Uploaded January 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Pricing your art high? How are you going to support your price? Today I'd like to do a CASE STUDY (below) on a startup company in the FMCG industry I have closely observed in the past two months. I think this company faces many difficulties artists face as well.
00:00 Intro
01:26 The Case Study
05:30 What artists could learn from it
07:21 My strategy
Our Case today: a consumer packaged goods brand tries to cut out the dealer and sell online
Julie, a business woman in her 40s has been running a family farm/ranch for the past 10 years. She had been providing unprocessed beef and milk for large brands as a producer (B2B). In 2020 she started a new company to sell packaged beef directly to consumers (B2C). She hired 3 employees and started selling to her contacts. As a startup company, they did well in the first 6 months. But after having sold to all her friends, sales dropped dramatically. Now she wishes to sell to more customers outside of her social circle.
The main problem is her pricing. Other companies produce at 20 dollars per unit, and price at 30 dollars. Her production cost is at 30 dollars, a lot higher than the average. This is caused by her small production capacity and the premium quality. Most importantly, high taxes due to high CO2 emission livestocks. Unlike her foreign competitors, she doesn't receive any subsidies. Only if she could sell at 50 dollars, she would make a profit. Ideally, she wants to market to high-end clients at 100 dollars per unit, 70 dollars higher than the market price.
It's difficult to support this price. 6 months after running, the company doesn't have a website, no social media influence, no endorsement. Influencers did not want to work with her because of her weak brand awareness. It takes either time or money to build a brand. Both she lacks at the moment. She needs to make a profit now, or she would be forced to go back to her original business (selling to large companies as a producer). What would you do as an entrepreneur in her position?
I find her case very similar to emerging artists: 1, You might want to cut out the art dealers, or at least have the option to sell independently. 2, Your expertise is in making high quality products, not in sales. 3, You have invested in the materials, equipment, you don't have much resources left for marketing. 4 You wish to sell your products at a premium, but you find it difficult to support your prices (e.g. you don't get many sales).
Every art business is different. You might encounter different problems and search for your own solutions. The principle is to provide VALUE to your customers, to make them believe it's worth the price. How are you going to support your art price? Let me know in a comment below!
PS. the image in the thumbnail is a work from English painter John Constable (b. 1776).
----------------------
More personalised help on Patreon:
► patreon.com/veryprivateart
Visit our website, many in-depth articles to read there:
► veryprivategallery.com/
Our Instagram account:
► instagram.com/veryprivateart
----------------------
#artprice #artbranding #artstartup
Pricing your art high? How are you going to support your price? Today I'd like to do a CASE STUDY (below) on a startup company in the FMCG industry I have closely observed in the past two months. I think this company faces many difficulties artists face as well.
00:00 Intro
01:26 The Case Study
05:30 What artists could learn from it
07:21 My strategy
Our Case today: a consumer packaged goods brand tries to cut out the dealer and sell online
Julie, a business woman in her 40s has been running a family farm/ranch for the past 10 years. She had been providing unprocessed beef and milk for large brands as a producer (B2B). In 2020 she started a new company to sell packaged beef directly to consumers (B2C). She hired 3 employees and started selling to her contacts. As a startup company, they did well in the first 6 months. But after having sold to all her friends, sales dropped dramatically. Now she wishes to sell to more customers outside of her social circle.
The main problem is her pricing. Other companies produce at 20 dollars per unit, and price at 30 dollars. Her production cost is at 30 dollars, a lot higher than the average. This is caused by her small production capacity and the premium quality. Most importantly, high taxes due to high CO2 emission livestocks. Unlike her foreign competitors, she doesn't receive any subsidies. Only if she could sell at 50 dollars, she would make a profit. Ideally, she wants to market to high-end clients at 100 dollars per unit, 70 dollars higher than the market price.
It's difficult to support this price. 6 months after running, the company doesn't have a website, no social media influence, no endorsement. Influencers did not want to work with her because of her weak brand awareness. It takes either time or money to build a brand. Both she lacks at the moment. She needs to make a profit now, or she would be forced to go back to her original business (selling to large companies as a producer). What would you do as an entrepreneur in her position?
I find her case very similar to emerging artists: 1, You might want to cut out the art dealers, or at least have the option to sell independently. 2, Your expertise is in making high quality products, not in sales. 3, You have invested in the materials, equipment, you don't have much resources left for marketing. 4 You wish to sell your products at a premium, but you find it difficult to support your prices (e.g. you don't get many sales).
Every art business is different. You might encounter different problems and search for your own solutions. The principle is to provide VALUE to your customers, to make them believe it's worth the price. How are you going to support your art price? Let me know in a comment below!
PS. the image in the thumbnail is a work from English painter John Constable (b. 1776).
----------------------
More personalised help on Patreon:
► patreon.com/veryprivateart
Visit our website, many in-depth articles to read there:
► veryprivategallery.com/
Our Instagram account:
► instagram.com/veryprivateart
----------------------
#artprice #artbranding #artstartup
