Estimated value of the online art market worldwide 2013-2021

Global online art sales skyrocketed in 2021, following the sharp increase already reported in 2020. Overall, the online art market worldwide was estimated at nearly 13.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, rising from approximately 7.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. By way of comparison, the value of the global art market was roughly 65.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2021.

Do consumers prefer buying art online or offline?

Increasingly, consumers are preferring to buy their art online. According to one worldwide survey of art buyers, 29 percent of respondents stated that they preferred to purchase art online in 2019 - an eight percent increase from the previous year. That being said, physical spaces were still more popular, with 36 percent of respondents prefering to purchase art this way. The recent growth in the online art market can, at least partially, be attributed to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which caused buyers to turn to the online market due to physical spaces being closed to the public.

How do consumers decide where to buy online art?

There are many considerations consumers take into account when buying art online. In a 2019 survey, 92 percent of global respondents stated that the quality of the art on offer was the most critical attribute when deciding whether to purchase art online. Meanwhile, less than half of those who responded to the same survey cited consumer reviews as the most critical attribute when deciding whether to buy art online.