Whether your preference is for artistic enfants terrible, such
as Tracy Emin and the Chapman Brothers, or Old Masters, such
as Rembrandt and Canaletto, most art lovers will have paid a
visit to the Royal Academy of Arts. Indeed, its main site at
Burlington House, Piccadilly welcomes more than a million people
each year, making it one of London's top ten attractions for
paying visitors.
Founded in 1768 - its first president was painter, Sir Joshua
Reynolds - The Royal Academy has a thriving exhibition and education
programme. For example, the Academy's recently-acquired building
in Burlington Gardens (formerly the Museum of Mankind) currently
features a retrospective of internationally renowned fashion
designer, Giorgio Armani. Other high profile events have included
Monet in the 20th Century, in 1999, which attracted over 800,000
visitors, making it the most highly attended exhibition of its
kind in Britain.
Independent and self-funding - in contrast to the National
Gallery or the Tate - The Royal Academy has developed a thriving
commercial operation. According to the RA's Head of Commercial
Operations, John Barford, a large percentage of visitors to
the galleries will also visit one of the three retail locations
(there is another shop at the new site). Merchandise includes
postcards, posters, stationery, homeware and ceramics, with
many lines developed specifically to reflect the ongoing exhibition
themes.
To fully exploit this valuable revenue stream, the RA has
recently invested in a Point of Service solution from Cambridgeshire-based
ITIM Technology Solutions, running on Epson's SR-600 touchscreen
terminals. The RA selected ITIM's Chameleon software from
an original list of 17 suppliers because it offered benefits
such as enhanced reliability, speed and ease of use, as well
as meeting its individual functionality requirements, as John
Barford explained.
"Some of our products are made up of a number of different
price components - plates, for example, will have a decal
of the design, as well as royalty attached to the design itself
- and we need the EPoS system to separate each element so
we can calculate the sales margin properly. We also have a
number of items, such as exhibition catalogues which are on
sale at more than one price (to readers of the RA magazine,
for example). ITIM was able to customise its software to meet
our operational needs."
Installed in May 2003, the barcode-based system runs on eleven
Epson SR-600s across the RA's four retail locations. These
are linked, via LAN, to ITIM's back office retail management
system, giving the RA real-time control over inventory and
access to business reports such as sales and stock by location,
stock valuation reports and weekly sales by department. In
addition, the system enables the RA to attach attributes to
stock, making it easier to track the popularity of merchandise
which is available throughout the three months of an exhibition.
Back at the point of sale, John Barford has been particularly
pleased with the capabilities of the powerful and reliable
SR-600: "We have a lot of part-time and casual staff
so we need a system which is easy for them to get to grips
with quickly," he commented. "The touchscreen interface
means the Epson terminals are far more intuitive. Coupled
with integrated EFTPOS, this means operating the tills has
become a much simpler and quicker process."
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