The Role of Art & Antique Dealers An Added Value
commercial ventures considered less useful (with a number of key exceptions) than dealer-run fairs. The latter were seen by many dealers as higher value due to the fact that profits made from the fair were reinvested in it, and because dealers actively bought-in and promoted these events. They also noted a tendency for some commercially-based fairs to be undersubscribed, which they felt caused standards to drop, whereas dealer-run fairs were often oversubscribed.
There were also key differences between sectors regarding the effectiveness of fairs in terms of sales, with events working better for some categories of art and antiques versus others. An example is the case of print dealers, where there was a perception among buyers of a greater amount of time to decide between prints, which made the competitive nature of the fair less important versus unique pieces which required a more on-the-spot decision. Fairs were still seen as a critical way for print dealers to seek out new clients and attend to follow-up business.
Besides collaborating with each other at fairs, dealers have also begun to engage with other agents in the art market such as museums and auction houses in staging events and “art weeks”. A recent example is Master Paintings Weekwhich started in 2009 when 23 galleries and the two major auction houses of Christie’s and Sotheby’s collaborated and co-promoted a week of lectures, exhibitions and auction sales in London. The motivation for the event was to co- promote this sector of the art market and to highlight the strength and depth of expertise in the field within London. As the public often do not see two different markets, this form of collaboration between auction houses and dealers was seen as a positive way to raise the profile of the sector, while promoting their joint interests by displaying a strong market to buyers.
4.5 The Movement Online
The online channel has become an integral communication and marketing device, but online sales remain low.
Nearly all dealers have a website and conduct business via the Internet. Advances in efficiency- yielding technology are significantly affecting the art market as a whole and are expected to continue to do so at a very rapid pace, due largely to the catch-up required from being under- invested compared to other industries as well as advances in the technologies themselves.
Dealers report that the online channel remains most important for: • Searching for inventory (for example, through online auctions or other dealers’ sites). • Allowing buyer access and helping buyers to find their stock, plus enabling much wider and low cost international reach.
• Communication and educating clients. The online channel was seen as particularly important for marketing and in combating lower foot traffic to galleries as potential buyers could view stock at home, at night or whenever they wanted access.
• Low cost and better quality imaging, along with wider distribution of catalogues. 32 Historical & Future Perspectives
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