Catawiki thinks bigger. The Dutch auction site, which has sold more than 2.5 million unique items since its inception in 2008, is looking to attract new followers.
So far, the platform’s customers are mostly collectors old comics, stamp albums, classified vintages, jewelry and vintage furniture. But it now wants to market more widely – particularly in France, where it has one of its three biggest markets with more than 500,000 customers – where consumers are interested in their products but don’t like auctions much.
“Some customers in our community see an item on the site, make an auction offer, but don’t follow through and lose the desired item,” explains Frederic De Beer, Catawiki’s global sales director. As a result, the experience is not ideal for them. » So that they can buy with one click – without having to return to the platform several times to bid – a new option is being implemented starting this Thursday, “Buy Now” (buy now)”.
The average sales period has halved
Principle: when he publishes his ad, the seller can choose (or not choose) this option and set the price at which the item can be bought before the end of the auction. A special “Buy Now” tag will appear in the product description to show the customer that they can buy it without going through the auction.
At what price? “Even if our experts have the right to find the best possible price, it is up to the seller to offer it,” continues Frederic De Beer. The Buy Now button disappears 24 hours before the auction ends.
It’s been over a year and a half since this live buy feature was secretly launched on the site before its more massive rollout this week. In total, more than 10,000 products were sold on the platform in this way. According to Catawiki, this cuts the average sale time in half, from 7 days to 3.5 days. For example, a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL coupe miniature car sold for 209 seconds with the Buy Now option, and a fossilized marine reptile also found a buyer in 364 seconds!