Online Merchandising

Since the development of the online storefront model, arts organizations have been getting into the act by marketing their own products or products that are related to their art form. This tends to be an organizationís first step into online commerce; many organizations "test the waters" by providing their catalog of products online along with a form that can be printed out and mailed or faxed back to the organization. Such a step requires only that you have an informational Web site with pictures of your merchandise. If you choose this step, it would allow you to track the number of shoppers who have purchased your products via the Web. This information can be used to determine the feasibility of a fully online storefront.

The most advanced sites incorporate a simple shopping cart protocol that operates on the premise that every customer who visits the store will be assigned a unique "cart" that will contain their specific shopping list. These carts are actually text databases that contain information about the items that the client has ordered and the quantity they have ordered. For the rest of their stay, the script will make sure that it matches clients with their carts no matter where they travel on the site. The site features color photographs of the merchandise, along with information about price and interactive input from viewers regarding size and other preferences.

The basic elements of an online store are:

• A database for dispensing catalog data;
• HTML authoring tools to help you create the pages your customers will see; and
• Any tools needed to handle accounting, order processing, and payment.

A good example of an online merchandising store can be found at the San Francisco Symphony site (http://www.sfsymphony.org). The format of the relatively small catalog is appealing to the eye and easy to navigate. The shopping cart information is organized into an " invoice" format that is clearly organized.

Another example of good online merchandising is the Metropolitan Opera Guild's Opera Shop (https://www.metguild.org/cgi-shl/vsc.exe/opshop/index.htm?E+metguild). This shop contains a vast number of items, but manages to present the catalog in a logical format that does not overwhelm the buyer. For those still uncomfortable with presenting credit card information online, offline options are available.