The Role of Art & Antique Dealers An Added Value
Finally some associations also run dealer fairs, and these were seen by many members as one of their key reasons for joining. Dealers stated that they felt it was important that associations made fairs economically successful and prestigious. Many remarked that collaborative efforts such as these were key to remaining competitive in future, with some suggesting that associations should run further forms of combined selling such as online auctions.
Besides these three key functions, other areas in which associations were noted as important for helping their members were in:
• Providing a forum for networking and developing contacts. This function was deemed more important for less established dealers, and was used more internationally than nationally.
• Providing an association website. Association websites were used both as a useful tool for information sharing and communication, and in some cases helped to promoting and enabling actual sales via online galleries and listings.
• Offering legal and administrative assistance. Associations often provide members with useful templates for consignment notes, terms and conditions and other sales-related documentation, as well as explaining new laws and regulations that affect their businesses.
• Running education and training courses for dealers on business, marketing, technology or trade-specific areas.
• Getting media coverage to boost the trade and engaging in joint marketing and advertising campaigns with individual dealers. Some dealers pointed out that an important part of this role was to try to help make art and antiques more accessible. Some antique dealers in particular felt that the trade had done itself a disfavour by purporting a “snooty” attitude and trying to make antiques the realm of the privileged only. Some of the more successful models being used by dealers were centred on being welcoming to new buyers and making them feel comfortable by trying to move away from the alienating culture that prevailed in the past. Some dealers had even taken the step of removing the word “antique” from their shop fronts and marketing literature as they felt that it could lose business through being loaded with history, weight, and responsibility. Dealers viewed the associations as important in collectively promoting a lighter image that helped focus on new and younger buyers.
Although dealers felt associations gave an important stamp of approval, many felt there were inadequate sanctions for breaches of ethics.
Although there was wide variation, some dealers complained that their associations were not adequately policed. There was a feeling in some associations that although membership criteria needed to be adhered to for entry, once enlisted, dealer behaviour and practices were not adequately monitored. Even for those with good monitoring, a common complaint was that the sanctions they imposed did not act as a significant enough deterrent or associations “did not have enough teeth”. Dealers felt that the worst that could be done for serious breaches of conduct was to remove a member from the association, but questioned if this really offered the
Historical & Future Perspectives 59
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64