Money is a controversial issue, especially when artistic fields are considered. On this blog I try to speak honestly about the realities of running an “artistic” business, because the more people understand that, the better for everyone. As Black Friday, the day of massive discounts, is approaching inevitably, I want to bring out our reasons for which we do not participate in this event. In the following points I will describe the financial strategy of Oficyna Peryferie.
Respect and trust
We do not reduce our prices due to our customers who have already trusted us.
This is the first and the most important reason: we respect people who pay for the books, graphics and workshops. If we were to make occasional discounts, it would be unfair for those who have paid more, ie. the standard price. And they would be justified to feel cheated on.
We do not use discounts to encourage people to buy.
Our main premise is as follows: discounts are a pre-sale. The sooner you trust us, put confidence in us, the more you gain. Later on, when prices change, they only tend to go higher. Our works do not expire, they do not lose value after three months, as they do in Empik or Matras:
source: Michał Szafrański, blog Jak Oszczędzać Pieniądze
We trade in collector’s items
This kind of policy is important due to several reasons but is particularly significant when considering the sale of collector’s items which we mostly produce: books, matches, zins, graphics. Those are limited editions which get more and more valuable over time.
Our matches are a great example – people slowly start paying more attention to the numbering and editions, and those who got hold of Wielicki, Rutkiewicz or Kukuczka from the first series, have a lot to brag about.
Our prices are relatively low
Some time ago I received this mail:
Hello, I represent a creative agency XXX. What kind of discount will I get, if I buy five posters from your riso printing house?
Hmm. Considering the fact that the posters cost 30 zlotys, I simply smiled and answered that, as a rule, we do not give discounts. Still I wonder what motivated that person who was so eager to call upon the prestige of this “creative agency”. As you probably guessed, the correspondence died out at this point.
We are not turbocapitalists or so, who only care for the highest turnover. We cannot deny that, we profit from what we sell, but the prices are relatively low. One of the reasons for such a policy is that none of us is wealthy – we want to give people of similar income the opportunity to collect graphics and artbooks. What is more, we are more concered about good relations with our customers than a high turnover. Because a collection does not consist of one book, it is a whole shelf
Do not let money hinder you!
In the case of the workshops we organize, the problem is a bit different. Knowledge is not a material object you can collect, and it is in our best interest to make people more conscious of what books and graphics actually are. Despite the fact that the lion share of our income comes from the workshops, for those who cannot afford them we prepared a social fund which covers special tickets at lowers prices. We do not check out your taxes nor your salary – we rely on mutual trust. And the result of such an approach is clear – it pays off.
What do you think of our attitude? Share your opinion in a comment!
Michał Chojecki
Oficyny Peryferie’s founder. Visual artist. Assistant professor at Graphic Arts Department at Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (Poland).