Getting The Facts About Buying & Selling Antiques Online
A Look at How the Antiques Trade and its customers are making use of the Internet and Practical advice on how they can make the most of it.
The growth of the internet in the 1990s was accompanied by huge investments in infrastructure and advertising. Some doubted its ability to transform our lives. There’s no doubt that in some areas it has done just that. It is true the rate of
growth has slowed since the bubble burst but this has not stopped the continuing development in commerce on the Internet. In fact over one billion pounds was
traded on the Internet in 2005 in the UK alone. We use it for shopping, for research and for leisure. Recent surveys have found that in a significant number of households it has displaced the television.
The statistics speak for themselves. According to a recent survey for the Office for National Statistics, 64% of adults in the UK (29 million people) accessed the internet in October 2005, representing 92% of those who had ever used the net. Of adults who had been on the net in the three months before the survey, 61% had bought or ordered goods, tickets or services. Younger people were, perhaps predictably, more likely to buy online. However, even in the over 65 group deemed least likely to shop on the internet, 41% of users in this age group had done so. The antiques market is no exception when it comes to making use of the World Wide Web.
Millions of customers search on line everyday looking for specific antiques or just browsing casually to see what treasures they might unearth on the thousands of antiques websites. Customers like the fun of searching and the excitement of finding something interesting and then contacting the seller to do a deal. The internet has brought products and services direct to the customer in a way that no other medium in the history of commerce has been able to. Even the normally traditional antiques industry is getting in on the act. There are certain things both customers and dealers can do to protect themselves and maximise the opportunity.
Consumers can ensure that they are dealing with reputable businesses by looking for certain safeguards when searching for antiques. reassurances such as the Data commissioner’s padlock symbol which indicated that the business is registered and your private information will be held securely. On web sites where financial transactions take place, consumers can protect themselves by ensuring that a recognized certificate is displayed on the website. This indicates that the website has purchased the necessary eCommerce protection for consumers.
Where does the antiques trade stand in its adoption of the new technology? In a recent survey conducted by global on line antiques website antiqueshunting.com for LAPADA, research indicated the antiques trade is not making the most of the Internet. Although 70% of the trade have a website, many of these fail to maximize the opportunity. 90% of trade websites cannot take payment on line. 98% fail to attract more than 10,000 visitors per year. For comparison large sites get this sort of traffic per day. Its not all bad news, there are those in the trade who have made progress - and it is good business to be had. In this feature, we take a look at some of best practices used by those in the trade who are making the most of the new technology and offer practical advise on how to improve your Online presence to close that all important sale.
The first thing to think about is how much time and money am I prepared to invest in my online activity? It takes investment in both time and money to make it work. Most dealers have invested some money in setting up a website but then fail to invest the time in keeping it up to date or checking emails and responding to customer questions. The biggest complaint from those who have set up a website is “I cannot keep it up to date myself”. Most dealers require the web site developer to make the changes of adding and removing stock. This can be difficult and costly. A far better solution is to join a website that has invested in the software so you can do it all yourself. Joining a well established online showroom avoids spending significant investment and guarantees all important traffic to your stock.
Software for the Internet is a complex subject and can range from hundreds to many thousands of pounds. Most websites are quite simple. They are hard coded which means it’s not easy to update and change things. You require the developer to make the changes. Large websites are flexible because they use databases which can be altered and added to. Antiqueshunting.com is one such website that has developed a showroom that antiques dealers can add stock to, remove sold items from and take advantage of the high tech software that the company has invested in. A simple website can communicate to your customers but ultimately it will have its limitations. A communal website offers the chance to join the community and benefit from its size and pulling power.
The next consideration is traffic. Traffic is defined as the number of visitors that come to browse on the website. Most antiques dealers websites are like stars in the universe. They are a long way from anything else and very little will ever visit them. There is such a massive number of antiques website out there, getting yours picked up by the search engines who point customers to what they are looking for, can be very expensive and requires constant work.
Search engines rank websites according to relevance to what the searcher is looking for. For example, if you search for antique silver, in Google ( a well known and popular search engine) Google will look for the most relevant website according to size, number of links to and from each website and number of times the words antique silver appear on the site. The largest sites make the top of the list. An Antique Silver dealer with a small simple website will struggle to even get on the list. The trick is to get as many similar websites to link to you as possible. Trade links with other relevant websites because it helps by giving your website a higher ranking in the search engines. This in turn will promote your site higher in the list that is returned to the customers searching for goods and services.
An easy way to avoid the problem of attracting large numbers of targeted customers to your website is to join a large website that offers you a link and has a showroom of its own that you can put your stock into. This avoids the risk of you becoming just another lonely website out there in the Internet Universe.
Antiqueshunting.com
Antiqueshunting.com is a community of antiques professionals that brings together the stock from many dealers and related businesses under one virtual showroom. Dealers from around the Globe can use the websites cutting edge technology to list fine quality antiques for customers to view. The beauty of it is that it’s easy to keep up to date and requires minimum investment from dealers. By joining the community under one large website, many dealers are able to share the traffic that the site receives. Customers are able to contact dealers directly unlike other websites. As CEO Ronald Pethick explains, “This makes it easier for dealers to develop a relationship with the customer ensuring confidence in the buyer and closing more sales.” Dealers who already have website of their own are able to link to and from antiqueshunting.com for free via a link request found in specialist services.
Customers benefit from access to a variety of services available via antiqueshunting.com. Other related services include Shippers, restoration experts and insurance companies as well as links on the site to specialist in a variety of areas including furniture, lighting, mirrors, clocks, jewelry and ceramics, card cases and decorative art.
It’s a virtual one stop shop for the entire antiques Industry. All this access to experts and related antiques companies is free to customers. Ronald Pethick CEO describes it as “a sort of dating service for the antiques Industry, we can match customers and dealers, or other service providers in the industry including trade organizations who also have links on the website”.
It’s the strength of the community that provides the best use of the Internet. Antiqueshunting.com is building one of the strongest antiques communities on the Internet. Any dealers or customers seeking more information on how they can benefit from the services offered by antiqueshunting.com can register free. Antiques dealers can take advantage of a free 3 month trial at any time by going to our free trial page. Alternatively if you just want advice on how to make your website more effective, the company is happy to look at any antiques trade websites and offer friendly free advice. Email r.pethick@antiqueshunting.com or call 01723 350163.