Author: Zak Mensah, Arts Professional

Zak Mensah tells the story of taking on two retail spaces in M Shed and Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. When he first started work in 2015, both were making a loss. This case study from Arts Professional shows how twelve months of data gathering and strategic planning completely overhauled their approach, product, customer experience, and profitability.

“Collecting, sharing and using data is another core principle. We collected data for six to nine months and shared it with everybody who was interested. We married this data together to form a picture that gave us the confidence to increase our product range and low-price points, of 50p to £20, to as high as £200 based on our visitor demographic.”

Not only can audience data improve retail performance, but this example shows again how vital is it to communicate with all of your staff – from curatorial, to catering, to retail. Because everyone will experience visitors and audience members in a different way. Having good leadership and a clear system allows cultural organisations to keep the audience at the heart of everything they do – and reap the rewards.

Read the full case study here