Track Your Inventory Artists Share What Works for Them
Keeping track of your inventory is not an easy task. Artists say it is time-consuming. Many simply do not do it.
I researched inventory management programs online, trying to find an easy one for recording inventory. I found some that are free and others with costs — and none perfect for an artist with a lot of personalized art inventory.
Artists who keep an inventory document each piece with details, such as the date the piece was created, the artwork’s dimensions, the title, and the medium by which the piece was created. They can record each individual piece online or by hand to maintain a complete record of its availability or when it was sold and to whom (for those who maintain a buyer record). Not only does this keep their inventory hand organized but it also helps if they decide to exhibit in a gallery.
Some online programs issue unique inventory numbers as you record your pieces. If you create series artwork (for example, scenes of a Kansas landscape, one of three), this helps if you decide to sell one piece and not all three. It is even more helpful if you are a photographer, as at any given time you have 50 to75 pieces on a gallery or art show wall, and even more in print bins, and in varying sizes.
ARTBUTLER (artbutler.com/en/), does all the above; while also helping you effectively name your pieces, such as O-123 for an original oil or PH-123 for a photo. Originally conceived as a management project for galleries, the designers realized the same software could also help artists keep their inventory straight.
It allows artists to manage their artwork by creating an overview of all their works on hand and PDFs for buyers who want to know more about each piece, or the medium used to create it. Artists can build an entire website through this software, receive purchase requests, and offer online payment.
The company is based overseas. When I wrote this article, the cost for uploading unlimited artwork was about $50 a month. However, many other add-ons will drive that price up. I think this option might be useful for those juggling galleries, shows, and private investors.
Barcode Scanners
Another way to manage inventory is by investing in barcode scanners and barcode generation software. You can generate a barcode specifically for let’s say 4 x 4 Orange Crabs and receive a unique barcode with a stock keeping unit (SKU) for that artwork and assign it (by labeling the piece) to all your 4 x 4 Orange Crabs.
When someone purchases one, you simply scan the barcode. It pulls it into your Square application (usable on a Square Stand, Square Register, and selected Android/Apple devices) and shows the product and price. They are Bluetooth scanners, which makes it incredibly easy to scan.
Artists can add a specific tax for each show, credit card processing fees, and apply discounts. It allows you to generate an inventory list of sold art. This type of system streamlines your point of sales and your inventory management.
The prices can be a bit daunting, with scanners and SKU/barcode printers upwards of $2,500 each and additional costs for the use of Square for Retail software. You can find a SKU generators online for a lower cost — and sometimes free— but it may not work with your Square systems (squareup.com/us/en).
If you have a moderate amount of inventory (200 pieces or less), the initial cost of purchasing the necessary equipment may not be worth it, especially if you do not sell your work at multiple outlets. It also requires constant maintenance of products via inks and labeling paper.
What Other Artists Do
Some artists who produce large oils and acrylics say they bypass the inventory system. But what about the prints?
When you have signed and numbered prints, you can keep track that way, correct? No, unfortunately.
If you have signed and numbered prints, for example 1-25, chances are that in a print bin, they get sorted through and completely out of numerical order. You may limit your prints at a show to 50 of each painting. At the end of a show, you can put them back in order, counting them quickly and recording your stock.
The purpose is to either reprint (if you have an open-ended number of prints from one original) or restock, as necessary. That is the system used by almost every photographer or painter I interviewed.
“Honestly, I just don’t have time to write down everything I’ve got on hand to sell. It varies with each show. And if I have 20 or so small prints, I just pull from my stock that I keep in boxes and go from there,” said one seasoned acrylic painter. “I have to keep my life simple.”
Recording inventory of pottery can also be a headache, even if you choose separate bins to keep your pieces in order, such as mugs, plates, teapots, and other fine art pottery. “When I’m packing up for a show, I just wrap everything and keep it in bins by color. I have a limited number of pieces I do, which is functional pottery. I have just so many mugs and brie bakers and honey pots for each show. I might have a few more in the vehicle to restock with, but that’s pretty much all. And they all sell for set amounts, so I write each piece down in a notebook by my Square as I sell them. That’s the extent of my inventory. I go home and make more of the pieces I sold,” a potter told me at a recent show I attended.
Sherry Peckens shared how she and her husband, Levi, maintain the bulk inventory for their company, TrippinSeed Tie Dye. They have extensive product, mainly handmade tie-dyed shirts for men and women, which they sell retail and wholesale.
“We do an inventory of everything we have (in our shows) twice a year, the beginning of spring and again at fall,” Peckens said. “We also use Square Online to maintain an online store (free included website) and have a separate inventory for that, maintained by Square as well.”
She said, “Our wholesale inventory (local businesses) is a separate set of boxes that we can pull from with a tally sheet, so that we know what we have on hand (to take items to a store).” Peckens said while one partner makes the product — usually in bulk during the summer when the dye is set by the heat and sunshine — the other checks inventory and handles the books.
They keep notebooks of sales, tally them up after each show, and then update the product on hand. While time-intensive, it works for them.
Due to their substantial number of designs and sizes, this makes it easier to find a specific request from a customer. The only downfall of this method is lots of manual labor.
Lisa Rogers creates 2D painted artwork on canvas of all sizes. “It almost makes my head hurt to think about itemizing each and every one of my paintings, big or small, and keeping track of sales,” she said.
She has a huge inventory, as she tries to paint daily while juggling other jobs. Rogers takes photos of her paintings as she sells them, so she knows what sold.
“A regimented inventory method just sounds like too much work, actually,” she said. “It’s not the way my mind works, right or wrong.”
Rogers uses Square for her credit card processing but does not take advantage of sales tracking from Square or any other online system. “I fly by the seat of my pants,” she said.
Some other artists I spoke to do the same thing. They do not keep an inventory system, primarily due to its cost — both in time and money.
An artist who specializes in making wooden keepsake art out of old post office boxes uses a colored dot method to track his sales. “For really antique boxes, I use a green dot. For other smaller ones, I use a red dot. For boxes that are unique in other ways, I use a yellow dot. It’s easy because I can use a tally system and just count the number of each of the colored dots. Works for me,” he said.
My own method is to add pieces to a Word document by size and name of art. That is my inventory base.
As they sell, I make a list in my phone. At the end of the show — usually on Monday — I review my list and delete the sold pieces from the inventory base.
This also allows me to add a list I call “Sold Inventory” by show (copied and pasted), so I can recall that list and see what my bestsellers were the previous year. It helps reinforce what buyers looked for at each show.
Every inventory tracking method has its pros and cons. What works for one artist may not work for others. The best thing to do is to come up with a way to stay organized and finetune it as you go along.
Brenda Flynn has been working in the art industry for more than 32 years, practically non-stop. In her down time, she enjoys everything one might say in a dating profile.