As recently reported by Skate's earlier this week, four art auction houses with online art trading platforms, namely, Auctionata, Paddle8, Christie's, and artnet.com AG, generated a combined $144 million in gross merchandise volume ("GMV") in 2014, which represents on average a doubling of the volume of global online trade compared to 2013.
Berlin-based Auctionata came out on top with 2014 results that provided for an increase in online auction trade volume over that originally anticipated. Auctionata captured $41 million in GMV sold, which represents a 148% increase in dollar terms to 2013. These results catapult Auctionata into the top position as the leading global online art trading platform followed by Paddle8, Christie's, and artnet.com AG.
Paddle8 and artnet.com AG have yet to publish their results, however, Skate's closely tracks each firm's online auctions and expects Paddle8 to report about $37-40 million GMV and notes that artnet.com AG is unlikely to exceed $30 million GMV for 2014.
Christie's experienced a 60% growth compared to 2013 for its online-only sales in 2014 generating $35.1 million GMV. For further information on Christie's results, click here.
It will be interesting to see if these top four players for 2014 remain in their respective positions for 2015. Indeed, the online art trading platform is quickly establishing itself as the way to collect and sell art in the 21st century.
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