Service
eCommerce Fulfilment / Art Logistics

SECTOR
Art

CHALLENGE
Fast growth led to fulfilment pressure

OUTCOME
Fulfilment for fluctuating demand

– THE BRAND
FREE ART FOR ALL, SINCE 1970

Serpentine displays contemporary art across two sites in Kensington Gardens, Serpentine South and Serpentine North, either side of the Serpentine Bridge. Each site hosts around three exhibitions a year, spanning art, design, architecture, performance and community projects, and every summer a different architect creates a new Pavilion.

Alongside its programme, Serpentine produces publications, limited-edition artworks and a growing luxury retail offering, bringing art into visitors’ everyday lives. A free public art institution since 1970, its sales fundraise directly towards keeping exhibitions open to all.

– THE CHALLENGE
A GROWING SHOP, A FULFILMENT PRESSURE

Through 2025 the retail offering expanded quickly, adding apparel, homewares and stationery alongside limited editions. Fulfilling that demand in-house, from two small central-London sites, was becoming unsustainable ahead of the blockbuster summer shows of 2026.

01. SPACE
Space at a premium

Two small sites in Kensington Gardens left
very limited capacity to hold stock on site
as the range grew.

02. STAFFING
A stretched team

As a charity with a small Enterprise team, picking, packing and shipping every online order by hand simply did not scale.

03. VOLUME
Surging order volumes

Popular shows drove demand well beyond what two staff could book in, pick and pack reliably.

04. SHIPPING
Complex global shipping

International orders, and shifting US tariffs in particular, made in-house despatch slow and difficult to manage.

– THE SOLUTION
ONE TRUSTED PARTNER, END TO END

Building on years of specialist art logistics and eCommerce services, Flight Logistics extended the partnership into full Shopify fulfilment, storing stock, syncing orders and handling global dispatch from the same trusted team.

03. FULFILMENT
Storage & despatch

Off-site storage across two warehouses, pick and pack, global shipping, returns and inventory oversight.

04. PACKING
Value-matched care

Packing matched to each item, protecting high-value works while keeping lower-value pieces cost-effective.

– THE RESULTS
SCALING THROUGH THE PEAK

When the David Hockney exhibition drove a huge surge in orders, the model held. Flight Logistics absorbed the workload while Serpentine’s team remained
focused on production and in-person sales.

90+
ORDERS IN A SINGLE DAY

Fulfilled by Flight during the Hockney surge, with minimal delays.

1
STAFF TO OVERSEE FULFILMENT

Only needing one person
frees the team for production
and gallery sales.

24/7
ONLINE AVAILABILITY

Off-site stock keeps online sales running even when on-site sells out.

SPACE
Onsite pressure lifted – Off-site storage removed the constraint of two small sites, freeing room for the in-person shop while online sales continued uninterrupted.

REACH
Smoother global shipping – Long-standing issues shipping to North America eased, and returns, exchanges and replacements became far simpler to manage.

FOCUS
Freed to create – With fulfilment handled, the team refocused on new products and boosting in-person sales, helping meet the gallery’s fundraising goals.

THE CLIENT’S VERDICT

“Flight Logistics are a friendly team who always bring a creative flair and positivity to their problem solving. There is a real can-do attitude that makes any issue feel solvable.”

ISOBEL ADDERLEY | SERPENTINE