Online Art Trading Good Investment
PicassoMio.com reports over 500% revenue growth of for quarter
5 July 2001, 8 am GMT
With a presence in Europe and the U.S., PicassoMio is an art media and services company operating the largest online marketplace for premium contemporary art retail and image licensing.
Its websites in English and Spanish sell gallery-quality artworks and artistic images from nearly 1,000 European and non-European artists.
This week they publish second quarter results, which remained strong, operating the largest online marketplace for European contemporary arts.
With sales growing by 5 times over prior record quarter ending March 31, 2001,
the company also succeeded in reducing its burn-rate by over 25%.
“PicassoMio.com enters into contracts to showcase and sell artworks represented or owned by authorized dealers, galleries and selected artists, across Europe. Upon an online sale, PicassoMio.com receives a commission in proportion to the sales price and facilitates customer care and logistics.
"The company does not hold any inventory “explains Allan Majotra CEO and founder “The benefits for the our customers, which include art lovers, art collectors, businesses and intermediaries, like interior designers, are: 1) The widest selection of carefully-selected modern and contemporary art available to buy: all prices, all mediums (paintings, photographs, art prints, etc.) and all styles (modern , pop, expressionism, etc.)
2) 24/7 at your desktop solution 3) Credibility of buying art from the largest resource of its kind 4) Online tools, like View-Artwork-to-Real Scale, Try-Artwork-against-your-wallcolor, Free art consultancy and search, etc. 5) Offline services, like hassle-free shipping, money-back return policy, offline orders, etc. 6) Superior value: As a result of free and subsidized education and cultural history, Europe produces the largest number of trained contemporary artists”
Simple supply-and-demand curves enable the European contemporary art market to be the most favorable for buyers; this site
leverages that and is able to provide superior value for money to art buyers, says the company.
“We are very pleased with the increasing sustainability in our numbers” comments Allan Majotra "The results contribute to the validity to our business model and our confidence in becoming one of the largest sellers of European contemporary art, in the near future.
The range of contemporary art that is available on PicassoMio.com cannot be matched by visiting the top-ten art capitals around the world and our customers continue to benefit from such convenience and choice.”
“Art is a personal statement and we provide people with the largest selection to make that personal statement. Our proprietary sourcing from exceptional European artists and dealers and the fact that Europe continues to be the largest supplier of the quality contemporary art, allows our customers, primarily coming from the Americas, Europe and Asia, to get the finest value for their money” adds Majotra.
The privately held company confirmed that they also continued to see significant growth in visitors, along with an improvement in conversion rate.
During the second quarter of 2001, unique visitors were up 170%, over the quarter ending March 31, 2001.
Recently, PicassoMio was listed as one of the “Hottest Start-ups” in Europe, by Tornado Insider and continues to be ranked as one of the premier e-commerce websites, worldwide, by leading publications.
"These results have been accomplished with very modest expenditures on marketing" declares Nick Marchalleck, COO. "While initial break-even is achievable during the 3rd quarter, we also intend on commencing our search for the next funding round in the near future. The company has significant growth opportunities available and we intend on leveraging our strengths.”
PicassoMio.com caters to the worldwide art collectors, art and interiors professionals and professionals, with a current art catalog of approximately 6,000 different artworks valued at $40 Million and the creative professionals in the publishing and media sectors, with its catalog of artistic images.
The company also provides digital solutions to the art sector, including galleries, foundations and artists.
“A second-generation e-commerce website with a Zen-simple site design, business model (an unprecedented product line, a proprietary supplier database creating high barriers to entry and zero inventory), customer service (unparalleled service and convenience for art consumers and art lovers) and an innovative approach to social responsibility (promotion of global arts and creativity)” claims the company
Art on the site is retailed from $200 through $50,000, with a median price of $1,500.
A powerful art search engine allows visitors and buyers to find the artwork of their exact choice by selecting from medium, style, theme, colour, price, etc and over 1.000 combinations of these criteria. Artworks are also categorized based on personal styles of art lovers: whether it is Country, Eclectic, Traditional or Urban.
All customers worldwide are also assured of a 7-day no-questions-asked return policy for purchased art. Trade members, such as interior designers and art consultants, and volume buyers also qualify for discounts on their purchases.
Amongst upcoming growth plans are first-of-a-kind contemporary art showrooms across major cosmopolitan centers across North America, Europe and Asia.
Business partners include American Society of Interior Designers and 100 prestigious galleries and dealers, across the UK and Europe.
www.picassomio.com
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