Discussion of “Specialist bookstore or souvenir shop”

by Buber, Knassmuller & Schmidt

Cameron M. WeberNew School for Social Research

Authors describe decrease in funding for nonprofits (and here I assume they mean government-owned and private not-for-profits) and thus increased importance of auxiliary services for revenue

(Shows relevance of Schuster 1998 on museums as increasingly ‘hybrid’ institutions)

Authors conceptualize differences between retailing (for profit) and auxiliary services (supporting overall mission of nonprofit)

So authors highlight need to sell things that support mission versus more general tourist-type things, thus the title of the paper, “Specialist bookstore or souvenir shop”

Authors provide good section on changes in retailing industry (broader array of products on offer) and use of consumer surveys in retailing

Case study approach is a good one given the well-known difficulty in ‘universalizing’ the measurement of museum performance thus can focus on Mission Statement of museum under study

The survey methodology is meticulous, meticulously presented and very sound

Results of surveys I found most interestinga) “Shop visitors value the direct relevance between

the products offered in the shop and the collections presented in the museum”

b)53% of shop visitors purchased at least one product (“in the respective product category”?)

c) Books purchased for use by museum visitor yet “impulse items and souvenirs” mostly bought for others

Of note:11% of KHM revenues in 2007 and 7.6% of

revenues in 2009 were from the shop

(The American Association of Museums 2006 found that 20% of revenue of museums of all types in USA came from auxiliary services.)

Some (Constructive) Critiques

Terms “commercialization”, “marketization” and “economization” used but not really defined enough to make theoretical points

On one hand seems “marketization” allows non-traditional revenue-generation but on other that “markets” are a negative impact on democracy and citizenship.

Authors state “European museum shops mostly are not subject to the same market forces as retail shops” but do not mention that subsidies and tax-exemptions give market advantages

Authors use Mottner 2007 to say that product decisions can be customer (market) or mission (educational/collection) driven. Given that the Museum is the product is this not a false dichotomy? This is highlighted in authors example that shop visitors value the books produced by the museum’s “scientists”

Unclear as to whether or not admittance fee is required to enter bookshop (“almost 100%”), wouldn’t this make a big difference in product mix?

Authors state that under the “Law for the Federal Museums in Austria” that the KHM mission is “to achieve a maximal participation of the population”. So why then is entrance not free?

In survey results it is unclear as to who is classified as “tourist” and who as “local” and thus what are behavioral patterns between these groups. Are all Europeans “local”?

Finally, is not a book purchase or a postcard reproduction of an artist in the museum’s collection both educational and a souvenir? Why the duality? What are specific examples of one versus the other type?

Summary: Paper is recommended reading for all museum personnel and Boards of Directors as adds to literature on the management of auxiliary services as related to Museum purpose and is good overview of retail management general.