Art news  •  The Art Market

The boom of buying art online

Relatively unusual in recent years, buying art online is becoming more and more popular, to the point that pure players now surpass the growth of classical sales houses. Review on this trend reversal.

Buying art online is becoming a commonplace, the percentage of buyers who have taken the plunge in the course of the year, increased from 63% to 65% from 2016 to 2017. Today the purchase of online art earns $ 3.75 billion, an increase of 15% in 2016, 8.4% for the overall market.

A boom to put in perspective

Although the web is increasingly getting used to buy art online, it is used less than the sites that experienced the greatest growth during this year are the traditional auction houses. How to put in perspective the advances of the pure players ”only online”.

For example, sales of Christie’s, Heritage Auction and Sothby’s recorded, if accumulated, 19% of the total market for online art purchases ($ 720 million). Christie’s saw at the same time a remarkable 84% increase in its online sales. As for Heritage Auction, which has become one of the major digital operators, 41% of its total sales is online ($ 348 million), an increase of 1.3% compared to 2015.

Art dealer walking with paintings in art gallery

A context of trust which is the cause

This incomplete shift can be explained by the number of fakes that populate the world of buying art online, buyers are still placing more confidence and safety in a well known house as an asset to buy art online. It is also important to note that the purchase of art online is generally only for items of lesser value (not exceeding 5000 dollars) and that this is likely to remain the norm for years to come, although it is still too early to say this with certainty..

Singulart, the online art gallery.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *