A whole new world of fine art online

A screenshot grab of paimai.suning.com

Just as shoppers are finally getting used to a departure from crowded stores and supermarkets to buy their everyday items online, two home appliance retailers are shaking things up by asking consumers to turn to them to spruce up their private collections as they make their online foray into the world of fine art.

On Thursday, gome.com.cn, the online marketplace operated by household appliance retailer Gome Electrical Appliance Group, officially introduced the company's new fine art arm under the independent domain name, gomeart.com.

"Our online art marketplace has been up and running on a trial basis for about a month," Gai Fangnan, manager of gome.com.cn's public relations department, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The site currently sells more than 1,000 traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting works from about 150 artists all over the country, according to the site.

Gome has reached out to its networks in the arena to seek valued artists through various channels, including industry associations, art academies and direct partnerships with artists, instead of teaming up with existing auction houses, said Gai, who declined to reveal the transaction volume for the website's trial period.

Gome's entry into the online fine art market comes just days after its closest rival, home appliance retailer Suning Commerce Group Co, made a similar plunge.

Suning's e-commerce arm suning.com launched paimai.suning.com, a dedicated fine arts section on November 11, recognized as Singles' Day in China, when bachelors and bachelorettes celebrate the day by going on an online shopping spree.

More than 100 auction orders were finalized from Suning's entry into the fine art market, bringing in 3 million yuan ($492,600)-plus in overall transactions, according to a company statement sent Wednesday to the Global Times.

Putting it out there

Pairing up with yidianchina.com, an arts information portal, Suning's fine art offering covers a wider range of collections than its competitor, and according to a suning.com marketing manager, who asked not to be named by the Global Times, the partnership gives buyers peace of mind as the art company authenticates everything that it sells.

Founded in late 2012, Yidianchina began offering third-party services this year to bring professional action houses and online retailers together. In May, it teamed up with domestic auction giant Beijing Poly to hold a four-day online auction on taobao.com, China's biggest consumer-to-consumer online platform.

Transactions via Taobao facilitated by Yidianchina have so far hit more than 30 million yuan, Lü Miao, CEO of Yidianchina, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

He went on to say that his company's exclusive partnership with Suning is expected to see a total sales volume of tens of millions yuan "in the near future."

While perhaps an unexpected move to many of their regular clients, the two home appliance giants' step into the digital art world underlines the emerging and potentially lucrative online art market rapidly developing in China. And with China soon poised to overtake the US as the world's largest marketplace for online purchases, some are hopeful the numbers leave room for optimism.

Last year, China recorded $190 billion to $210 billion in online sales, only secondary to the US, where the market was worth $220 billion to $230 billion, according to McKinsey, which forecasts that China's astonishing growth in the market will continue moving forward.

But while China's online sales numbers are impressive, the fast-forming trend in China does leave others wondering if the euphoric online shopping experience can manage in the niche market of fine art.