Contact Info
Edinburgh
Is Odoo a good fit for Edinburgh galleries, framers and dealers?
Odoo can suit Edinburgh's specialist sellers because one database holds point of sale, web store, inventory, manufacturing and accounting. The fit depends on design: artworks held on consignment with commission splits for New Town galleries, frames built to measure from molding, glass and mount board for picture framers, and one-of-a-kind stock listed in several places for antique and book dealers. I design and oversee it remotely as a freelance Odoo consultant.
Last reviewed by Vikas Saroj
Edinburgh has a rich mix of businesses that sell things nobody else has: commercial galleries in the New Town, picture framers, antique and vintage dealers, and secondhand and antiquarian bookshops in a UNESCO City of Literature. Much of their stock is unique, a good part of it belongs to someone else until it sells, and some of it is made to measure in a back-room workshop.
Odoo can hold sales, stock, workshop orders and accounts in one place, but only if consignment, unique items and made-to-measure work are designed deliberately. Working remotely as a freelance consultant who answers to you rather than to Odoo or any implementer, I decide with you which apps and edition you need and check that the build matches how your business actually trades.
What I Do
Each piece of work produces a written design that your implementer or administrator can build from and your staff can test.
For galleries, I design how works consigned by artists are received, priced, shown and sold, how the commission and the artist's share are calculated, and how statements and payments reach each artist after a sale.
I set out how works move between the gallery, storage, the framer, exhibitions and art fairs as Odoo locations, so staff always know where a piece is, who holds it and whether it is reserved.
For picture framers, I design the path from counter quote to workshop order, covering molding by length, glass, mount board and labor, with a deposit at ordering and the balance on collection.
For antique, vintage and book dealers, I decide whether unique pieces are individual products or serial-tracked units, and which details, photos and condition notes each record must carry.
I define how unique items reach your website and outside marketplaces, and how a sale in one channel withdraws the item everywhere else quickly enough to avoid selling the same piece twice.
I recommend an edition, hosting and a first phase, write the brief your implementer quotes against, then review their configuration and test it with real consignments, frame orders and sales.
How I Work
How pieces and orders really move
Walk through each sales channel
List consignors, artists and suppliers
Map workshop and framing steps
Review current tills and website
Apps, edition and data
Choose apps and edition
Model consignment and unique items
Define frame order flows
Plan data loads and connectors
Build reviewed, tested, launched
Review the implementer's configuration
Test with real transactions
Train gallery and workshop staff
Go live in a quiet period
Walk through the New Town and you pass commercial galleries on and around Dundas Street. Head to Causewayside, the Grassmarket or the West Port and you find antique dealers and secondhand and antiquarian bookshops, while picture framers work in neighborhoods across the city. The festivals and the city's standing as a UNESCO City of Literature add to a steady mix of collectors, visitors and residents buying art, books and objects.
These businesses share stock problems that standard retail systems handle poorly. Much of what they sell is unique, so there is no reorder point and no second unit to sell if a record is wrong. A large part may belong to an artist or a private seller until the moment it sells. And some of it, such as a frame, is made to measure only after the customer has chosen it.
Odoo comes up because one database can hold point of sale, eCommerce, inventory, manufacturing, purchasing and accounting. Whether it is the right answer depends on design rather than on the feature list. British topics, such as VAT returns under Making Tax Digital and moving off Sage or Xero, are covered on the Odoo consultant UK page, and the general platform overview is on the Odoo consulting page.
Much of a gallery's stock is often consigned. Artists deliver works for an exhibition or for the stockroom, keep ownership until a sale, and receive their share after the gallery deducts its commission. Prices are agreed per work, discounts may need the artist's consent, and some works are reserved, sold on approval or paid for in installments.
In Odoo, consigned works can be recorded as stock owned by the artist, so they appear in the gallery, in an online viewing room and on exhibition lists without inflating the gallery's own stock value. Each work moves between locations as it travels to storage, the framer, an exhibition or an art fair, so staff can always say where it is. When a work sells, the artist's share and the gallery's commission can be calculated and an artist statement produced, sometimes with a small custom report on top of standard features.
Some sales carry extra obligations. The resale of certain artworks through art market professionals can trigger a payment to the artist under the artist's resale right, and some art is sold under a VAT margin scheme. Whether either applies, and how it is recorded, is for your accountant to confirm; the design makes sure the data they need exists. The retail ERP page covers wider retail needs.
A framing order starts at the counter with an artwork and a set of choices: molding profile and finish, mount board color and width, glass or acrylic, and any special mounting for a valuable or fragile piece. The price depends on dimensions. Molding is used by length, glass and board by area, and labor and fitting extras are added on top. The customer pays a deposit, the workshop cuts and assembles the frame, and the balance is paid on collection.
Odoo can follow this as a make-to-order flow, with a manufacturing order for each frame and components drawn from stock. The awkward part is pricing and consumption by size. Standard product variants cannot hold every possible size, so the design may need a quoting form or small custom module that works out molding length, glass area and board area from the artwork dimensions and passes them to the order. Down payments on the sales order handle the deposit.
Framers who also work for galleries, museums or corporate clients may need repeat orders for many identical frames, conservation-grade materials recorded per job and invoicing to an account rather than at the counter. Online quoting for customers can come later, once the counter process works well. The Odoo Manufacturing page explains the production side.
Antique shops, vintage clothing stores and secondhand and antiquarian bookshops trade in stock where almost every item is unique. Each piece needs its own description, condition notes, photos and asking price, and for books the edition, binding and any inscription. Dealers also buy in awkward ways: a single lot at auction or a house clearance may contain many items bought for one price.
In Odoo, unique items can be handled as individual products or as serial-tracked units of a product type, depending on volume and how staff search the stock. Job lots need a rule for spreading the purchase cost across the items inside them, so the margin on each sale means something; that rule is a business decision to agree with your accountant, not a default setting. Items placed with you by private sellers can use the same ownership approach as gallery consignments.
Many dealers list stock on their own website and on outside marketplaces at the same time. The risk to design out is the double sale: an item sold in the shop must disappear from the website and every marketplace listing quickly, which depends on the connectors you choose and how often they synchronize. I define that flow and test it with real items before launch. The Odoo Inventory page covers stock design in more detail.
Point of sale, eCommerce, inventory, purchase and manufacturing are part of Odoo's Community edition, while full accounting features and tools such as Studio and online appointment booking may depend on the Enterprise edition. The edition choice should therefore follow the design rather than precede it. Hosting can be Odoo's own cloud, Odoo.sh or a server that you or your implementer manage, each with different trade-offs for upgrades and customization. Any custom module, such as frame pricing or artist statements, needs an owner who will maintain it through upgrades.
I do not sell Odoo subscriptions or take commission from implementers. My role is design and assurance: I write the brief, help you choose an implementer, review their configuration against the design, test it with real consignments and orders, and plan go-live away from the festival weeks and the run-up to Christmas.
Everything happens online, through video sessions, a shared design document and recorded walkthroughs for gallery and shop staff, and a visit to the gallery or workshop can be arranged where it genuinely helps. For the city's wider systems picture, see the Edinburgh ERP consultant page, and for a lighter front-office option, the Zoho consultant in Edinburgh page.
Tell me about your business and current systems. I’ll suggest the most sensible first step.
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FAQ
Odoo can record works as owned by the artist and calculate the artist's share when a sale is invoiced, sometimes with a small custom report. Paying artists can then be a routine supplier payment run. The design should also cover part payments, returns and any discount the artist agreed, and your accountant should confirm how consigned sales are recorded.
Not with standard variants alone, because sizes are effectively unlimited. A quoting form or small custom module can calculate molding length, glass area and mount board from the artwork size, then add labor and extras. I specify the rules with your framers, and your implementer builds the module and keeps it working through upgrades.
By making Odoo the single record of each item and choosing connectors that update the website and marketplaces promptly after any sale. The design sets how often listings synchronize, what happens when two orders arrive close together and who checks exceptions. I test the flow with real items before launch, since connectors behave differently.
Through a rule you agree with your accountant, such as spreading the lot price across items by estimated value, or holding the cost at lot level until items sell. Odoo can record the result, but the rule itself is a business decision. I design the receiving process so the rule is applied consistently and the margin on each sale means something.
Every business is different. Share where you are today and what you want to fix, and I’ll tell you honestly whether and how I can help.
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