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What inventory and pricing strategy should I use for art shows?

Your booth lineup needs items priced across three ranges: zero to $100, $100 to $1,000, and $1,000-plus. When you have this range, you’re set up to capture all types of buyers and price ranges—you have something for everyone. This maximizes both sales revenue and lead capture, because every customer acquisition also captures a lead. You must include non-wall-art items in your lineup. Not everybody is ready to buy wall art today, but they like you and what you do. When you have other items—tote bags, postcards, calendars, whatever it is—you can get sales from customers who otherwise wouldn’t buy. Properly mark up your art so you can negotiate in the booth and run sales. A general rule of thumb is a 250% markup on all prints. For originals, you can set the price higher than what you really want. This allows you to negotiate with potential buyers and run sales, which gets way more sales over the line.


Asked by synthesized from teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2022-07-28