Auction houses in Korea go online as pandemic overturns auction formats

The coronavirus pandemic has ruptured the landscape of the art industry, helping tech-savvy K-Auction Inc. gain lead over Seoul Auction Co. for the first time since its foundation in South Korea.

In 2020, total sales of K-Auction amounted to 52.6 billion won ($47.6 million), 20 percent higher than the country’s long-time industry leader Seoul Auction at 43.6 billion won. Seoul Auction’s turnover in 2019 was 97.1 billion won, much higher than K-Auction at 57.3 billion won.

K-Auction performed better than Seoul Auction for the first time in 16 years due to its successful pivot in digital sales. Online auction sales accounted for 13.3 billion won or 25 percent of the total sales of K-Auction, while Seoul Auction generated far lower 7.4 billion won or 17 percent from the online platform.

“We have been strengthening online sales since the second half of 2014 and holding weekly online auction every week since 2019 to attract young collectors,” said K-Auction CEO Do Hyun-soon in a written interview.

[Photo provided by Seoul Auction Co.]

Last year, Seoul Auction was hit hard by cancellation of 40 billion won worth offline auction sales it used to open four times a year in Hong Kong.

Starting this week, Seoul Auction will hold online auction sales every week with various formats, including ‘Zero Base’ auction that introduces art pieces of new artists with opening bids of 0 won. Instead of conducting offline auction sales in Hong Kong, it will strengthen private sales by aggressively introducing artworks to overseas collectors via online platform.

In order to draw young collectors in their 20s to 40s who are increasingly joining in the action market, the two Korean auction houses plan to present various types of artworks to appeal to the millennials and generation Z collectors.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]