The benefits of offering retail finance for art galleries

Art galleries are a hub of inspiration, helping clients to curate a collection that suits their tastes – and their budget.

Retail finance provides extra flexibility for all kinds of clients. Bring more customers to your gallery, close sales and strike the best deals.

In this guide, we’re sharing the top benefits of offering finance to your gallery clients.

1. Boost sales

Offering retail finance helps you increase your sales, and therefore your profit. Promoting finance can increase footfall to your gallery or traffic to your website. And, once there, customers are more likely to shop with the intention of spreading the cost – knowing that payments will be more manageable.

When you partner with Novuna Consumer Finance, we’ll give you everything you need to reach your goals and make retail finance work for your gallery. Your dedicated relationship manager will be a specialist in your sector. They’ll help you harness the power of finance through bespoke onboarding and integration, free marketing material and ongoing support.

2. Increase average order value

Retail finance makes a purchase more affordable for clients. While a client may only be able to afford one new piece for their collection upfront, they could be tempted by a few extra pieces if they’re able to spread the cost.

Why make your customer choose between heart and head? If a client falls in love with more than one piece of artwork or a piece just out of budget, our finance solution gives your team the ultimate sales opportunity. Our maximum loan feature even tells you how much a client is eligible to borrow, putting you in the very best position to negotiate.

3. Help customers access art

Building an art collection is a lifetime endeavour, and inspiration can strike at any time. Once a client discovers a piece they just have to have, they might find it challenging to find the money upfront immediately.

There are many reasons why a client may need to make a purchasing decision quickly to avoid disappointment. Perhaps another collector has their eye on the piece, it’s part of a strictly limited print run or it’s a rare piece of artwork. Offering credit can help customers to overcome financial barriers and get their hands on an irresistible piece.

4. Provide flexibility for your existing collectors

It’s a common misconception that finance is only used by those unable to afford to pay for their purchase upfront. In fact, interest free credit is often utilised by affluent clients.

Many of these clients prefer to keep their hard-earned cash in the bank rather than parting with a considerable sum. Spreading the cost using interest free credit doesn’t cost a penny more than if they were paying the full amount upfront, making it a particularly attractive offer to all kinds of customers.

5. Attract and engage new clients

Make art more accessible by offering a simple way to spread the cost. Building an art collection should be available to all, yet the art world can sometimes be seen as exclusive. Retail finance helps to break down those barriers and allow art lovers to start building their collection.

While finding thousands of pounds upfront could be a challenge to novice collectors, breaking the cost down into more manageable monthly chunks could be a lot more appealing.

This widens your client base, opening up opportunities to sell to a broader range of art lovers.

6. Impress your artists

Artists often rely on galleries to sell their work. As a gallery, you spend a lot of energy amplifying their work and promoting it to a range of both existing collectors and a new audience of art lovers.

Retail finance allows galleries to grow their audience and build their artists’ reputation. This, in turn, strengthens sales and improves the artist-gallery relationship.

So what's the catch?

We’re glad you asked. It’s our job to make offering finance a win-win for all parties involved.

• Is the onboarding process complex?

Not at all. Our platform seamlessly integrates with your in-store and online POS system.

• Will applying for finance delay closing a sale?

Far from it – our research suggests over 50% of customers only bought because finance was available.

Our application takes just a few minutes to complete, and customers will receive an instant decision. Even if their application is referred, our efficient underwriting team aim to review all applications within the hour so your client won’t be waiting around for a decision.

• Will retail finance impact my cash flow?

No. When you work with us, you’ll receive the full sum at the point of transaction. We’ll take on the credit risk and the responsibility of collecting repayments.

Hear real experiences from our clients

We work with hundreds of art galleries across the UK, helping them to convert more customers by offering finance.

One of our partners, Wyecliffe Galleries, has seen a significant uplift in the number of clients choosing to use retail finance. Our platform seamlessly integrates with their system, ensuring a smooth customer journey at every stage. From our popular interest free credit option to our swift and seamless application form, the retail finance offering from Novuna Consumer Finance has impressed not only the gallery themselves, but their clients and artists too.

Hear from the team at Wyecliffe Galleries to find out how retail finance can benefit your business…

Is it time for your gallery to start offering retail finance?

If there’s one thing better than seeing a customer marvel at a beautiful piece of artwork in your gallery, it’s seeing them take it home with them. Help to make dreams happen by offering retail finance.

Get in touch with our team