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Strauss Online: Time-limited auction sales exclusively online

14 Oct 2013

Continuing in the stead of international auction industry developments, Strauss & Co is proud to introduce its latest product, Strauss Online, a solely online auction platform where all sales are time-limited and offered only at www.straussartonline.co.za. This industry advancing platform has been developed to nurture the broader art market and to make quality fine and decorative art works accessible to a more expansive market than was ever previously the case. Potential buyers and emergent collectors will have the benefit of being able to view and bid at sales from anywhere in the world, thereby making art auctions accessible to prospective buyers unfamiliar with the auction process. Selling online is today key to engaging younger buyers.

This site not only strengthens Strauss & Co.’s position as market leaders but also makes history as the first dedicated, exclusively online-only art and antiques auction website in South Africa. This also gives the company the ability to host sales more regularly, thereby relieving clients of the lengthy wait between their four annual catalogue auctions.

With its focus on more affordable art, Strauss Online will reach an enormous audience of art appreciators, far more so than would ever be able to view a live, physical auction. This will ultimately benefit the whole market as sellers will have their art works exposed to a dramatically increased audience, and buyers will have the benefit of viewing the sale from any place globally, at any time, for the duration of the sale.

Earlier this year Christie’s launched an online-only site with highly successful sales of Andy Warhol fashion drawings, Hong Kong jewels and Wines, and many more to follow. There has been a marked increase in virtual stores and online sales platforms globally. The online art trade 2013 showed that an increasing number of people are prepared to spend £50 000 or more on a single item online, without seeing it “in the flesh”.

With the benefit of Strauss & Co.’s principled reputation, superior standard of cataloguing and expertise, and the guarantee of quality and authenticity unmatched by their competitors, research by ArtTactic corroborates that this product will indeed be highly successful, as trust and reputation, more than technology or pricing, are the primary driving forces behind online success. Recently TEFAF reported the value of the global art market at $56bn. ArtTactic estimates that online sales across all platforms for 2012 were $870m, and will rise to $2.1bn by 2017.

With the growing confidence in web-based art businesses, Strauss Online is set to deliver the same success and enjoyment for its users as has become synonymous with Strauss & Co.

Text by Ruarc Peffers, Senior Paintings Specialist. Strauss & Co

StraussOnline’s inaugural auction opened on Monday 14 October and closes on Friday 15 November. The workings of the site will be demonstrated at the previews of our forthcoming auctions: Cape Town (17 – 20 October) at The Vineyard Hotel and Johannesburg (7- 10 November) at The Wanderer’s Club.

StraussOnline will also be present at The Artforme Contemporary Art Fair at The Lookout, Waterfront, in Cape Town (25-27 October).

Media enquiries
Bina Genovese / 083 680 9944