MUNICH.- Germany‘s number one art auctioneer records a boom in its online auction. After the end of today‘s latest Online Only-Auction, Ketterer Kunst announces a growth of 48% in comparison with the same period a year ago.

Indeed, latest figures are quite impressive: A total of 1140 bids were placed on 75 objects (with starting prices from € 100). Accordingly, more than 15 bids per lot made for the remarkable result of € 160,000.

“These are numbers that many traditional auctions can only dream of“, says Robert Ketterer. The auctioneer continues to explain: “Yes, corona certainly prompts a boom in online auctions. However, the virus is not the cause but more the accelerator of a trend that has long begun: The internet is the future of art auctions“ The company owner is certain: “Auction houses that miss out on using the opportunities online auctions have to offer will disappear from the market.“

When Robert Ketterer started the first Online Only-Auctions in Germany in 2007 a lot of competitors brushed them aside as dreams of the future or gadgetry. “Now we witness an enormous increase and our thirteen years of experience mean a great competitive edge“, the pioneer in digitalization explains. “This is why we have taken the bold step of increasing our range of online offers by 100 %“. Instead of just one there will now be two monthly Online Only-Auctions at Ketterer Kunst, which will begin and end respectively on the 1st and 15th of every month.

For 2020 Robert Ketterer, owner of Germany‘s strongest-selling art auction house, has two forecasts:

1) “This year we are not only going to sell more objects online than offline, but we‘ll also see the upper price limit on the internet at € 100,000 for the first time.“

2) “Despite the currently great success of our Online Only-Auctions – in which I had never had any doubts – we indeed still find us at a very early stage of an art market development which is quite disruptive for many.“

Robert Ketterer is certain that “Online Only-Auctions meet different client wishes and follow other legal rules – even though many market actors haven‘t fully understood this yet. We make things as simple and convenient as possible for our customers. In doing so, we also get a lot of valuable insight for our saleroom auctions.”