Tony,
> My experience of e-commerce is that it's expensive to set up,
> complicated to maintain and secure, and the profit margins are
> eroded by the payment processors, which might be a clue as to why so
> few museum websites have shops.
Why? I would argue that the most complex part is probably not the e-
commerce per se, but rather the fulfilment of orders.
If the museum is already setup for taking and shipping orders, the e-
commerce should not be the pain that you describe.
We have our own solution (implemented at National Galleries of
Scotland and The Public Catalogue Foundation, among others), which is
integrated with our CMS, but there are also a number of (relatively)
easy to implement Open Source solutions, or even easy to customise,
ready-made solutions, such as Shop Creator http://www.shopcreator.com/
(used by The British Library, the Science Museums and others...).
Complicated to secure? This is a task for payment gateways - and they
take the blame if anything goes wrong, provided you pass the right
information.
Profit margins eroded? All of the payment gateways have special rates
for charities, which are really, really cheap. Have a look at
Paypoint: http://www.paypoint.net/about-us/charities/
It may be that not many museums have shop, but it'd be good to try to
find the real reasons, don't you think?
I cannot of course comment on behalf of our clients (confidentiality
rules) but online shops have a reason to exist in the context of the
global museum offering of services, which is beyond pure
profitability, in my opinion. Many people are loyal to museums, they
want to purchase memorabilia, books and other objects, as well as
donating to their favourite museums. A lot of sales are gifts.
Beside this, as YouTube and Flickr increase the visibility of media
content, Ebay and Amazon *may* increase the visibility of the products
for sale - but it's down to the branding and image of the individual
Museums: do you want to see in a *proper* shop or in a marketplace,
next to cat flaps and fish food?
Best regards,
Cristiano
On 19 Jun 2009, at 12:06, Tony Crockford wrote:
> My experience of e-commerce is that it's expensive to set up,
> complicated to maintain and secure, and the profit margins are
> eroded by the payment processors, which might be a clue as to why so
> few museum websites have shops.
>
> I suppose the question should also be put into context of museum
> shops in general - are they profitable and would the items purchased
> also be profitable in an online marketplace. How many of the
> purchases are related to souvenirs of a visit? How relevant would
> that be to an online customer?
>
> Ebay is becoming much less attractive to individual auctions and
> more focussed on small retailers and Amazon Marketplace is gaining a
> worsening reputation for 'trust' issues.
>
> What would you be selling? - does it suit an online market?
>
> ****************************************************************
> For mcg information visit the mcg website at
> http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk.
> To manage your subscription to this email list visit
> http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk/email.shtml
> ****************************************************************
--
Cristiano Bianchi
Keepthinking
Bull Inn Court
15 Maiden Lane
London WC2E 7NG
t. +44 20 7240 8014
f. +44 20 7240 8015
m. +44 7939 041169 (uk)
m. +39 329 533 4469 (it)
NEW: Bologna +39 051 0547918
[log in to unmask]
****************************************************************
For mcg information visit the mcg website at
http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk.
To manage your subscription to this email list visit
http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk/email.shtml
****************************************************************
|