National Palace Museum online stores puts new spin on the old

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on March 31, 2006. It features the National Palace Museum's recent launch of its online store, which is located at the web address: http://www.npmeshop.com.

The National Palace Museum Online Store features products from the museum's souvenir shop, which are in the NT$2,000 to NT$3,000 price range. The online store offers some 350 items, including bronze ware, reproductions of paintings, calligraphy sets, stationary, clothing and jewellery and audio-visual products. The online store operates in Chinese, English and Japanese languages, and other languages will be added in the future.

According to Lin Mun-lee, director of the National Palace Museum, the online shop should be able to multiply the museum's current annual income of NT$200 million by tenfold. She gives the example of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, which had an income of about NT$22.1 billion in 2004, about half of which came from cultural enterprises such as product development and licensing of designs.

At present, about 80 percent of the National Palace Museum's income is from products and licensing. Lin expects the museum's revenues to reach NT$2 billion in as little as five years, and that the newly launched online shop can bring in NT$10 million in revenues every year.

The online store will be linked to the National Palace Museum's official site in the near future. All "Friends of the National Palace Museum" cardholders will enjoy a 10-percent discount on all items purchased online.

Meanwhile, the National Palace Museum is currently promoting a series of newly designed products called "Old is New". The series features a wide range of products that combine traditional Chinese aesthetic styles and designs with modern materials and production technology. These products will go on sale at the end of 2006.