In recent years, online art sales have become a central sales channel. If you're an online gallery owner who wants to operate a digital sales channel, choosing the right e-commerce platform is crucial.
Shopware version 6 offers a reliable, robust, and scalable foundation for online sales. This modern solution offers many advantages over other shop systems. For individual artists and small galleries, Shopware 6 is less suitable due to the five-figure initial investment and monthly fees in the upper three-digit range, while for larger galleries, there are compelling arguments in favor of this software choice.
We took a closer look at Shopware 6 agency Kenner Soft
What is Shopware 6?
This is the e-commerce platform developed in Shöppingen, Germany. It is powerful and easy to use, and is successfully used by more than 50,000 globally renowned brands (Toyota, Philips, Fischer Sports, Melitta). Shopware 6 offers excellent shopping experiences and a suitable service package for every purpose. The open-source shop system can be used for projects of all sizes. It offers numerous extensibility options , a multilingual website, and enables easy design creation through the integrated template system.
Here is the image video of the software provider itself:
Core features of Shopware 6
The latest version is versatile and feature-rich. It offers a wide range of standard features, but can be expanded as needed. The created web shops can be customized to individual requirements. The main features of Shopware 6 are:
- Rule Builder . This feature is used to automate business processes and create personalized offers. It allows you to create different conditions and rules that take customer behavior, order value, and product type into account.
- Content Management & Design . To enable shop operators to create content-rich and appealing websites themselves without specialist knowledge, there's a Shopping Experiences .
- Marketing Automation . Flow Builder is a feature for automatically sending emails and notifications to customers.
- Internationalization features . Shopware 6 enables international sales, can be adapted to legal requirements and shipping options for different markets, and supports multiple currencies and languages.
Extensions and plugins
When it comes to scaling, standard features are often insufficient. It's possible to integrate the required features into the shop plugins Thanks to the API-first architecture, various payment and shipping methods, as well as ERP and CRM systems for small businesses, be easily integrated.
Shopware 6 vs. Shopify vs. WooCommerce
Shopify vs. Shopware 6 – the comparison
In this video, Daniel from Eshop-Guide compares two of the most popular online shop systems:
Shopware vs. WooCommerce – eBakery Online Shop System Comparison
In the eBakery online shop system comparison, Shopware and WooCommerce compete against each other. Find out how Shopware stacks up against the shop system of the world's most popular CMS system in this video:
Specific advantages for online galleries
Visual composition by Galina Nelyubova @galka_nz, via Unsplash
Visual presentation: The best frame for your art
The way art is presented is a key aspect of sales. Shopware 6 offers great options here:
The Shopping Experiences editor allows you to present artwork in atmospheric and emotional environments, like a virtual gallery tour. You can create layouts for different art styles or artists without writing a single line of code.
The high-quality image display with zoom function allows interested parties to see details of the artwork, which is a must-have, especially for paintings, sculptures, or limited editions. Automatic optimization ensures your artwork looks great on all devices.
360-degree views are the ultimate solution. This allows collectors to view their future works of art from every angle.
Storytelling: Telling the story behind art
Art doesn't just sell through its images; it's acquired for the stories behind them. Shopware 6 offers ample opportunities to tell these stories:
- You can add specific information to each artwork using the "custom fields ." This can include the story behind the work, the techniques used, and the artists' biographical information.
- "Emotions" feature lets you create the right mood and atmosphere for different art forms and styles. A series of abstract paintings requires a different presentation style than sculptures or photographs.
- The integrated blog feature allows you to regularly post about artists, exhibitions, or art trends. This is a great way to build a community and showcase your gallery's knowledge.
Flexible product structure: as versatile as art itself
Every art gallery offers a wide range of works throughout its career. Shopware 6 offers the right level of flexibility:
- You can elegantly showcase different versions, formats, or frames of a work of art with Advanced Variants . This is especially useful for limited editions available in different sizes or versions.
- "Product sets" allow you to group thematically related artworks together. This is a helpful feature for collectors or curated exhibitions.
- Dynamic attribute management allows works to be sorted by any criteria, including period, style, material, or technique. This makes it easier for art lovers to find what they're looking for.
International orientation: Art knows no boundaries
With the multi-store feature, you can serve different markets separately, with different prices, languages, and content. For example, you could treat the Asian market differently than the European one.
The many translation options ensure that artist biographies and art descriptions can be displayed in different languages without losing their emotional impact.
When it comes to international art shipping, the integrated tax and customs administration of all the paperwork for you.
Unique shopping experiences for collectors
Customer Streams technology makes it possible to offer VIP customers special benefits, such as early access to new works or private discussions with artists. Established art collectors will love this personalization.
You can also use the Rule Builder to set up complex pricing plans, such as offering discounts to returning customers or establishing special rules for museums and other institutions.
The video call consultation appointments make it easier to receive personalized customer service, almost like visiting a gallery.
Future-proof technology: a strong foundation
Shopware 6 offers modern optimization and caching techniques to improve loading times and the user experience. This contributes to the smooth functioning of the online shop, even with high traffic.
The new version includes special features to enhance the security of your shop (rate limiter, storefront IP whitelisting, HTML sanitizer to prevent XSS, API-enabled fields, write protection for entities, SameSite cookies, Shopware 6 security plugin, Captcha).
Shopware 6 is very flexible and future-proof because, as mentioned above, it uses an API-first architecture. This allows you to easily add new technologies like augmented reality to place artwork in customers' homes.
multitude of certified partners and developers are Shopware ecosystem. A service agreement ensures regular, reliable deployment of development and security updates. This ensures that the digital showroom is always technologically up to date.
The cloud options also allow for scaling as needed at any time. This could be particularly relevant for larger art galleries during busy periods such as art fairs or special exhibitions.
Owner and Managing Director of Kunstplaza. Publicist, editor, and passionate blogger in the field of art, design, and creativity since 2011. Successful completion of a degree in web design as part of a university program (2008). Further development of creativity techniques through courses in free drawing, expressive painting, and theater/acting. Profound knowledge of the art market through many years of journalistic research and numerous collaborations with actors/institutions from art and culture.