Approaching Museum Shop Marketing from a Strategic Perspective

According to its contribution to the museum´s revenue, retailing has become an important function in museums. The dual character of a federal museum´s public contract and various changes in the education and leisure markets strongly impact the shop´s marketing strategy and consequently the deployment of marketing instruments. This paper investigates visitor behavior in the store of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna by non-participant observation and aims to advance understanding of the problems and consequences of applying an integrated marketing strategy to museums and their shops. The findings show significant differences between visitor groups in exploring products, identify an almost interaction-free sales situation and consequently demand for a comprehensive examination of the cornerstones of both, the shop´s and the museum´s marketing strategy.