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It's an interesting approach, and I'm not unconvinced that the premise has some legs. At the same time, your target customer -- and your articulation of the val
by jonnathanson 16y ago
It's an interesting approach, and I'm not unconvinced that the premise has some legs. At the same time, your target customer -- and your articulation of the value proposition for that customer -- seems a little unclear.
Who is your target customer, and what are their pain points re: art buying? And how does renting-before-buying solve for those pain points?
Let's assume casual or beginning collectors. You're asking them to pay up to $600 a year to rent a piece, so presumably, you're targetting people who are in the market for pieces at least in excess of that price tag. In which case, you're not yet in the super-serious collector segment -- but you're operating in what must still be the 90th percentile of all art buyers in the country.
On the higher end of the market, let's look at serious but not uber-rich collectors. What would they get out of this service? Potentially the following:
1) Provenance? Possibly, but only if you document every person who's rented, and probably only if those renters are respected collectors or institutions. Possibly a cool idea to be worked out on this dimension, but also a pitfall if you don't address it properly. I could see the rental concept's having a negative effect on provenance if not handled well.
2) Sampling / try-before-you-buy? Maybe. If a piece isn't selling for well north of $600 to begin with, the economics don't add up. You need customers who will be looking at the pieces as investments, and not necessarily as decorations. (In which case, I would suggest choosing different images and copy on your site to reflect such a mindset. The pics and copy on the site right now give off an art-as-decor kind of vibe).
My biggest critique is that you seem to be straddling a few lines between customer segments and use cases. I'm sure you have carefully considered exactly whom you're targeting and exactly what problem you're solving for that target. But it's not clear in the layout/UX of the site.
- AlexisTryon 16y agoThanks for your thoughts. The site is still very new and in many ways we are still uncovering who our exact target customer will be, as the current customers vary quite a bit in demographic and use cases. To clarify a bit, the target customer we are currently targeting is a first time (or very new) art buyer who is unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the traditional gallery sales system. The pain points include generally very high priced work, cold salespeople, and a general fear of commitment that we see in purchasing today (ie. the rise of free returns.) We think of our site as providing the option to "try before you buy". Essentially, lower the risk to seeing how the work will look in your space for $50/month, knowing you can return it if it is not right for you. We do not expect many customers would continue to rent if they love the work they choose, instead potentially choosing to purchase at that point. Because our work is by young emerging artists it is generally more affordable for the new collector as well. Thanks for your thoughts!
- jonnathanson 16y agoCool, and I wish you guys the best of luck. I'm not an uber-collector myself, but I'm somewhere between "beginner" and "serious" -- I guess we'll call it "enthusiastic" about collecting. So I'm just trying to help out as a consumer in this space, and as someone who's probably not terribly far away from your target segment. Thanks for listening, and best wishes on the startup.
- ScotterC 16y agoWe appreciate it! And we'd love more feedback if you have it. We're working on narrowing that customer profile some more and need all the help we can get.