Leveraging the Internet to Promote Fine Art: Perspectives of Art Patrons

Abstract

Because of the Internet's increasing influence, gallery owners are embracing online marketing. Art dealers have expanded their galleries by venturing online to reach collectors and sometimes artists. Because purchasing art differs from most commercial transactions in that it is part social event, part public contribution, and part intellectual exchange, selling art differs from that of other commodities. In this study, the authors examine the interaction between art patrons and fine-art Web sites by recording their reactions to questions after they viewed 140 gallery sites selected from the Internet Art Directory of 2006. The authors' approach builds on research that evaluates the persuasiveness of e-commerce Web sites through the adaptation of Aristotelian rhetoric using factors that are salient to consumer attitudes and intentions when shopping via the Internet (Winn and Beck 2002; Jarvenpaa and Todd 1996). This construct was successfully tested as it applies to egalleries: an informative site (logos) establishes credibility (ethos) and creates the desire to return to the site or recommend the site to others (pathos) (Quesenberry, Garland, and Sykes 2006). The four overarching factors that influence consumer decisions in these studies—product perceptions, shopping experience, customer service, and consumer risk—are used here in the context of the electronic fine art retail sites. Patrons reported satisfaction with the artwork presented on these sites, but preferred the experience of visiting physical galleries to buying online. They also suggested the types of services they preferred from an online gallery and expressed little concern with privacy and financial risk. The Internet can be leveraged for the purpose of increasing the knowledge and interest of potential patrons, but the authors' research indicates it cannot supplant the experience of being in the physical presence of a piece of art. Buying art forms an emotional connection with the artist: the collector enables the artist to continue creating art. The purchase also makes a statement about the collector. The authors provide strategies galleries may use to improve the virtual experience of art collectors.