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The Role of Art & Antique Dealers An Added Value


make it more profitable for those dealers that do succeed despite the high entry costs. Alternatively new dealers may find ways to circumvent issues such as high inventory costs by working more on consignment. It does seem likely, however, that if certain sectors of the market are still profitable, opportunistic business people, whether dealers, auction houses or alternative agents will continue to enter the market until some kind of competitive equilibrium is reached.


Many dealers do not adequately prepare for the future, and most do not engage in formal business planning.


Finally, interviews with dealers and important industry observers revealed a distinct lack of business planning and formal strategising in most dealer businesses. Many dealers did not see themselves as running a business, but considered dealing a “lifestyle” that enabled them to produce income.


Most of the established dealers interviewed had never written a formal business plan or similar outline of where their firm would be in five or ten years time and what resources they would need to get there. An observation was that many dealers were convinced that there would always be a market for what they sold, with many convinced that they would always find buyers if their stock was of good enough quality. However, some described finding out to their peril that buyers’ identities and preferences (particularly the super-rich) had changed quite dramatically over time.


There was agreement that many of the newer and younger dealers coming into the market were more business savvy and aware of the needs to formally engage in business planning to map out future strategies, resources, financing, marketing and other key areas (rather than “just dealing” or “working hand to mouth” as older dealers described their approach).


Historical & Future Perspectives


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