Don’t you forget about …
I see this time and again across museums, galleries and visitor attractions.
Commercial activity is treated with caution. It is kept slightly to one side. Necessary, yes. But not quite trusted. Not quite brought into the centre - its all just a cash grab.
That is not just outdated. It is holding organisations back.
If you look at your organisation through the eyes of your visitor, there is no separation. They are not interested in how you structure yourselves internally. They are not distinguishing between curatorial, commercial or operations.
They are asking one simple question. Was that worth my time?
What they experience is everything.
The welcome at the door.
The ease of moving through the space.
The café.
The shop.
The exhibition.
It lands as one joined-up impression.
So let’s be clear. Commercial activity is not separate from your core activity. It is part of it.
Take something simple. A cup of coffee.
It is often dismissed as secondary. It should not be. That cup of coffee is frequently the bridge into your core offer. It gives people a reason to step inside when they are undecided. It gives them a place to settle, to pause, to commit to staying longer. It creates the conditions for them to properly engage with your collections.
The evidence is there. ALVA consistently points to dwell time as a key driver of both satisfaction and spend. The longer people stay, the more likely they are to engage and to contribute income across the visit.
Research from Arts Council England shows the same pattern. Visits that include social and hospitality elements are rated more highly and are more likely to lead to repeat attendance.
This is not marginal. It is fundamental.
Mission needs Margin
Yet I still see organisations take a short-sighted approach.
They invest heavily in exhibitions and capital works, but treat the catering as an afterthought.
They curate exceptional content, but neglect the retail offer that allows visitors to carry that experience forward.
They talk about audience engagement, but do not design the full journey that supports it.
It is a partial view of what “experience” actually means.
Maximising experience is not just about what sits on the wall or in the case. It is about how the whole visit holds together. When you ignore that, you undermine your own work.
I am direct on this. Mission needs margin.
If you want to protect your purpose, you need income that is steady and within your control. Public funding is under pressure. Philanthropy is competitive. Commercial income is one of the few levers you can actively manage.
And yet many organisations still hesitate.
Commercial teams are placed at the edge.
They are asked to perform, but not given influence over the full journey.
Curatorial teams hold the narrative, but are not always connected to how that narrative translates into behaviour, dwell time or spend.
Commercial teams are placed at the edge.
Data is gathered, but not used with intent.
The result is inconsistency. Strong moments, followed by weak ones. Good ideas, poorly carried through.
The numbers make the point plainly. Spend per head across UK attractions varies significantly. It is not uncommon to see a range between £3 and £12. That gap is not explained by footfall. It is explained by how well organisations convert interest into engagement and engagement into income.
That is a leadership issue.
If you treat commercial activity as something slightly uncomfortable, your teams will do the same. If you treat it as a core discipline, they will step into it.
There is a more direct way of working.
You recognise that every touchpoint carries equal weight.
You set a clear standard for what good looks like across the full journey.
You bring your teams together so they operate as one.
And then you get practical.
Walk the journey yourself. Where do people hesitate? Where do they leave earlier than you expect? Where do they choose to spend, and where do they choose not to?
That cup of coffee becomes a conscious decision.
The shop becomes part of your storytelling.
The welcome becomes a leadership act, not just a function.
The organisations that get this right are easy to spot. The experience is coherent. Staff are confident. Visitors stay longer, spend more and return.
There is no tension in that. Only clarity.
Its unforgivable …
The environment you are operating in is not forgiving. Funding is tight. Expectations are high. You do not have the luxury of getting half of this right.
So the question is straightforward.
Are you designing the full experience, or just part of it?
Because if it is only part, you are leaving both impact and income on the table.
From where I stand, commercial activity done properly does not dilute your mission.
It is one of the things that secures it.
