When the latest buzz phrases in museum retail include “curated ranges” and “product stories”, it is clear that heritage shops have come a long way from the days of pencils and postcards at the exit.
The past decade has seen a revolution in the professionalism of the museum-retailing sector, but also in the contribution that shops make to museums’ visitor experience and bottom-line.
“The days of sad shops selling logo pencils and tatty books are gone because customers expect better – to remain sustainable we have to offer more,” says Katie Fairburn, the buying and merchandising manager at the Postal Museum in London, which opened its doors to the public in July.
“The organisations that are doing well recognise that we must compete with the high street in terms of products, displays and staff knowledge – the whole shopping experience,” she adds.
One example of this is Tate Edit, a new shop at Tate Modern in London. It offers “a carefully curated range of products” such as aspirational limited-edition art and objects, which have been specially selected by the art gallery and “guest editors”.
An approach that includes putting an increased focus on products, using stories in visual merchandising and opting for bespoke or exclusive objects over generic lines is now being seen across the sector.
Riba North, the Royal Institute of British Architect’s new national architectural centre in Liverpool, includes a section curated by stylist Katie Patrick. Alongside stationary and books, the shop sells “innovative designs from artists, makers and craftspeople from the north of the UK”.
Some institutions are even expanding beyond the limitations of their physical shops with standalone stores, pop-ups and retail partnerships.
The Design Museum in London has a standalone store on High Street Kensington, which offers a “curated edit” of the best in design books and objects from established brands and emerging designers.
Buying experiences
There is no one size fits all solution to museum retail so venues must look selectively and apply new trends as appropriate.
“It is really important that museums think about their collections and what is unique about them,” says Annabelle Dodd, a senior buyer at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s (V&A) shop, which has just undergone a major redesign as part of the London gallery’s new extension and entrance area.
“Think about why people come to visit you and build up from there,” Dodd says. “Think about why people come to you and where else they might shop. Thinking that way changes them from visitors to customers.”
For Fairburn at the Postal Museum, this approach has meant focusing on products that tell a story. “The main trend in customer buying in general is a desire to invest in stories – they want to know that their gift for a friend has been designed and made thoughtfully and is supporting a good cause,” she says.
The museum has collaborated with brands and suppliers on bespoke products, including mailbag inspired bags and purses made by social enterprise Fine Cell Work, which trains prisoners in needle work.
“The product is high quality, has a strong story, support two charities and looks good too,” Fairburn says.
The relocation of the Design Museum from south east to west London allowed the institution’s head of retail, Rebecca Hossain, to review every aspect of its retail offer.
“We really wanted to raise standards so we spent time looking at every detail, from the fixtures down to the bags and the kind of tissue we use,” she says.
When it came to selecting stock, product curation is key to Hossain’s strategy because she feels the shop has a duty to push boundaries and “avoid being predictable”.
“We do offer souvenirs but they are curated with a focus on quality,” she says. “Form and function is our ethos. The wider range aims to be a curated edit of the best in design. Less is more, but we do try to offer a mix to give people what they want but also what they didn’t know they wanted.”
Aspirational approach
Hossain says it is critical for the Design Museum to have an own branded range: “Sometimes that is the only thing visitors will buy, it is their piece of the museum. It also extends our brand and gets us out there.”
As new technology has made it easier for manufacturers to make smaller quantities of products at lower prices, this has now become a viable option for venues of all sizes.
But it is crucial to proceed with caution and test products with small runs to begin with, warns retail consultant Graham Bancroft.
“There does need to be a clear link between the museum and any bespoke products,” he explains. “It either needs to be very obvious or it will need explaining in some way.”
At the London Transport Museum, bespoke products drawing on its own intellectual property and that of Transport for London has been a crucial part of a retail overhaul, which began two years ago with the appointment of commercial director David Burns.
“We have increased our own branded products and reduced generic lines as we have shifted away from souvenirs to focus more on gifting,” Burns says. “This is a more aspirational approach.”
That is not to say that bought-in products cannot be made to feel unique. Bancroft says museums can get away with generic products as long there is a link to their collection.
How these products are then merchandised is of paramount importance.
“The saying ‘retail is detail’ is absolutely true,” Burns says. “That means using signage effectively, including what a product is and how much it costs, less product on show, and ranging products so similar items are grouped together.”
Mary Ann Irbins, the commercial development consultant at Gain Retail Solutions, advises museums to start by identifying key themes: “Try to make them agile so you can keep evolving the range as time goes on and to allow creativity.”
Shops must then make it easy for customers to buy.
“Make it clear, put things at eye level and allow people to try it,” says the Design Museum’s Hossain. “Our ethos is: see, touch, buy. As soon as something is in their hand, they are more likely to buy it.”
Location, location, location
The exit remains the most common location for museums to position their shops but if that isn’t possible choose an area of high footfall. The trend at larger venues is still to have a main store supported by satellite shops while also creating temporary stores for specific exhibitions.
For that to succeed, museums need to define the offer in each location, says Sarah Sevier, the V&A’s head of retail. “It is also about staff working with visitors to explain where things are.”
The V&A has also experimented with external pop-ups, including a shop on London’s Carnaby Street during last year’s Christmas shopping period.
It tied together the 1960s theme of the street’s lighting display with the museum’s 1960s exhibition: You Say You Want Revolution, which ran from September 2016 to February 2017.
“Just picking up the V&A shop and putting it elsewhere doesn’t make sense, but where there is a connection it does work,” Sevier says.
Future trends
Looking to the future, expectations of museum shops will continue to rise and, as a result, online is expected to play a significant role.
The V&A’s Sevier says its online purchases account for about 10% of its total sales, while London Transport Museum’s online sales were up by 12% year-on-year over Christmas.
While there are many low-cost online retail solutions to create online shops, such as Shopify, there is still the fulfilment and distribution to consider.
The Postal Museum’s Fairburn says: “If you can’t invest proper time and probably funds in the design, photography, thorough testing and providing a seamless customer experience, you may end up doing damage to your reputation.”
This November, the Association for Cultural Enterprises, which promotes commercial best practice in the cultural and heritage sectors, will launch Museum Shop Sunday, an initiative aimed at encouraging people to go to museums to relax and shop as an antidote to the chaos of Black Friday.
But it is also down to individual shops to find new reasons for customers to visit.
“The challenge going forward is to continue keeping up with the high street while remaining efficient and responding to new trends quickly,” says Karen O’Connor, the head of retail at National Museums Liverpool.
“The key lies in finding a way to promote our merchandise to people who don’t traditionally visit museums.”
The past decade has seen a revolution in the professionalism of the museum-retailing sector, but also in the contribution that shops make to museums’ visitor experience and bottom-line.
“The days of sad shops selling logo pencils and tatty books are gone because customers expect better – to remain sustainable we have to offer more,” says Katie Fairburn, the buying and merchandising manager at the Postal Museum in London, which opened its doors to the public in July.
“The organisations that are doing well recognise that we must compete with the high street in terms of products, displays and staff knowledge – the whole shopping experience,” she adds.
One example of this is Tate Edit, a new shop at Tate Modern in London. It offers “a carefully curated range of products” such as aspirational limited-edition art and objects, which have been specially selected by the art gallery and “guest editors”.
An approach that includes putting an increased focus on products, using stories in visual merchandising and opting for bespoke or exclusive objects over generic lines is now being seen across the sector.
Riba North, the Royal Institute of British Architect’s new national architectural centre in Liverpool, includes a section curated by stylist Katie Patrick. Alongside stationary and books, the shop sells “innovative designs from artists, makers and craftspeople from the north of the UK”.
Some institutions are even expanding beyond the limitations of their physical shops with standalone stores, pop-ups and retail partnerships.
The Design Museum in London has a standalone store on High Street Kensington, which offers a “curated edit” of the best in design books and objects from established brands and emerging designers.
Buying experiences
There is no one size fits all solution to museum retail so venues must look selectively and apply new trends as appropriate.
“It is really important that museums think about their collections and what is unique about them,” says Annabelle Dodd, a senior buyer at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s (V&A) shop, which has just undergone a major redesign as part of the London gallery’s new extension and entrance area.
“Think about why people come to visit you and build up from there,” Dodd says. “Think about why people come to you and where else they might shop. Thinking that way changes them from visitors to customers.”
For Fairburn at the Postal Museum, this approach has meant focusing on products that tell a story. “The main trend in customer buying in general is a desire to invest in stories – they want to know that their gift for a friend has been designed and made thoughtfully and is supporting a good cause,” she says.
The museum has collaborated with brands and suppliers on bespoke products, including mailbag inspired bags and purses made by social enterprise Fine Cell Work, which trains prisoners in needle work.
“The product is high quality, has a strong story, support two charities and looks good too,” Fairburn says.
The relocation of the Design Museum from south east to west London allowed the institution’s head of retail, Rebecca Hossain, to review every aspect of its retail offer.
“We really wanted to raise standards so we spent time looking at every detail, from the fixtures down to the bags and the kind of tissue we use,” she says.
When it came to selecting stock, product curation is key to Hossain’s strategy because she feels the shop has a duty to push boundaries and “avoid being predictable”.
“We do offer souvenirs but they are curated with a focus on quality,” she says. “Form and function is our ethos. The wider range aims to be a curated edit of the best in design. Less is more, but we do try to offer a mix to give people what they want but also what they didn’t know they wanted.”
Aspirational approach
Hossain says it is critical for the Design Museum to have an own branded range: “Sometimes that is the only thing visitors will buy, it is their piece of the museum. It also extends our brand and gets us out there.”
As new technology has made it easier for manufacturers to make smaller quantities of products at lower prices, this has now become a viable option for venues of all sizes.
But it is crucial to proceed with caution and test products with small runs to begin with, warns retail consultant Graham Bancroft.
“There does need to be a clear link between the museum and any bespoke products,” he explains. “It either needs to be very obvious or it will need explaining in some way.”
At the London Transport Museum, bespoke products drawing on its own intellectual property and that of Transport for London has been a crucial part of a retail overhaul, which began two years ago with the appointment of commercial director David Burns.
“We have increased our own branded products and reduced generic lines as we have shifted away from souvenirs to focus more on gifting,” Burns says. “This is a more aspirational approach.”
That is not to say that bought-in products cannot be made to feel unique. Bancroft says museums can get away with generic products as long there is a link to their collection.
How these products are then merchandised is of paramount importance.
“The saying ‘retail is detail’ is absolutely true,” Burns says. “That means using signage effectively, including what a product is and how much it costs, less product on show, and ranging products so similar items are grouped together.”
Mary Ann Irbins, the commercial development consultant at Gain Retail Solutions, advises museums to start by identifying key themes: “Try to make them agile so you can keep evolving the range as time goes on and to allow creativity.”
Shops must then make it easy for customers to buy.
“Make it clear, put things at eye level and allow people to try it,” says the Design Museum’s Hossain. “Our ethos is: see, touch, buy. As soon as something is in their hand, they are more likely to buy it.”
Location, location, location
The exit remains the most common location for museums to position their shops but if that isn’t possible choose an area of high footfall. The trend at larger venues is still to have a main store supported by satellite shops while also creating temporary stores for specific exhibitions.
For that to succeed, museums need to define the offer in each location, says Sarah Sevier, the V&A’s head of retail. “It is also about staff working with visitors to explain where things are.”
The V&A has also experimented with external pop-ups, including a shop on London’s Carnaby Street during last year’s Christmas shopping period.
It tied together the 1960s theme of the street’s lighting display with the museum’s 1960s exhibition: You Say You Want Revolution, which ran from September 2016 to February 2017.
“Just picking up the V&A shop and putting it elsewhere doesn’t make sense, but where there is a connection it does work,” Sevier says.
Future trends
Looking to the future, expectations of museum shops will continue to rise and, as a result, online is expected to play a significant role.
The V&A’s Sevier says its online purchases account for about 10% of its total sales, while London Transport Museum’s online sales were up by 12% year-on-year over Christmas.
While there are many low-cost online retail solutions to create online shops, such as Shopify, there is still the fulfilment and distribution to consider.
The Postal Museum’s Fairburn says: “If you can’t invest proper time and probably funds in the design, photography, thorough testing and providing a seamless customer experience, you may end up doing damage to your reputation.”
This November, the Association for Cultural Enterprises, which promotes commercial best practice in the cultural and heritage sectors, will launch Museum Shop Sunday, an initiative aimed at encouraging people to go to museums to relax and shop as an antidote to the chaos of Black Friday.
But it is also down to individual shops to find new reasons for customers to visit.
“The challenge going forward is to continue keeping up with the high street while remaining efficient and responding to new trends quickly,” says Karen O’Connor, the head of retail at National Museums Liverpool.
“The key lies in finding a way to promote our merchandise to people who don’t traditionally visit museums.”