Art buyers come in many guises, from those who like a particular genre to those who collect art for their monetary and investment value. But what is the current trend in art sales, and has it changed over the years?
In 2015, most art was purchased via physical-space galleries and art auctions. Art with very high values were almost exclusively sold at auctions. For example, in 2017 in New York, Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi fetched a record-breaking $450 million.
Ten years on, the picture is different. Across the high-end auction houses such as Phillips, Bonhams and Sotheby’s, sales have dipped by around 12% over the last few years. The average price for a piece of art sold at these auction houses has also dropped, to just over £10,000, a 17 % decline year on year.
In contrast to direct sales, online art buying trends are encouraging. Online sales ten years ago represented a very small percentage of total global sales; it is estimated that online sales around the world were about £6 billion. However, in 2023, online purchases rocketed to £12 billion, now accounting for over 20% of total art sales.
Although the buying trend for high-end auction houses is not great, there is great news for the online market. Total online sales by volume are reported to be 180% higher than pre-pandemic levels, with online sales continuing to rise year on year. The prediction is that online sales will continue to grow by about 6% every year.
Selling art online is becoming the norm. Although customers, including myself, love to browse high street galleries, there is a growing acceptance that great contemporary art can be found online.
So why are we seeing a shift to online sales? Well, there appears to be two main reasons. Firstly, customers trust online shopping more than ever, particularly for ‘pricey’ goods. Ten years ago, it may have been challenging for galleries to sell a £300 piece of art online, but now things have changed.
But there is another interesting statistic that is really exciting. At one time, most art buyers came from the baby boomer generation, those born in the 1950s and 1960s. As they aged and became more settled in life, with more disposable income, it was this generation that accounted for most art sales. However, it is now the ‘millennials’ who are leading the market in terms of purchasers, and this generation have very different ideas about art!
Research suggests that people in their 40s and 50s want to invest in living artists rather than buying work from the ‘masters’. And, this generation wants to know the backstory of a piece or art. Rather than exploring the method of creating the piece this generation wants to know and engage with the story.
From a personal point of view, all of the pieces in our gallery come with a detailed story. I think it is incredibly important that the buyer understands a little about the motivation for creating the piece, the emotions and mood that the artist was trying to capture and the thought-process behind the piece.
Fifty years ago, the art buyer was interested in the ‘who’ but the current generation of buyer is more interested in the ‘why’. Although the ‘who’ is important, it is the ‘why’ that allows the buyer to engage with the piece so that they own more than just a wooden panel with paint or a canvas photograph. They own part of the story.
I hope there will always be a place for high street art and photographic galleries. They are fantastic places to visit, browse and buy. However, there now appears to be a definite place in the market for online galleries and this trend will continue to get stronger.
As always, please send a quick note to share your experiences.
Data for this post came from Artnet news.
NGT Photography 
Great insights, Norman. Totally agree — the story behind the art adds real soul to the piece. As an artist, I’ve seen firsthand how people connect more deeply when they know the “why” behind a creation. Thanks for sharing this perspective!
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