For all media enquiries please contact:
- Richard Lewis
- richardlewis@atgmedia.com
- Tel: +44 (0)207 420 6606
Press Centre
Press Release
the-saleroom.com Expands into China
London, 29 September 2009
The-saleroom.com, the UK's leading live online bidding site, has launched its first live internet bidding sale in Beijing. The launch in China is a significant step in geographical expansion for the-saleroom.com as it increases the international scope of its pioneering bidding platform. The-saleroom.com is owned by ATG Media and backed by Matrix Private Equity Partners.
The Seasonal Sale at Huachen Auctions last week, offered an online catalogue in both English and Chinese via the-saleroom's online platform. The leading technology created by the-saleroom.com means that bidders who logged on in China, saw the buttons in Chinese. The innovative software was able to automatically detect which language the user's computer was set to and displayed the site in the right language accordingly.
Chinese-speaking bidders at the sale were supported by the-saleroom's agents in Beijing; Qiyi Wembo Art Company. China Guardian, Poly and several other Beijing auction companies were watching to see if this service might be appropriate for them; Poly has since committed to using the service in November. It is being viewed as a trial by all parties with the intention of broadcasting all of Huachen's November sales via the website.
Anne Somers, Chief Executive of ATG Media, owners of the-saleroom.com, commented:
"This is a very exciting step for us and we are committed to expanding the business into new markets. People all over the world are realising that the beauty of our site is that it is easy to navigate and that you can buy at auction from the comfort of your own home. We have now had successful bids made at live auctions via the-saleroom.com in over fifty-five countries and we aim to increase this number substantially over the next year."
View this press release as a PDF file
Notes to editors
ATG Media Ltd
ATG Media's core business is the weekly publication of the Antiques Trade Gazette - essential reading for anyone involved in the art and antiques business. For nearly 40 years, the newspaper has been an integral part of the auction community, bringing together buyers and sellers of art and antiques. In 2006, ATG Media expanded its range of services in line with changing industry needs by launching an online service, the-saleroom.com, where bidders can view hundreds of catalogues and participate in live auctions using live audio and video links. This proprietary interactive platform designed exclusively by the team at ATG Media also powers a second site, ibidder.com, an online auction site of non-antique items. ATG Media Ltd was created in October 2008 following a management buyout from DMGT.
the-saleroom.com
the-saleroom.com provides a complete range of online services for buyers and sellers of art and antiques at auction, including the UK's leading facility for live online bidding. The site publishes a wide range of catalogues for upcoming sales, giving full details of the sale contents and highlighting star lots in each catalogue. The majority of catalogues are heavily illustrated. Using a market leading proprietary technology platform, the-saleroom.com dominates the UK market in LIVE online auctioneering, with over 110,000 regular bidders now using the site. Thesaleroom.com is a wholly owned subsidiary of ATG Media.