Part of the joy of visiting France or shopping there is the traditional civility of the greeting you get and give in each shop.

But French auction houses have not let tradition stand in their way when it comes to competing online say Barnebys, the world's fastest growing and largest art auction search engine which allows you to browse no fewer than 1,600 auction house sites on their own user friendly website. One-stop-shopping at its best.

The French move to digital is important for despite the stiff competition from London, New York and Hong Kong art centres, Paris remains an important and pleasurable place to buy at auction - £278m sold in 2014 say Barnebys. But it could have lost that reputation if tradition had halted the online facility.

Digital platforms such as Barnebys have helped to boost this growth. And the company notes that in Europe France is just behind Britain in the use of online bidding at art auctions.

Tajan, PIASA, Artcurial, the leading French auction houses cater to multiple specialities and a wide number of collectors all of whom want ease of access on the move, transparency and a simple collecting process once an object is bought.

The French auction industry has bought into SEO big time, knowing it will make the difference in being competitive or not with the industry giants, Christie’s Sotheby’s and Phillips.

Leaders of the French auction world agree that this was a revolution that has not come a moment too soon.

Frédéric Chambre, Associate Vice Chairman & Chief Executive of PIASA, says: “PIASA intends staying abreast of the art market. We already sell 75% of our art, antiques and artefacts abroad, (outside of France) and online search is key to this - the most useful way for a collector to find that “rare pearl” from his or her living room. Through live bidding and higher visibility on the web PIASA auction house will pursue its online development to assist clients to enjoy the best auction service.”

France, the home of revolution, has undergone an online revolution in this field. And Barnebys say that the French have found the exact same trend other countries have found. The easy of bidding online is attracting new younger bidders.

As many of the younger bidders are at home with the use of IT in the workplace and for leisure, this way of accessing a market that is new to them is made easy. No longer do auction houses have to crack the problem of how to entice a new generation into their prestigious salerooms. They walk in now via the internet.

Barnebys praises these new investment trends and the focus on greater digital presence. The company makes the auction world transparent, easily accessible and understandable for everyone.