Understanding the 5 Different Types of Art Buyers and Their Motivations

There are different types of art buyers and for artists it’s important to understand what types there are. Artists also need to understand that each category of buyers has different motivations and will need to be approached and marketed to differently.

We have identified the five most common types of art buyers. Let’s take a look at them and explain the best way to manage each of these buyer types:

1. Home Collectors

Home collectors are the main target market for many artists as they buy art regularly and really love the art they hang up in their homes. It is rather hard to convert home collectors into buyers for the first time though. They usually have a specific taste in art and are likely to have only one or two favourite artists whose art they buy.

A good tactic for you as an artist is to go to galleries or exhibitions where they sell similar art to yours and network with the people that go there. There’s a good chance that the people attending the event are lovers of that specific style of art and you may well end up talking to a potential future customer.

It’s a good idea to treat collectors even better than you would normally treat your customers as many collectors turn into repeat buyers, simply because they love that specific type of art. Simple things, such as learning their name or sending them regular newsletters about your art can make a collector come back to you and purchase another one of your artworks.

2. Investors

Investors may well be art lovers, but this is not necessary as their main purpose for buying art is a good return on investment. Investors are used to taking risks - for instance on the stock market or through buying cryptocurrency — and are usually quite open to invest in new and experimental art as long as they think that there is an opportunity that the art will go up in price.

If you’re an artist that produces artwork that’s seen as new and experimental art, an investor is potentially your best target customer. Once they’ve bought your art, they will try to get the value up by promoting the artwork and its style. It’s a good idea to keep investors on your side and let them know about any other quirky artwork that you’ve created, as these are the types of art they think they can make a big profit on.

3. Trophy Hunters

Trophy hunters are usually not so interested in the art itself, but more in the pursuit of procuring the art. When describing the art in their collection, they often don’t talk about the art itself but more about how they managed to buy the painting and how much they bought it for.

Unless you’re a famous artist already, whose paintings are worth millions of dollars, it is unlikely that you’re ever going to sell one of your artworks to a trophy hunter. Even if you are a successful artist, you may never come across this group as they predominantly purchase at auctions because the thrill of the chase is what drives them most.

4. Interior designers

Interior designers can be a great source of income for artists. They get hired by businesses and home owners to decorate their entire space, whether it is an office or a home. Other than colourful couch cushions a popular choice to make a site look better is paintings.

When you come across an interior designer make sure to treat them with extra regard and have a conversation with them about what type and colours of art they’re usually interested in buying for their clients. Once you’ve satisfied the needs of an interior designer once, they’re likely to come back to you for more of your art.

5. People with an immediate need for art

Sometimes people have an immediate need for art. For example, some people may be moving into a new house or office while others may be buying artwork as a gift. For instance, with Christmas around the corner there will lots of people wanting to by artwork as a gift for under the Christmas tree.

As these customers are time-poor, you need to make sure that you make the sales process as smooth and appealing as possible. Provide one-day shipping, offer to wrap your art as a present in a unique style, or offer to include a personalised card to the receiver of the present.

Conclusion

As an artist you will never be able to attract every type of buyer as they all have different tastes and budgets. If you produce art and price it at $1,000, it’s extremely unlikely a trophy hunter will ever come across your art. Conversely, if you sell paintings that are usually sold for millions of dollars it’s improbable that someone who wants to buy a quick birthday present is interested in purchasing your art.

Regardless of the kind of art you produce and the type of art buyer that may be interested in your art, you can be sure that your ideal buyer type will be on the online art registry and trading platform ArtChain Global, once the platform is formally released in February 2019.

There is a lot to like about ArtChain Global. Some cool features of ArtChain Global that make them stand out from their competitors include:

• Protection against art forgery and fraud.
• The ability to track the transport of a painting, and the conditions in which it is shipped, from seller to buyer in real time.
• Artists get rewarded with ArtChain Global tokens, which can be traded online for real currency, for uploading information about their art.
• Automated resale royalty payments to the original artist.

If you want to stay up to date on the finer details of ArtChain Global’s progress and want to upload your art when they launch, why not go to www.artchainglobal.com and register your interest to get notified when the platform goes live in February 2019.