In the last 18 months, the online art market has experienced a great leap and will likely represent nearly 25% of the overall market by the end of 2021. Although the uncertainties of the digital world are still many, galleries have begun to approach it and are starting to recognise its huge potential. Art has gone from being a safe haven to an asset class, the “coupon” is that feeling that warms the heart, but what about ROI (return on investment)?
Art is officially an asset class: in recent decades, no asset has performed better. According to the Citi Global Art Market, paintings returned an average of 14% per year from 1995 to 2020. In comparison, the 9% return of the S&P 500 Index over the same period is not as impressive. Unlike other forms of investment, art is the only one that combines the classic objective dynamics (price trends and public awards) with extremely subjective factors such as personal taste, cultural background, social status and emotion. Most of the great collections are not only born with a speculative intent but are the result of a long process of research, selection and study. Just like in a listed company, the factors that create value are multiple, the artist (technical quality and exhibition background), the galleries whose reputation in terms of research and selection is a “key success factor” and the collections the works are part of. The artwork has a much higher return than the market average precisely because it is a “unique product” par excellence and because before the advent of digital technologies it represented a world with high entry barriers.
The Italian based company Kooness began engaging galleries in 2017, noting that many reported a feeling of uncertainty about the future of the online art market. The digital art world is surely carving out a space for itself, but galleries still wonder what the art world will look like in this new split duality between being online and offline.
The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of maintaining a balance between a traditional offline presence and a strong online existence, as the digital art market greatly benefitted from the pandemic. Kooness’ online platform values the combination of both online and real life interactions to foster closer relationships with collectors.
Throughout 2020 and 2021, many galleries across the globe reported investing more resources to build their online presence and digital strategy in order to align more closely to their business needs, which were changing on a daily basis.
Stepping into the digital space of fine art and providing virtual access to galleries and collectors is now easier than ever with Kooness online platform. A revolutionary way to explore and collect art, buying directly from the best fine art galleries internationally. Kooness provides the best curated selection of artworks by emerging and established artists, carefully selected by our Art Advisory Team.
As the art market progresses into this next phase and witnesses new levels of access and connection, Kooness continues to revolutionise how galleries and collectors gain access to the digital sphere and help businesses to grow. The Kooness platform cares about creating and sustaining the growth and success of our customers; in addition to guaranteeing solutions and technologies in line with the many new developments in the art market, this italian brand have implemented a worldwide network and complete range of services that support customers on their daily journey in the art world.
The next company step is to evolve into a marketplace that provides tech and digital services for the art world through the development of new technologies that will lead to an exponential increase in revenues for every stakeholder. Kooness represents the first step towards an immersive, 360° support experience in the online art world.
