Raphaelites and William Morris.”
Another advantage, adds Muncaster, is that it’s easy to track Facebook-generated sales and it’s relatively inexpensive to place an advert.
In 2014 the gallery received a grant of £100,000 from the arts council’s resilience fund, £14,000 of which was used to set up an online shop – a move that is designed to boost retail sales by 8-10%.
According to the gallery’s development officer Mhairi Muncaster, one of the biggest hurdles was deciding on what payment system to use on the website.
Paypal was eventually chosen for its ability to convert website visits into transactions and its popularity with online shoppers. The next step was to demonstrate Paypal’s security credentials to Waltham Forest Council, which runs the gallery.
“The local authority were very rigorous on security issues and wanted to know how Paypal would interact with their bank accounts. There was also a lot of consideration of how people’s details would be held,” says Muncaster.
The website was built and tested with a “dummy” login, which allowed every step of the purchase to be carried out in full before the site was launched. Once the site was live further testing was also done with stakeholders and people across the gallery to iron out any more minor glitches.
The team working on the website were also careful not to overload the online shop with different products until its functionality had been fully tested. This was particularly important because the gallery is managing all the back office processes and deliveries in-house. Online shops, says Muncaster, need to be “turning over a lot of money” before it is worth employing a third party to manage stock dispatches.
Currently, the online shop offers a limited range of products based on bestsellers in its onsite store. There are plans to offer an exclusive online range. “One problem we have, and we probably have it in common with a lot of museums, is that we just don’t have the space to hold lots of different stock lines,” says Muncaster.
Jewellery, stationary, gift cards, homeware and toiletries are among the items for sale online. Customers can also purchase items from the Celia Birtwell Collection, which has been inspired by the gallery’s collections.
The gallery has a history of collaborating up with retailers and designers and has previously worked with Jigsaw and the House of Hackney. The grant from the arts council has allowed the gallery to investigate these and other licensing opportunities.
Marketing the online shop was not hugely challenging because of the popularity and notability of the William Morris brand, but targeted promotion of online products was done using Facebook.
“With Facebook advertising you can be really specific and drill down to groups focused on the Pre-Raphaelites and William Morris.”
Another advantage, adds Muncaster, is that it’s easy to track Facebook-generated sales and it’s relatively inexpensive to place an advert.