Museum gives insight into retail outlets and licensing programme in latest Licensing International YPN event.
The latest event in the 2019 Licensing International Young Professionals schedule proved another hit – with delegates invited into the V&A to find out how the museum runs its retail outlets and has put together its award winning licensing programme.
Held at the South Kensington-based museum on Friday August 9, 25 young professionals from companies including Penguin Random House, Global Merchandising Services, Formula One, Smiffys, My Icon Story, Universal Brand Development and Turner Media among others gathered to get an insight into the V&A’s retail outlets.
Sarah Sevier, head of retail, explained how the museum approached retail, discussing audience and engagement, the selection process with the V&A collection at the heart, commitment to stock versus sourcing, pricing and product ranges to match shop locations.
Founded in 1852, Sarah explained how the V&A has over 2.25 million objects with decorative art from all periods, architecture, fashion, contemporary design, Asian art and design, furniture, textiles, jewellery, paintings, drawings, prints, photography and sculpture.
The museum’s seven shops employ 124 people and they are open 362 days a year.
“Each shop has a different product range and they are a great support for the V&A in terms of income,” said Sarah. “Our main shop is in a very prominent location. It also acts as a great way of inspiring visitors to see other areas of the museum, while it’s also a central space for things such as retail engagement, workshops and can be used to promote our exhibitions.”
Lauren Sizeland, head of licensing at the V&A, also gave the delegates an insight into the inner workings of the museum’s licensing programme, explaining that many licensees had been on board for a long time, some more than 20 years.
In 2017, Lauren explained, over 1,200 new products launched to over 72 countries.
Ryan Beaird, marketing and operations manager at Licensing International UK, told Source: “The Licensing International young professionals committee would like to thank Sarah and Lauren for giving our industry young professionals an insight into the award winning V&A retail outlets – also the decision making process into how they select from their millions of exhibits and designs for high end consumer product licensing.
“To round off this fascinating presentation a tour of the Christian Dior exhibition for our delegates was a highlight.”
The next YPN event will be held at The Ivy Club on September 10 from 8.30am to 10am and will discuss kid influencers, with a presentation from SuperAwesome.
Tickets are priced at £15 each and you can find out more information by clicking on this link.
The Licensing International YPN events for 2019 are sponsored by BrandComply.com.
Main image, left to right: Licensing International UK YPN committee members Alexander Salisbury (Viacom Nickelodeon Consumer Products) and Louisa Skevington (Rocket Licensing) with the V&A’s Lauren Sizeland and Licensing International UK’s Ryan Beaird.
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