Abstract:
This research project developed from the researcher’s experience and interest in the field of art, specifically online art sales to satisfy a need and investigate the ever-changing online landscape and to ascertain the dynamics of the South African online art market from a gallerist (gallery owner) perspective and thus help art dealers to build successful online art brands and businesses for the future. The secondary objectives are clearly stated from the research problem and address various dimensions such as consumer motivations, purchase processes and steps. Website dimensions that are critical to the study are evaluated in literature and research. The literature review defines commercial fine art, elaborates on dimensions used and dimensions applicable to the study. The findings reveal that the South African gallery owner is hesitant to invest in the online space of selling art online. The gallery owner still prefers personal interaction with the prospective buyer, however this is not necessarily the case for the art consumer. For the respective sites to survive in the future the websites will need some adaptions and changes made to stay up to date and be pioneers in the field. There is significant room for the use of new technological platforms that some galleries are already making use of to make the online art industry more creative and most importantly interactive on a whole different level. The physical gallery thus can become the ultimate online gallery or one stop shopping place for art purchases.
