By Bogdan Rancea
The fact that I’m writing this comparison guide shows how far we’ve come in the ecommerce landscape. Not only do we have more advanced ecommerce platforms than ever before, offering access to omnichannel selling, AI, and powerful automation tools – we now have platforms designed explicitly for specific types of sellers.
While you can technically launch an art website and sell your pieces online using a wide range of ecommerce platforms and marketplaces (like Etsy), Artspan and Art Storefronts believe these solutions are too generic.
They’ve created specific platforms and services, tuned to the needs of modern artists. Here, I’ll show you how the two options stack up, side-by-side.
Artspan vs Art Storefronts Quick Verdict
Artspan and Art Storefronts share some overlapping benefits. They both give creators access to a powerful store builder, and unique features, like the ability for customers to “live preview” your art using augmented reality. However they excel in two different areas.
I think Artspan is the better solution for beginners and small companies in the art world. It offers cheaper packages than Art Storefronts, a simpler website builder, and you also get the benefit of being able to list your pieces on a global marketplace.
Art Storefronts is better for scaling companies and creators. It delivers more advanced features (like AI-powered sales tools), unique print on demand services, comprehensive lead capture and marketing tools, and end-to-end business growth support.
Art Storefronts Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Built-in print on demand services, with a range of product options
- End-to-end support with web design, marketing, and lead generation
- Comprehensive marketing and sales tools (designed for artists)
- Excellent artist community and fantastic customer support
- Powerful AI, and augmented reality tools
- Online and offline selling support
Cons:
- Slightly more complex for beginners
- Service packages can be very expensive
Artspan Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Full website design service, with customization options
- Straightforward back-end interface
- Live preview for augmented reality customer experiences
- Free promotion for all users on Artspan’s marketplace
- Fantastic end-to-end customer support
- Affordable pricing for beginners
Cons:
- Fewer advanced sales tools
- Less support with marketing and lead generation
- Caps on how much you can sell on each plan
Artspan vs Art Storefronts: Feature Comparison
At first, I thought Artspan and Art Storefronts would be extremely similar. After all, they’re both solutions specifically designed to help artists launch online stores and generate sales. However, there are some major differences between the two platforms.
Website Design Features
Let’s start by looking at website design. First, Artspan promises to create a unique website for you, which you can customize however you like, with your own colors, branding, and other elements. From what I can tell, the store designs are nice enough, if a little basic.
You can choose from a range of themes for your store, all of which are mobile responsive, and include a dedicated shopping cart. Depending on your plan, you can also add extra features to your website, like password protected galleries and watermark protections.
Art Storefronts gives you a pretty similar experience. You can have the team create a website for you, or choose from a range of highly-responsive and attractive theme options.
Overall, I think Art Storefront’s designs are a little more modern. I also like the fact that you can customize your site as much as you like, adjusting everything from product pages, to header and footer components, and more.
What really sets Art Storefronts apart, however, is how feature-rich its websites are. While you get a few basic must-have features with Artspan, Art Storefronts gives you tools for creating pop-ups, a blog for content marketing, and even the ability to automatically show related products and recently viewed products to customers on each page.
Although setting everything up can take a little longer with Art Storefronts, you’ll end up with a more powerful ecommerce store overall.
Ecommerce and Art Selling Features
Again, both Artspan and Art Storefronts promise to help artists increase their sales with access to advanced tools and services. However, the companies boost revenue in different ways.
For instance, you won’t find a lot of advanced selling tools connected to your Artspan custom store.
You get your own checkout and shopping cart solution, and you won’t have to pay commissions on any sales you make, which is a nice touch. However, there aren’t any features for capturing leads with forms, or boosting average order value with cross-selling and upselling tactics.
Instead Artspan helps to increase your sales by giving every artist free promotion on their directories, shops, and marketplace site:
This basically means you’ll be selling art online through two channels at once: your own website, and a dedicated art marketplace with millions of visitors worldwide.
This is great for giving your brand a boost if you’re new to the art world, and it reduces the amount of work you need to do to promote your company. However, you do need to pay commissions (10%) on any sale you make through the marketplace.
Art Storefronts doesn’t have its own marketplace, but it does offer sellers a lot of advanced selling tools. For instance, you’ll get your own customizable cart and checkout page, as well as:
- Pop-up lead capture tools with marketing automation and advanced targeting.
- Automated related products and recently viewed products carousels.
- Art buyer AI (a tool offering insights into your customer segments).
- Automatic buyer upsells.
- Art fair and show selling tools for in-person selling.
- Business management tools, like wholesale ordering and inventory management.
Artspan vs Art Storefronts: Print on Demand
Another way Artspan and Art Storefronts both help artists to increase their sales, is with print on demand services. Artspan offers “print on demand” solutions for prints of your artwork (as well as allowing you to sell originals directly).
All you need to do is upload a photo of your work, and set a price for each print size, and Artspan will handle the rest. They even create products with environmentally-friendly materials. However, Art Storefronts seems to take a more comprehensive approach to print on demand.
The company offers a full “automated print fulfillment” service, fully integrated into your store dashboard. They work with professional fine art companies around the world to produce your products with state-of-the-art materials. Plus, they can create pieces in a huge range of print sizes and options. If you want to buy prints and sell them yourself, you can also access wholesale discounts.
Plus, Art Storefronts helps you to prepare for offline selling at art shows and fairs, by giving you access to printable catalogues, offline order entry and management tools, and even QR codes that automatically lead customers to your website.
Marketing and Business Growth
When it comes to promoting your business and generating leads, I think Art Storefronts is the better option again. Artspan does give you the advantage of being able to list your products on its marketplace and take advantage of its marketing strategy, but the marketing tools you can leverage on your own store are pretty limited.
You can create password-protected galleries (on some plans), and create SEO-optimized pages – though I can’t see any options for blogging. There are also some basic email marketing tools.
However, the most advanced marketing tool you’ll get is “Artspan Live Preview”. This basically gives users an augmented reality experience, so they can view what your art is going to look like in their own home.
This is a pretty handy feature, and I love the fact that it works on all phones and tablets – without asking your customers to download an app.
Still, Art Storefronts gives you a very similar solution for augmented reality previews. You can allow customers to preview your art in a range of sizes and frames, and create 360-degree videos for product pages. Plus, Art Storefronts also gives you access to automatic SEO, AI tools like Art Copilot to help you create personalized marketing campaigns, and a comprehensive CRM system.
On top of all that, Art Storefronts offers access to comprehensive marketing service packages.
Although these packages can be a little pricey, they allow you to pass your marketing work over to a team of experts who can design marketing calendars, email campaigns, social media strategies and more. Sellers on Art Storefronts can also allow customers to create favorites lists, share pages with friends, and access email marketing automation services.
Artspan vs Art Storefronts: Pricing and Fees
In virtually every part of this comparison so far, Art Storefronts has been far more impressive than Artspan – at least in my opinion. However, if you’re a budget conscious beginner in the art space, Artspan is definitely the cheaper option. There are three plans to choose from:
- Basic: $13 per month (annually) or $16 per month (monthly): Support for 21 artworks on your site, 8 pieces on the marketplace, the option to sell originals and prints, augmented reality live previews, and no commissions on sales (on your site).
- Professional: $21 per month (annually) or $25 per month (monthly): All the features of Basic, plus email marketing tools, support for 150 pieces on your site, and 15 pieces on the marketplace, and password protected galleries.
- Professional Plus: $28 per month (annually) or $32 per month (monthly): All the features in Pro, plus unlimited works for your site, 20 artworks on the marketplace, priority customer support, and watermark protection.
All plans also include a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Art Storefronts doesn’t list any specific “monthly plans” on its website. Instead, the team gives you a custom quote when you contact them and explain your needs. Based on what I can see from the marketing packages, and other customer reviews, it can cost more than $3,000 to initially set up your store, then a few thousand dollars for each “service package” you want to access.
Additionally, unlike Artspan, Art Storefronts charges commission fees on your sales, which could eat into your profits. Still, you do get an enterprise-level experience for the price you’re paying.
Artspan vs Art Storefronts: The Verdict
Ultimately, both Artspan and Art Storefronts are excellent tools for artists looking to boost their sales and unlock new opportunities. However, Art Storefronts is the more powerful, scalable solution over all.
If you’re looking for advanced features and great end-to-end support, Art Storefronts is the better pick. Artspan is great if you want to boost your chances of sales by listing your pieces on a pre-established marketplace, and it’s definitely cheaper, but you’ll have a harder time scaling your business than you would with Art Storefronts.
