The Managing Director of Magnolia Box explains how the next generation of Internet software is offering new opportunities for picture businesses.
With a background in strategy consultancy and dotcom start-ups, James Old was initially a stranger to the art world and its numerous facets. However, all this was to change when the best man at his wedding presented him with a limited edition print.
He told the writer: “I loved the picture and went online to try and get a similar image to pair with it. As I was searching I discovered three things, [one] I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for, [two] a similar product was exceedingly expensive and [three] the market was dominated by a couple of technically sophisticated websites whilst the rest were extremely basic, often failing to offer even rudimentary e-commerce.”
James soon realised that if he could provide a solution to help resolve these issues then he might be on to something. He continued: “If I could take what I knew about the Internet, coupled with some of the things I’d done in other industries in terms of bringing people and partners together, I believed I could create something with appeal to a variety of different art businesses.”
James’ initial aim was to produce an online “hub” by employing the same Web 2.0 principles used in popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Friends Reunited.
“These sites have become phenomenally popular by aggregating content and connecting it with interested and engaged end-users. Applying this concept to the art industry means connecting content originators, owners and publishers with product manufacturers, their clients and the eventual consumer. If I could achieve this, then there could be something in it and so I founded Magnolia Box to do just that.”
So convinced was he on the success of the venture that he has self-funded the operation in its entirety, resulting in an extensive suite of products tailored for Artists, Galleries, Photographers, Framers and Museums.
James takes up the story once again: “The art industry is immense in respect of those with potential ‘content’ or ‘products’. It’s Picture Libraries who have digital images that they may wish to turn into a physical product. It’s artists, traditional framers, high street galleries or large retailers. It might even be magazine and publishing houses as well as national museums. Helping these disparate bodies use the Internet effectively is a complex business but one that also presents a massive opportunity.
“For instance, we’ve got The Bridgeman Art Library using our software, selling large volumes of art as well as providing digital content for other clients to take advantage of the advances in digital printing via Art on Demand.
“The ‘On Demand’ sphere is one of the areas where we believe our clients will be the most successful. Our society is rapidly adopting ‘on demand’ models for the distribution of films, television and music and the art world offers a ‘media’ that can be exploited in this way. You can massively increase your image inventory, gaining many thousands of products in an infinite number of differing varieties without ever holding any stock and without incurring any costs. It’s a 100% cash business. Our clients only ever buy something after a customer has already purchased it!
“With Art on Demand you can give the customer a better choice,” advises James. “They can decide the media they would like to output an image onto. They can decide the size and the frame and our responsibility is to find quality content and manufacturing partners who can produce the products. Indeed, we are always seeking out such alliances, it’s one of the main things I spend my time doing and we are keen to hear from anyone that would like to get involved with our network.”
James further advised that his main aim is to provide website solutions that allow each one of his clients to be as successful as possible, rather than Magnolia Box itself becoming a major art retailer. He said: “We do have a retail site which we ‘market to’ and ‘drive traffic towards’, but the idea is to populate that self same site with content from our clients. So not only will they have their own branded site, but in addition, if they so wish, they can appear on our marketing site and even those of our other clients as well. It’s all about network marketing and proliferating content. There is an Internet marketing phrase: ‘increasing your online footprint’. We believe this concept is of fundamental importance and those in other industries that have distributed their ‘content’ as far as possible tend to be more successful than their peers.”
It is a recognised fact that the first thing people do nowadays, when looking for works of art or galleries in their locale, is to search the Internet. So just from a pure marketing point of view, Magnolia Soft would appear to offer a great opportunity for any art gallery. It gives them a presence online to market to their would-be customers and to encourage them to actually visit the physical store.
“We appreciate that some art needs to be seen in person,” acknowledges James. “But we also know that consumers are evolving and people are more comfortable spending larger sums online. Many customers now recognise which websites offer best-practice security measures, have fraud prevention checks and comply with Web compatibility standards. All of this inspires confidence and is naturally something we provide each client with.
“Do you really need to understand such technicalities? Possibly not. It’s always easy for IT people to get bogged down discussing features and functionality but in the simplest terms we provide sophisticated technology that is both inexpensive and easy to use. We help ensure it is written in a search engine friendly way that can be optimised for your particular niche. We provide sites to help drive traffic to your content and we help lower your trade prices through combining our collective purchasing power. You can in-source all of your printing, framing and delivery or you can outsource any part. You can apply any design, layout or look and feel. Our clients pay a simple annual fee of £1,200 and our service includes design, deployment, operation, security, management, bandwidth, enhancements, training and support. And that’s not all; our pricing remains the same whether you are turning over £1,000 or £1 million in online sales.”
Tel: 0870 300 1171
email: enquiries@magnoliasoft.net
