Online Sales and Confidentiality

Will the pandemic usher in the golden age of online art sales platforms? All the studies tend to point that way. Despite the art market’s overall contraction in 2020, online purchases are estimated to have reached a record $12.4 billion, double the 2019 figure, according to The Art Market Report 2021 by Art Basel and UBS . The Hiscox report’s findings on collector behavior are similar: over two-thirds (67%) of art buyers surveyed purchased art online in 2020, up from 44% in 2019. All the indicators—Internet and social media searches, transactions on platforms, average prices, etc.—are up sharply. But the more online transactions there are, the more the mass of data collected from users increases—a windfall for online sales platforms. Every week, 72% of art lovers visit them, up from 54% in 2019. The figure is even higher for art collectors who spend over $50,000 a year: 86% now log on every week, compared to 69% in 2019, according to the Hiscox report. This means that…