Brothers’ Business Plans Are a Work in Progress
IncredibleArt.com (https://www.incredibleart.com) was created in 1998 to sell wall art over the Internet to retail customers.
The initial business plan of founders Ed Mullen, 26, and his brother, Geoffrey, 24, was to offer original art and posters of artists from Monet to Warhol at 25% to 45% below typical retail prices.
IncredibleArt.com also contracted with 200 artists to offer their original work online and has an “Ask a Decorator” feature allowing individuals to get professional decorating help free.
The Mullens’ basic premise was that consumers would find it much more convenient--and cheaper--to buy art online than to drive to galleries, museums, poster stores and other traditional art retailers to find what they want.
Like most online retailers, the brothers figured they could sell at rock-bottom prices because they wouldn’t have the overhead of traditional retailers. They merely function as a conduit for sales.
They also added special features to their site, including a zoom-in feature for inspecting posters or brush strokes and other details on original pieces available on the site, and “personal galleries” where users can store images of art they like for viewing by friends or family.
The Mullens raised about $2 million from friends, family and a few high-profile investors to launch the site. Early investors included Paul Fireman, chief executive of Reebok International Ltd.; Harry Chandler, executive vice president of GoTo.com Inc.; and the brothers’ parents, Arnold and Shirley Mullen, who invested about $250,000.
In 1999, the first full year of operation, the Mullens had less than $1 million in sales, they said.
Not surprisingly, the Mullens have found they have plenty of competition online, from general art sites to individual gallery sites.
Early this year, after the business-to-consumer e-commerce market started to fall out of favor with investors, the Mullens switched gears to focus on the corporate market, aiming to become a source of original and poster art for corporate art buyers, large hotel chains and other business clients (although they’re still selling to retail customers as well).
The Mullens expect IncredibleArt.com to have revenue of $2.5 million this year and $10 million next year with its new business-to-business focus. With adequate funding, the company could break even by the second year, the brothers said.
But staying in business will require raising $5 million to $10 million in fresh capital by the end of the summer, Ed Mullen said. That money primarily would be used to expand the business, perhaps by acquiring other art-related Web sites, and to boost the firm’s marketing efforts, he said.
