It is significant history of the British edition of Antiques Trade Gazette, for some time now owns the site on-line auctions of art and antiques the-saleroom.com, says Telegraph

Publishers Antiques Trade Gazette, Anna Sommers and Richard Lewis. Source: In recent years much of the trade publications dedicated to the art auction market, and going through hard times: with the advent of the Internet paper publishers media increasingly feel like felt, apparently, the smiths the sunset the era of horse transport vehicles at the beginning of the era. The fault of the internet publication on paper, devoted to auctions and art market, who are forced to reduce the circulation, and some closed. The remaining paper is the living dinosaurs have to adapt to new market conditions and revise their business models - including the order to soften the financial blow circulation decline and the fall in advertising revenue.

In 2008, DMGT, which owns the British edition of the Antiques Trade Gazette ( antiquestradegazette.com ), has decided to reduce the circulation of its print edition and focus more on the online version of the publication. According to Simon Berti (Simon Berti), chief financial officer of the company, which has since managed to change the name, and now bears the name of ATG Media, before making this decision, the leadership in the eight years studied the changing situation on the market of Internet and print media.

While most publishers of periodical press, including the owners of the largest newspapers compensate for losses from the falling circulation of the introduction of paid online content, ATG Media invited his audience, consisting in particular of the provincial auction houses, art dealers and antique dealers, a different alternative.

«We realized that the emergence of digital photography will change the rules of the game. The first idea was to simply publish on the web auction catalogs - we felt that it was much easier affair "- says Bertie.

Direct production machine for a new way - a real challenge for any industry, but industry that is so old and conservative, the task was almost impossible. "Auctioneers [initially] did not understand what we are [and they were told that the offer] - says Bertie. - They asked us: here I have a digital camera, a computer do I need? I had to explain everything from the ground up ».

drop sharpens a stone, however. By 2006, many auction houses have already received through the site the-saleroom.com, based ATG, a good extra income. It was then moved ATG business to a new level, says Bertie, and the company from a small enterprise branch into a promising company with an online platform for online auctions.

For a small fee and a small pre- commission on each transaction on the-saleroom.com auction houses have been able to find buyers for their lots in all, previously inaccessible, parts of the world.

However, the development of cyberspace auction went quite slowly, because in the 1970s, many auction houses initially were suspicious of even a trade by phone, so to convince them to go to the Network had been an affair. "It seems strange that they have resisted expanding the audience and the influx of more funds, but increases the distance between them and the buyer caused them to fear," - says a cautious attitude of many auction houses to the new technical possibilities of Bertie.

The development of an online platform is also still hampered by the fact that the small auctioneers difficult to adapt to the demands of life, says development director ATG Richard Lewis (Richard Lewis). "We need to make their lots in the database, describe them and provide high-quality photos, and all this for two weeks before the auction," - says he is.

Despite this, however, gradually Online auctions are becoming increasingly popular among the heavy lifting on the auctioneers. In 2008 the company brought the site, only 15 percent of annual income, and now profit from the resource is already 45 percent of the annual turnover of 8.9 million pounds, and very soon, says Bertie, the-saleroom.com will overtake on the profitability of core brand companies, the publication of Antiques Trade Gazette.

According to Richard Lewis, on a good day provincial auction can, at best, count on an audience of about a hundred people, while the site due to each such auction is now involved addition of about 180 registered in the resource buyers from around the world.

resource today enjoys almost half of the British auction houses and buyers are not only dealers, for whom the site was originally intended, but also an increasing number of collectors. The site itself, as, indeed, and today's art market in general is becoming more and more international: 40 per cent of purchases with the resources committed overseas buyers.

In the near future the company intends to invest ATG half a million pounds to improve its online trading platform, as well as a system of online tracking delivery of purchases. Interestingly, the site, besides that he is becoming more profitable, is also having a beneficial impact on the profitability of the Antiques Trade Gazette, the number of paying subscribers is growing, and they feel more active advertisers: ad revenue last year rose by 10 percent. "The site Salesroom each month recorded four thousand new users, and it's a great effect on the growth of the newspaper audience" - Richard Lewis said.

However, these successes were not enough for an ambitious company: it expands and has launched an online auction site in France and Germany, as well as in China. "We can be a Chinese" window to Europe ", - says Lewis. - All of our catalogs and auctions are now available on our Chinese site, so that now the auctioneers have access to previously inaccessible, distant markets».

For the most successful online selling, however, is responsible for the other project of the company ATG - Site ibidder.com, where a similar principle is sold large equipment: tractors, excavators and agricultural equipment. This resource has in the past year has brought us half a million pounds, among which is the current record for online sales ATG - sale of industrial cranes at a price of 330,000 pounds.

not afraid of a rapidly expanding company is the crisis? Mr. Lewis is set in this regard is optimistic: "In the fortieth year, we have analyzed company's business in all previous years of our existence. I drew attention to the 1973rd: it was the oil crisis, the exchange year was a disaster, but the auction market was feeling great. This does not mean that if in 2012, something like that happens, then the situation will be radiant, however, when the headlines are just too grim, we remember the 1973rd ».

Prepared by Mary Estrova, AI

Source : artinvestment.ru