Pixels.com Offers Alternative to Traditional Art Licensing

If you would like to sell more of your designs, art, or photographs, now is a great time to check out everything that’s possible through Pixels.com. Their “set-your-own-price” alternative to traditional art licensing gives you greater control over how much you can earn from the sale of your images.

Pixels.com is global print-on-demand marketplace that allows design enthusiasts to choose which images they would like to have printed on more than 25 different products, including framed prints, metal prints, wood prints, greeting cards, T-shirts, hoodies, tote bags, duvet covers, men’s apparel, women’s apparel, throw pillows, shower curtains, beach towels, smartphone cases, and more.

Custom tote bag with starfish image by Katherine Young
Tote bag printed with image by Katherine Young-Beck

Pixels handles all the details associated with printing, matting, framing, packaging, shipping, insuring, and customer service. Orders placed through Pixels.com go to one of 14 production facilities in 5 countries around the world. This makes it easy to print and ship your products to customers anywhere in the world. For example, if a buyer in Germany orders a product decorated with one of your images, the product will be printed and shipping a facility in The Netherlands.

The Pixels site, which attracts 5 million unique visitors per month, typically receives a surge or orders in November and December from holiday gift givers.

You Set Your Own Prices

Unlike licensing deals in which the publisher sets the price and dictates the amount of royalties you will receive, Pixels.com lets you set the price for the products made with your images.

As a seller, you will see a base price that covers production and fulfillment costs for each item. The amount you add as the mark-up will be the selling price. When the product sells, you earn 100 percent of the markup amount.

You can also choose which of your images you will permit to be printed on which products. For example, a high-resolution nature photograph that looks spectacular as a large metal print might not look the same on a beach towel or duvet cover.

Pixels.com was founded by Sean Broihier, the self-taught programming whiz who started the Fine Art America platform in 2006. Pixels.com complements the Fine Art America site by appealing to a broader base of customers who may be interested in photo merchandise, fashion apparel and accessories, and home decor items.

Sean Broihier was one of the first e-commerce entrepreneurs to enable all living artists to sell their artwork online. He said the “set-your-own-business-model” has been a big driver of the growth of the platform: “It has always been my opinion that artists should be able to set their prices as high or as low as they want to.” If an art publisher chooses to sell a canvas print for $50 and offers artists a 10% royalty, the artists shouldn’t have to decide whether or not they are willing to accept $5 for the sale of their art on the prints.

Multiple Options for Sales and Marketing

Over the past 11  years, Broihier has really listened to the concerns of artists and photographers who sell their work on the site. So he has continuously developed tools that enable you to adapt to all the different ways that art is now discovered, promoted, and purchased.

For example, here are just a few of your options. You can:

  • Sell Pixel’s print-on-demand products through your own Shopify store.
  • Sell print-on-demand products through your own branded storefront hosted by Pixels.com
  • License individual images and set your own terms for royalty-free and rights-managed licenses.
  • License images for streaming to digital displays.
  • Connect directly with buyers who express interest in buying one of your originals.
  • Print sample products for display at art fairs or in your studio. You can also print sell sheets that show potential buyers how your art will look of various products and explain how they can order them.
  • Publish news releases, blog posts, e-newsletters, and e-mail marketing programs through Pixels.com.
  • Run automated marketing campaigns on Facebook and Twitter

You can even use an iPad app as a sales tool. If a potential buyer of your art wants to preview how it might look on their walls, your can use the augmented reality interface on the Pixels.com iPad app.

The Pixels app takes the guesswork out of buying art online. After the customer the size of the print and how it will be matted and framed, the buyer can view an actual-size preview on their own walls. They can even see what the finished product will look like from different angles within the room.

Everything the viewer sees is perfectly to scale. For instance, a 24 x 36 inch canvas print will appear on the wall at exactly 24 x 36 inches. As the individual walks around the room, the app uses the iPad’s video camera and a unique tracking algorithm to keep the image perfectly positioned in the desired location on the wall.

Pixels.com also has deals with retailers such as Deck the Walls, The Great Frame Up, and the Framing and Art Center to sell artwork at more than 150 retail locations in the U.S. and Canada.  Plus, Pixels.com has special programs available for large-volume buyers in the hospitality and design fields.

Special Features

If you want to see the types of art that buyers purchase through the Pixels.com each day, you can see it. Pixels.com also publishes real-time comments and reviews from customers who are (and aren’t) totally satisfied with the ordered products.

You can also join online communities of like-minded artists.  The site includes more than 1900 groups dedicated to topics such as office decor, self-promotion, historical buildings, the Adirondacks, orchids, and photographs edited to look like paintings.    

If you would rather spend your time creating more art than worrying about how to get it reproduced, promoted, and sold, Pixels.com can help.

The site was set up to power sales everywhere artwork is bought and sold: “It doesn’t matter if you want to hang your artwork, carry it, wear it, license it, or stream it.” Millions of buyers all over the world decorate their homes and accessorize their lives with Pixels products

Online Art Sales Reach $3.75 Billion in 2016

If you sell art online, you might be encouraged by some online art sales statistics reported in the 2017 Hiscox Online Art Trade Report. Hiscox is an international provider of specialized insurance to small businesses and property owners.

According to the Hiscox report, online art sales reached an estimated $3.75 billion in 2016, up 15 percent from 2015. This gives the online art market an 8.4 percent share of the overall art market (up from 7.4 percent in 2015).

The online art market is predicted to reach $9.14 billion by 2022.

“For those who say the online art market has had its day, it hasn’t even had it’s morning yet. It’s still waking up,” says Robert Read, head of art and private clients at Hiscox.

 

Cover art: Insecticide 13 by Mat Collishaw (photogravure etching, 2009), purchased through an online platform by Hiscox in 2017.

 

Key Findings

Most online sales are for works priced below $5,000. In the 2017 survey, 79 percent of online art buyers said they spend less than $5,000 per piece. This is up from 67 percent in 2015.

People who have purchased art online once continue to buy art online. About 65 percent of previous online art buyers purchased more than one artwork in 2016.

Fully 91 percent of online art buyers surveyed said the quality of art available is one of the most important elements in their decision to buy art online. They reject the notion that the online art market is a dumping ground for works that can’t be sold offline.

Some art lovers continue to be hesitant about buying art online. Some fear the physical art will look different from the online image. Or, buyers worry that the condition of the artwork might be different from what was anticipated.  About 73 percent of the hesitant buyers surveyed said they would like to speak to a human expert before making a decision to buy art online. Others would be interested in reviews and feedback from previous clients. Shipping options and return policies also matter.

Instagram has overtaken Facebook as the preferred social media platform for promoting and discovering art. Fifty-seven percent of art galleries said Instagram is the most effective in terms of raising awareness. About 35 percent of galleries said Instagram is driving direct sales, compared to only 7 percent of respondents who mentioned Facebook.

About $720 million in online art sales in 2016 came through online auctions by Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Heritage Auctions. This represents about 19 percent of online art sales.

For most traditional galleries, e-commerce isn’t  a major sales channel. About 59% said online purchases account for less than 5 percent of their sales. The 18 percent of galleries that derive most of the sales from direct online sales deal in collectibles such as watches, design, furniture, and photography.

About 49 percent of galleries who sell art online do so through a third-party e-commerce platform.

Some online art platforms (29 percent) have either established a brick-and-mortar gallery space or are thinking about doing so.

What’s Next?

The report predicts online auctions will become a key battlefield this year. Virtually every online art platform has started to offer an online auction services.

To help further grow the market, online art platforms will seek ways to build trust with current and potential buyers. Expect them to offer buyers more background information the artist and the object. They may also boost the educational experience by producing more informative and interesting content.

Methodology and More Information

The 2017 Hiscox Online Art Trade report is based on a survey of 758 art buyers from ArtTactic’s client mailing list and a survey of 132 galleries and dealers representing a wide range of art and collectibles. The report also includes insights from one-to-one interviews and online surveys of key staff at online art platforms.

In the free, downloadable report you can also find profiles and ranking of the Top 25 Online Art Platforms.

To further educate both art buyers and artists, Hiscox publishes informative posts on Online Art Market Insights.

 

E-commerce Site Helps Local Businesses Reach More Buyers

Scott’s Marketplace is an e-commerce website that connects online shoppers with local store owners across the United States. Launched by small business owner Scott Curry in 2014, Scott’s Marketplace is transforming what it means to “shop local.”

Scott’s Marketplace has the potential to fuel local economies across the nation, keep hard-working local entrepreneurs in business, and make shopping local more accessible on a regular basis for all.

Scotts Marketplace

Through the interactive e-commerce marketplace, shoppers from all 50 states can buy unique products from owners of local and independent businesses throughout the United States.

Chains, big-box stores, and franchises are not allowed to sell on the site. Products available through the online stores include clothes, beauty, accessories, home décor, jewelry, pets, sports and leisure, and specialty foods.

“The goal of Scott’s Marketplace is to change the mindset of what it means to ‘shop local.’ With our platform, it is more convenient than ever to support local business owners, not only in your own hometown, but across the United States,” explains Scott Curry. “Helping consumers find their favorite local stores online, and seeing local stores increase their sales has been a great accomplishment.”

With no membership or per-item listing fees, there is no risk for sellers who open an online store at Scott’s Marketplace. When an item sells, there is a 4.99% transaction fee.

To enable sellers to increase sales without decreasing profits, Scott’s Marketplace provides sellers with extensive marketing support at no extra cost. According to one store owner, “I have sold more products on Scott’s Marketplace in six months than I have in three years on Etsy.”

You don’t have to operate a brick-and-mortar store to open a store on Scott’s Marketplace. The marketplace is also open to owners of home-based or hobby-based businesses, and local online retailers,

Studio F Provides New Art Marketing and Display Opportunities

Studio F is a new art marketing platform through which artists can sell their work as high-quality vinyl decals and wrapped canvases on fathead.com. Part of the Fathead family of companies, Studio F uses the marketing prowess and reach of the Fathead brand along with Fathead’s digital graphic technology to reproduce curated artists’ work as decals that buyers can display as frameless wall art, furniture enhancements, or window art.

Colorful Launch over Thanksgiving Weekend

To demonstrate the full potential and scale of Studio F’s creative capabilities, Detroit artists Ellen Rutt and Patrick Ethen were commissioned to create RADIANT CITY, a large-scale public art installation that in downtown Detroit. The artists were commissioned to help create an exciting experience to unveil Studio F and the transformative nature of the product.

Fathead launches Studio F, a new artist portal, with stunning exhibit RADIANT CITY in downtown Detroit (PRNewsFoto/Fathead LLC)
Fathead launches Studio F, a new artist portal, with stunning exhibit RADIANT CITY in downtown Detroit (PRNewsFoto/Fathead LLC)

The installation was open November 25-27 during the festivities surrounding America’s Thanksgiving Parade presented by Art Van.

Rutt and Ethen designed over 300 one-of-a-kind patterns that were sampled from Detroit architecture, printed on Fathead vinyl, and applied to the tops of tables by IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer. Using downtown Detroit’s beautiful, historic Grand Circus Park as their canvas, Rutt and Ethen arranged the tables to form an enormous mosaic and immersive color field around the Russell Alger Memorial Fountain.

“The patchwork quilt is a powerful metaphor for Detroit,” says Ethen, “there are so many people, ideas and cultures at play. This city is best understood as a plurality—nothing less than the sum of its parts.”

The duo explored Detroit to archive a collection of patterns from all over the city. “It’s important for us to make work that’s imbued with a sense of place,” adds Rutt, “There’s such a rich creative history in Detroit, so much inspiration surrounding us already, that sourcing patterns from local architecture was an obvious choice. RADIANT CITY symbolically references the present cultural climate, the energy and passion that is so tangible here.”

After the exhibit closed, some of the art-topped tables in RADIANT CITY for Studio F were donated to Humble Design, a non-profit group that provides furnishings and design services to families transitioning out of homeless shelters. The remaining tables will be sold on  December 1 in celebration of #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back. All proceeds will go to Humble Design.

RADIANT CITY for Studio F was a colorful launch celebration for Studio F. Fathead worked with Minneapolis based advertising agency Fallon Worldwide to develop the launch idea and choose Ellen Rutt and Patrick Ethen as the first artists to be featured on the Studio F website.

“Studio F is the next evolution of Fathead,” said Joanna Cline, chief marketing officer, Fathead. “We can now offer our quality products, stellar marketing support and customer service to the artistic community.” Established artists and “artists to watch” will be able to expand their art collections to this dynamic new online gallery.

Information about how to apply for inclusion in the Studio F gallery and earn commissions for the sale of your work can be found on the Studio F website.

LINKS

Studio F

 

Christie’s Says Online Services Expand the Base of Art Buyers

ARTISTS. Two news releases Christie’s posted online this year show how rapidly the online marketplace for art is expanding, even at the upper echelons.

Christie's_Logo2In 2006, Christie’s was the first art business to launch online participation in live auctions. Over the past five years particularly, they have seen dramatic increases in the volume of lots purchased via its Christie’s LIVE platform. Christie’s launched their e-commerce platform in 2011 and has held 70 online art auctions.

A Record Year for Art Sales in 2013

In a January 22 press release, Christie’s reported that 2013 was a record-breaking year for art sales. Christie’s art sales topped $7.1 billion in 2013, a 16% increase from 2012.They attributed these gains partly to the expanding buyer base made possible by greater online accessibility.

While the $20.8 million that came from on-line only sales seems miniscule compared to the $5.9 million from live auctions and $1.19 billion in private sales, Christie’s regards their online sales as a key driver of  attracting new buyers and increasing global accessibility to authenticated art and luxury goods.

“With 16% sales growth and 30% new buyers coming in 2013, Christie’s has succeeded again by focusing on the art and connecting it to the ever-increasing audience of enthusiasts and collectors,” said Christie’s CEO Steven P. Murphy. “We continue to see a surge in interest across categories and across the globe, fueled in large part by the online platform enabling greater connectivity between buyers, sellers and the objects of their pursuit. Our continuing goal is to provide more to our clients and to convene new clients to enjoy art, be it through auctions, exhibitions. or online.”

Plans to Expand Their Digital Engagement

In a May 6 press release, Christie’s announced plans to invest about $20 million in improving their online services. Technological and digital advancements will include infrastructure improvements, an enhanced client-service experience, and creative content and media endeavors.

Statistics included in the release show why Christie’s is eager to expand their digital presence.   

In 2013, Christies.com experienced a 19 percent increase in visitors. The site attracted 20.6 million unique visitors from more than 100 countries. The number of mobile viewers was up 42 percent in 2013.

“The global audience for art is increasing, museum attendance has increased again, and the art market is continuing to grow. This is in part driven by digital accessibility of art and imagery”, said Murphy in a panel discussion at Atlantic Ideas Live in New York. “Not long ago, our New York sales catalog would be viewed by a few thousand catalog subscribers four weeks before the sale. Now more than a million visitors view the works online.”

“This online accessibility combined with ever increasing visitor numbers to our public exhibitions has shifted the dynamic,” observed Murphy.  “This has also fundamentally impacted the value of the original object itself, as the experience of standing in front of the picturInfoGraphicImage.bmpe and owning it has become even more powerful.”

In the press release Christie’s confirmed that 48 percent of all client registrations are now facilitated digitally. Plus, 45 percent of buyers in online-only sales in 2013 were new to Christie’s. One in five buyers in the online-only sales is under the age of 45.

About Christie’s

Founded in 1766, Christie’s is the world’s leading art business. Christie’s offers about 450 auctions annually in over 80 categories, including fine and decorative arts, jewelry, photographs, collectibles, and wine. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. 

LINKS

Press Release: Christie’s Announces New $20 Million Investment as Digital Engagement Drives Growth in the Art Market

Press Release: Expanding Buyer Base Drives Record Year at Christie’s

Infographic: Expanding Buyer Base Drives Record Year at Christie’s

 

 

Study Reveals People Believe Buying Art Is Intimidating and Expensive

UGalleryLogoA new study conducted by Toluna Research Group on behalf of the online art gallery UGallery reveals that nearly 70 percent of people have never purchased artwork for their home. Almost 50 percent of these people cite cost as the barrier.

Key findings from the study include:

  • It’s Too Exclusive. 67 percent have never purchased art, underscoring the perceived barriers to art access.
  • It’s Too Expensive. 48 percent cite cost as the primary obstacle to buying art.
  • It’s Too Intimidating. 20 percent found buying art from a gallery to be the most intimidating shopping experience of all, more so than shopping for real estate or a car.

When asked what would make them comfortable buying art, 36 percent said an “easy, money-back return policy,” 30 percent want to better understand the background of the artist, and 25 percent cite a “virtual way to look at the art on their walls.”

UgalleryArtWall

Millennials, the ‘touchscreen generation,’ were understandably more inclined to browse online, as they prefer online sites for all shopping experiences, as opposed to the traditional in-person sale. Per the data, 30 percent seek virtual methods for experiencing art before committing to a purchase. They were also four times more likely to buy art online.

These factors may explain the growth of online art galleries. According to to the Deloitte and ArtTactic “2013 Art and Finance Report,” online art is booming, with over 300 web-based art ventures having launched in recent years. According to the Hiscox 2013 Online Art Trade Report, “At least 71 percent of art collectors have now purchased artwork online.”

“Many people think art – particularly original art – is prohibitively expensive because they hear about the multi-million dollar auction results or get blinded by the number of zeros on the wall of their local galleries,” said Stephen Tanenbaum, President and co-founder of UGallery. “Online galleries have the ability to offer a wide range of artwork and prices, with original art that’s actually affordable.”

UGallery is a curated online art gallery that sells original, one-of-a-kind artworks from emerging and mid-career artists. Founders Stephen Tanenbaum, Alex Farkas, and Greg Rosborough came together in 2006 to create a revolutionary approach to online art sales that democratizes the entire art buying process. Clients can browse the collection by price, medium, style, size, color, or artist and give any piece a week-long test run in their home risk-free.

LINKS

UGallery

About UGallery

Artist FAQs

 

 

Webinar Explains How to Sell More Online with Great Product Photography

DESIGNERS. ARTISTS. If you sell art, jewelry, ceramics, clothing, 3D-printed objects, or other products on eBay, Etsy, or your own website, a great photograph of your merchandise can definitely increase its sales appeal. In fact, color-accurate photographs are particularly important to customers searching for wardrobe accessories or home or office decor. 

On Thursday, December 12, X-Rite, Bowens, and Sekonic are sponsoring a free webinar “Sell More Online with Great Product Photography.” The one-hour session will start at 1 pm EST and be led by photographer Joe Brady.

XRite_12122013

From set-up to capture to edit, Brady will explain how to photograph small products for online display. Joe will demonstrate the new Bowens Streamlite Cocoon Kit that makes producing pro-quality photographs simple and consistent.

You will learn how a Sekonic L-308S Light Meter can help you get perfect and consistent exposures every time. Then, by including X-Rite’s ColorChecker Passport in your test shots, you can create a custom profile for the lights you use so that every item perfectly displays its full color.

If you use Adobe Lightroom, you can shoot your product photos directly into a laptop and have the color and white balance automatically adjusted. With one click of the mouse, the appropriate size JPEGs for online display will be sent off to an image folder.

LINK

Webinar: Sell More Online with Great Product Photography