Developing a new line of merchandise and merchandising strategy for the Singapore Art Museum

Context

To start off the project, the team analysed SAM’s current and previous merchandise lines in order to identify the gaps that needed to be addressed.

The team found that SAM’s merchandise was not able to make any profits, including those that sold the most in terms of quantity. Further analysis revealed that there was an outstanding amount of inventory left, which resulted in the underperformance of sales. Not only is this cost-inefficient, but environmentally unfriendly as well.

Initially, it was assumed that the purchasing behaviour of visitors would be related to their museum experience and that they would have a preference for memento-type souvenirs. The team then conducted an online survey in order to properly understand the audience's habits.

Through the survey, the team found out that the above statement is untrue and audiences would purchase museum merchandise if they are both functional and aesthetically in line with their personal style and identity. As such, the proposed merchandise line should contain these two factors.

For a more detailed analysis of the survey results, please refer to the Project Research Insights section below.

Challenge

The key challenge was the platform that SAM provided to sell the merchandise within their museum. As such, the team observed how SAM and other local museums have sold their merchandise, and identified a common trend where SAM adopted a traditional method of placing their merchandise on the shelves of the museum store for visitors to browse at the end of their museum journey.

The team then realised that the “pigeon holes'' shelves were restrictive in size and orientation to display the merchandise. Rather than expecting people to come to the merchandise store, the team aimed to bring the merchandise to them instead.

In order to address this, a key strategy was made in order to fit within this space, and at the same time go beyond to achieve our goal of boosting SAM’s merchandise sales. Thus, the audience reached would not be limited to SAM visitors only, but those beyond the museum walls as well.

A breakdown of this strategy can be found under the Project Deliverable/s and Expected Outputs section.

• Loh Xue Ning Renee
• Nadia Lim
• Nur Ashikin Ali
• Nur Iffah Shairah Binte Jeffry
• Park Hyun Min
• Zhang Shiyuan

Develop a range of merchandise ideas that represents the new exciting phase of SAM, and one that appeals to a wide base of museum visitors.

The range of merchandise must be differentiated from other museum stores, while spotlighting SAM’s Southeast Asian collection focus on Contemporary Art. Similarly, students must premise their proposals and ideas based on research, and the proposed strategy should incorporate the use of modular display structures for instances where SAM may have pop-up stores, rather than a main physical store.

The team was given a budget of $15,000 to create the merchandise line.

Due to the nature of our project, this budget is only allocated to Phase 1, Strangers Made for SAM. The grand total of the campaign would cost $6,750.

• Strangers Fee: $1,200
  • 2 Strangers
• Products: $5,350
  • Inclusive of Printing
  • 200 Towels
  • 150 Water Bottles
  • 300 Pouches
  • 100 Film Cameras
  • 100 Mugs
• Promotional Costs: $200
  • Social Media Ads
  • Print Materials (Posters)

For a more detailed breakdown of the budget, inclusive of expected income, please access: https://bit.ly/3LLxZYu

As there is a remainder of $8,250 within the budget given, this amount can be used in two ways. The first would be to put aside the amount in case demand for the merchandise gets higher, and there is a need to purchase more products. Otherwise, based on the team’s discussions and conversations with SAM throughout the process of the project, SAM could invest in a vending machine which could be used at any time or any place to sell their merchandise.

Phase 1: Overall Idea & Concept

Stage 1: Research (Aug 2021 - Sept 2021)

• Market research on products, and local and international museum stores
• Analyse and identifying gaps within SAM’s current and previous merchandise

Stage 2: Big Idea Conceptualisation (Oct 2021)

• Brainstorm on merchandise concept
• Strategic planning: Thinking about desired outcome, target audience, key message and shaping the proposal
   

Phase 2: Merchandise Proposal

Stage 1: Survey (Nov 2021 - Jan 2022)

• Conducting an online survey to understand audience purchasing habits
• Analyse survey results and share insights with SAM

Stage 2: Product Conceptualisation (Jan 2022 - Feb 2022)

• Ideate products that audiences would purchase from a museum
• Considering the platform to sell the merchandise

Stage 3: Focus Group (Feb 2022 - Mar 2022)

• Conducting focus group sessions to test proposed products
• Sending tokens of appreciation to the focus group participants

Stage 4: Finalise Merchandise / Strategy (Mar 2022 - Apr 2022)

• Gather all feedback and adjust the idea accordingly
• Look for opportunities for the merchandise to leverage on
• Present final merchandise idea and strategy to SAM

Online Survey

Objective:  The survey was designed for individuals who are between the ages of 16 and above, and aims to understand consumers purchasing behaviours and bridge the gap between merchandise and museums.

Topics to cover:  General purchasing habits/decisions, preference for e-commerce platforms, museum store experience, purchasing habits and frequency on museum merchandise, spending power, awareness and perceptions of Singapore Art Museum

Sample size: 72 respondents

Approaching participants:  General public ages of 16 and above, including and not limited to LASALLE and NAFA students and lecturers, team’s private contacts.

Focus Group 

Group 1: Do not visit museums or buy museum merchandise

Objective: To understand what are the barriers of entry for them to visit museums and purchase merchandise, test the proposed idea to gain feedback on the big idea, three museum product categories.

Topics to cover: big idea, preference for proposed 3 categories and the merchandise under it, entry barriers, custom design for museum merchaindise, online platforms 

Participants: 3,  aged 18-40 years old

 

Group 2: Often visit museums but rarely purchase museum merchandise

Objective: To understand how they feel about museum merchandise stores, what would change their mind and push them to go in, and lastly, their interest and suggestions for the museum merchandise we envisioned.

Topics: big idea, what will lead them to go in a museum store, preference for proposed 3 categories and the merchandise under it, online platforms and concerns

Participants: 6, aged 18-30 years old

 

Group 3: Often visit museums and sometimes purchase museum merchandise

Objective: To understand how do they feel and will they buy our proposed product line.

Topics: preference for the proposed 3 categories and the merchandise under it, online purchasing platforms and concerns, custom design for museum merchandise

Participants: 3,  aged 18- 30 years old

We conducted 2 types of research for the purpose of this project. Online survey was used for us to gain a better understanding of museum merchandising and people's current perception towards it. Focus group was used to test our ideas and identify gaps to fill and improve.

1) Online survey:

• Objective: To test our hypothesis about museum merchandise and audiences' buying behaviours. 
• Main areas of research: General buying habits, Perception towards museum merchandise, Perceptions about SAM 
• Target respondents: Anyone who has an interest in museum experiences
• Survey timeline: 10 Jan 2022 - 20 Jan 2022
• Total number of respondents: 72
• Method of survey: Distributed online via Google Form

2) Focus group

• Objective:  To have a sense of how people will respond to our idea
• Main areas of research: Products that appeal to majority
• Target respondents: People that have signed up for our focus group
• Focus group date: 25 Feb 2022
• Total number of respondents: 11
• Method of survey: Zoom

Buying Habits:

The 3 most important factors are price, practicality and aesthetic. We have understood from this that if a products is not visually appealing, audience would not buy.

Online Shopping : 

Majority of people voted online shopping for its convenience and Shopee was the biggest online shopping platform amongst our audience, second to that was official websites. This is safe to say, people do buy from official websites to ensure the products authenticity. 

Advertisements:

Instagram ads are popularised for promoting products but only 33.3% of our respondents agree it affects their buying decisions. 

Pre - Orders: 

Most of the respondents (37.5%) said that they are willing to wait 2 weeks for pre-ordered product. While this is a reasonable amount if we were to ship out in stock items but considering eco-friendly approach of manufacturing upon receiving orders, it is not a sufficient amount of time. We have found that we may lose customers if we take too much to ship out the items. 

Past Museum Purchase: 

It was an equal tie between people who have and have not bought museum merchandises. This means selling of museum merchandise is still practical as there is an existing audience market for it and it would be easier to focus and tap on their interests. However, the barrier of getting people to buy is still high and further effort is needed to meet their needs, should they be converted to purchasers.

Never Purchased Museum Merchandise: 

Regarding the non-purchasers, the biggest factor that affects their purchasing is that they do not often go to a museum. Therefore, location and accessibility to the products need to be considered the most for this audience group. They have also mentioned that aesthetic and price plays a huge role in purchasing an item. 

Past Purchase Museum Merchandise:

Within past purchasers, postcards and keychains are the most popular items, which are both low-value merchandises. Looking through the pattern of other options past purchasers have provided, they are all practical and low-value, which supports the 3 main factor in the first question, Price, Practicality and Aesthetics.

Factors that push Purchase Decision:

Aesthetics (41.7%) > Price (22.2%) > Practicality (16.7%) > Memory sake (11.2%) > Interactivity (4.2%) > Brand (2.8%) > others (1.2%)

Museum Merchandise effect on Museum: 

Most of the respondents said that merchandise would not change their impression of a museum. In order for merchandise to be able to shape or change perceptions of the museum brand, products displayed or sold should also be in line with the exhibits, or the museum’s values or mission. The method of selling these merchandise should also be creative and attract the museum visitors.

SAM's Rebranding:

In terms of people’s view on SAM, this survey has allowed us to understand the gaps SAM has to fill in delivering the rebranding change of the museum because not many people are aware of it. 

Focus Group :

In our focus group findings we have gotten feedbacks from 2 groups of people, the first being of our products and the second being our collaborations with other brands.  

Insights on the products from our participants:

Everyday products would have to be visually appealing to them before they purchase the products, that was the primary findings. For items that are easily available such as water bottles, they would have to be made out of recyclable items for them to want to purchase another bottle. Additionally, as not many people are interested in the arts, we need to create a line that has more subtle designs that would appeal to the majority. 

Insights on the collaboration potentials from our participant:

Local Fashion Apparel Brands:

Good collaboration as local brands are doing quite well and are popular but the design of the products would play a significant role in buyers desiring the product enough to purchase them online or in stores. 

Design Houses:

Participants would be more interested in these type of collaborations as supporting local small businesses are one of which factors that they do consider when buying a product. 

F&B:

F&B is a very sudden collaboration, SAM needs to be trending for the people to buy the cups, like the movie theatre cups, additionally the design needs to be appealing. LIHO has not partnered with other brands so this does not seem effective. 

Gathering an audience all of which from different backgrounds helped us to understand what the general public would find appealing and this focus group allowed us to widen our product lines to include the majority of public.

• Conduct research on museum merchandising and identify current gaps in SAM’s merchandising and museum shop offerings;
• Conceptualise viable product lines and creative collaborations that are cost effective to activate;
• Develop a pop up store where the proposed product lines will be displayed on sale

Project Brief

Conduct research on museum merchandising and identify current gaps in SAM’s merchandising and museum shop offerings.

Project Goal

• Boost SAM Merchandise sales 

Final Outcomes

Team came up with a strategy called, "Off the Shelves" 

• Going beyond current efforts to adopt a contemporary merchandising framework. Brings merchandise to the people.
  • Broken down into 3 phases 
    • Phase 1, Strangers Made for SAM 
    • Phase 2, Working with Design Houses 
    • Phase 3, Working with Various Sectors 

Proposed Product line (Phase 1)

1. Towel
2. Water bottles 
3. Pouch 
4. Film Camera 
5. Mug 

Off the Shelves in 3 Phases:

• Phase 1
  • taps on existing fans of SAM but it sells to online fans and becomes noticeable by them without a physical visit to SAM. 
• Phase 2
  • audiences in phase 1 are carried forward. On top of this audience, SAM will now reach fans of partner design houses. Association with a popular design house brand is a chance for SAM to develop a good image among the newly onboarded audience.
• Phase 3
  • reaching out to all sectors allows for SAM to integrate itself into new audience groups that would otherwise be impossible to reach due to their disinterest for museum merchandise. Growing its audience reach is valuable to the success of SAM merchandise. 

Strength:

• SAM is an art institution that was established in 1996 and has a very large local audience base.
• SAM has built up relationships with many artists over its history and has a permanent collection of its own.
• SAM is well known locally and has a strong reputation among young people for its student-related activities.
• SAM's new space at Tanjong Pagar gave the institution a chance to rebrand itself.

Opportunities:

• There are no successful museum stores in Singapore and there is still a huge gap in this area.
• The average buying power of Singaporeans is high.
• SAM has a large permanent collection.
• Singaporeans are becoming accustomed to buying online.
• SAM has a high social media audience base, which will be very effective in promoting its merchandise.

Weakness:

• Existing museum merchandise is lagging behind, making it difficult to solve inventory issues.
• The need to produce merchandise designed with environmental sustainability in mind.
• SAM only has limited money to invest in merchandise and there is little margin for error.
• The space available to SAM for the merchandise to display is small and very restrictive.
• SAM does not have much experience working with external brands.

Threats:

• Other museums in Singapore are becoming more and more aware of the importance of museum merchandise stores.
• The popularity of online shopping has made it easier and quicker to buy from overseas museums, even in the event of the global epidemic.
• Singaporeans do not yet have a deep-rooted habit of buying museum merchandise.
• The global epidemic has made people more cautious and frugal in their spending.
• Singaporeans are relatively not very receptive to art compared to other developed countries.