Art Buyers and Their Motivations

Introduction

Consumption is an intimate and integral part of everyone’s daily lives, regardless of whether they have enough or less than enough money to spend. Although commonly, people are not aware of the significance and impact of the act of consumption in shaping their ways of life (Priest, et al., 2013). Marketers depend on the key information concerning consumers of certain products and their behaviour so that they can get in tune with and stimulate acts of buying from different customers. In fact, knowledge concerning consumer behaviour is considered as the lifeblood for effective marketing. In the context of the art market, consumers have noticeably different behaviours, which lead ArtChain Global (2018), to outline five common types of art buyers that will be discussed in due course of the essay

Motivation and Perception

In order to understand the motivations and perceptions of any kind of consumer, it is of significance to select a definition of the term consumer. A consumer is the person who buys, has the capacity to buy services and goods which are provided for sale by marketing firms with the aim of satisfying their personal desires, needs, or wants. A person’s repeated buying can be seen to grow out of behaviour. Therefore, consumer behaviour can be regarded as a human behaviour which encompasses motives, sensations, decisions and thoughts made by a consumer on a daily basis.

Primarily, motivations and perceptions are driving forces for human behaviour, and they can affect a person’s cycle of consumption too. In the human behaviour context, motivation is an innate driving force which shows arousal that is directed to a goal. Therefore, consumer behaviour can be regarded as a person’s desire for service, experience, or product (Topaloglu, 2012). Consumer perception is the way that a buyer looks at or sees value in a certain product. Consumer perception depends on the way a product is positioned in the market.

Home Collectors Perception Compared to ‘INFA’

According to ArtChain Global (2018), home collectors perceive art as something which they can extend their affection to. Their perception of art has an emotional attachment, and for this reason, they would experience love for a particular piece or type art. It is due to the emotional attachment to an art that would cause the home collectors to buy on a regular basis. Their potential to buy art on a regular basis makes them a target market for many artists. In addition, People with an immediate need for art have a perception of art as something that comes out of necessity. They spend little time thinking about art, and when they do so, it is because of a stinging impulse that causes them to buy one.

Home Collectors Motivation Compared to ‘INFA’

The home collector’s driving force to buy art is because of their pursuit of something they adore. Just as their name suggests, home collectors are driven by their need to collect a particular art that they love. Having one or more of a specific art brings them a sense of fulfilment. The people with an immediate need for art have an external driving force to their decision to purchase art. The external force could be needed to buy people art as a Christmas gift.

Theories of Motivation and Perception

Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchy of Needs

This theory offers input to understanding consumer behaviour according to their needs and motivations. Maslow’s theory considers that consumers make decisions to purchase after having identified a need for an item. The motivations are stratified from the consumers’ needs to satisfy the low-order needs moving up the hierarchy to fulfil high-order needs (Jerome, 2013). There are five levels of needs. In ascending order, these levels of needs are psychological, safety and security, ego and self-actualization. Straight to the point, home collectors have a self-actualization need to satisfy. By purchasing art which they love, they are motivated to acquire self-fulfilment.

The Marshallian Economic Model

This theory was advanced by Jeremy Bentham and Adam Smith. It relies on Smith’s doctrine that the actions of human beings are motivated by self-interest (Zellner & Israilevich, 2005). A person with an immediate need for art will most likely spend their money on a piece of art that gives them the highest satisfaction. Satisfaction comes in the form of self-interest, such as interest, to provide a gift to someone they care about on a special day, such as Christmas. The assumptions held by Marshal are also refined in the Modern Utility Theory, where an economic individual will maximize their utility by making careful calculations of the ‘felicific’ outcomes from any purchasing decision they make.

Art Marketers can make a good profit by targeting the segment of home collectors. It is due to their passion that they tend to buy art regularly. This is the reason why the well-known home collectors in the world possess art that is worth millions. For example, David Lawrence Geffen is one of the leading billionaires with art collections worth over $100 million (Statista Research Department, 2014). People who have an immediate need for art are likely to make purchases on seasonal basis. Their motivations also depend on ceremonial events of art, or, which involve art, such as Halloween festival. It is estimated that, in 2017, there would a $1 billion leap of the expenditure of Halloween consumers to approximately $9billion (Leasca, 2017). This expenditure value consists money, which they would spend on buying costumes that are artistic in nature. Close to 70% of Halloween participants looked for Halloween-related costume and art.

Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchy of Needs and The Most Important Needs for “Trophy Hunters”

Trophy hunters are the types of buyers of art whose motivation grows out of their pursuit or journey towards purchasing a piece of art. Their perception behind purchasing art is that they should acquire some thrill in their effort towards acquiring the art. Trophy hunters are rare, and they can only be found to be clients to famous expert artists. In many cases, while having a conversation concerning the art, rarely will they talk about the art itself. Their conversations are frequented by the actions they took before finally buying the art. Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, this section of the essay shall explore some of the needs which trophy hunters seek to fulfil in their desire for art. These needs are discussed below.

According to a study by Alwis et al. (2011), Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be divided into two main driving forces – risk reduction and social demonstrance. Risk reduction involves a buyer’s orientation towards achieving a sense of comfort and security. Social demonstrance, on the other hand, involves fulfilling needs while orienting towards love, self-esteem, and a sense of belonging. Therefore, the trophy hunter kind of art buyers is those who are oriented towards achieving social demonstrance.

A trophy hunter’s achievement of self-actualization is associated with social

demonstrance because, not only will they be satisfied with the art, but they will also be contented with the inherent experience they acquired to possess it. Since a thrill needs to be acquired from the pursuit of the art, a trophy hunter will target to buy from a famous artist (ArtChain Global, 2018). A famous artist can be perceived as a brand (using marketing terminology). In the world of art, there are particular values and qualities associated with a famous artist, and they include persistence in creating a body of work exceptionally, patience in their journey towards quality, an adventurous spirit that builds their creativity, and a high degree of discipline in providing the best (Lewis, 2019).

As a famous artist pledges the above-mentioned qualities in their work, they are positioning themselves as art brands in the art market. Brands serve to pledge the quality of products provided by a company in a holistic and consistent manner (Asamoah, et al., 2011). When a consumer buys a certain brand, they show that they associate and identify with the values which the brand promises. Therefore, when a trophy hunter buys from a famous artist, they acquire self-actualization by identifying with the artist’s experience and prowess as pledges by their artwork.

Self-esteem is the fourth level of needs in Maslow’s hierarchy. Trophy hunters would speak passionately about their pursuit of buying certain pieces of art in their collection. Speaking passionately concerning their pursuit grows out of their high self-perception. This suggests that their efforts to acquire a certain piece of art grows out of their pursuit to acquire high self-esteem. The perceived challenges or achievements which they encounter before procuring the art cause them to regard themselves with a high perception of being valuable people. A trophy hunter is likely to benefit from a high degree of affection, which will be exuded among his peers, family, and other groups to which they belong (Dima, et al., 2010). By fulfilling the need for self-esteem, the trophy hunters are inclined towards the feelings of achievement, independence, and uniqueness. They also acquire a high reputation for themselves, prestige, and social recognition, which serve to satisfy their external ego. It is for these reasons that it is less likely that any artists, even the most successful one, may ever encounter such a buyer.

The need for belongingness and love is the third level of need in Maslow’s Hierarchy, which a trophy hunter is motivated to achieve. According to the perceptions and motivations of a trophy hunter, it will be assumed that these are the kind of art buyers who have already acquired and satisfied their lower-level needs of safety and physiological needs. Therefore, they are particularly motivated by the need for affiliation with a certain type of art that they desire (Dima, et al., 2010). With deep introspection, it can be gauged that since trophy hunters have no situated “interest in the art itself” (ArtChain Global, 2018), and predominantly make their purchases at auctions, they are seeking affiliation with a group of people who have a prestigious taste in art. The possession of the art serves as a luring stimulus which determines their connection with a particular group of people with a common vision and objectives regarding creative artwork (Dima, et al., 2010).

Marketing Strategy

Key to achieving marketing goals is knowledge concerning the behaviour of consumers. A good marketer needs to know how to serve and influence their target customers so that they can engage the appropriate marketing strategy. In this section, focus shall be directed to the ‘investors’ type of art buyers. Investors love art, although their primary purpose for buying them is the anticipation that they will acquire “a good return on investment” (ArtChain Global, 2018). They are inclined towards buying art, which they think that their price will surge in the foreseeable future. This knowledge is crucial to an art marketer, as they will have to select the appropriate marketing strategy that is in tune with the behaviour of an investor.

Before recommending a marketing strategy for the investors type of art buyers, it is pivotal to analyse their consumption behaviour. For investors, they perceive the value of art by its ability to grow in value in future. Eventually, they would want to sell the art at a price higher than their purchasing price. They are likely to take the risk of buying artwork that is “new and experimental” (ArtChain Global, 2018). They will make an effort to elevate the value of the artwork by promoting it and its style. In addition, they are open to new ideas regarding creative and larger-than-life pieces of art because they have an eye for their potential to rake in profits. Promotional Marketing

After careful analysis of the ‘investor’ consumer behaviour, the recommended marketing strategy for art marketers in this segment is a promotional marketing strategy. The art marketers will have to come up with promotions that will communicate information concerning their art as a means of coercing the investors to make a purchase (Peter & Olson, 2010). The investors can convince of the authenticity of a piece of art and its potential to revolutionize the art industry. The ambitious nature of art will drive their purchasing decision. Promotional strategies for marketing art can be perceived by the investor as a physical and social aspect of their surrounding which ignites their cognitive and affective responses, as well as their investment tendencies.

In addition, personal selling can be used where word-of-mouth marketing aims to promote an artist’s work. This marketing strategy is an influential and pervasive means of communication that involves information being exchanged across a large number of people (Stokes, et al., 2002). This strategy is efficient when targeting an investor type of art buyer because they are most likely to make a purchasing decision following advice from a third party, or, in the context of the art market, from the artist themselves. Before making a purchasing decision, an investor is likely to listen to pre-purchasing advice through word-of-mouth recommendations for the kinds of art which have high credence and from artists with high degree of creativity.

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References

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