Sotheby’s Shuts Down 2-Year-Old eCommerce Business in China

Auction house Sotheby’s reportedly shut down its Buy Now eCommerce business in mainland China, though it will continue that business in Hong Kong.

The Buy Now program was shut down in China in recent months amid a slowdown in demand in that market, the Financial Times (FT) reported Sunday (Feb. 2).

Sotheby’s also laid off a number of employees, while retaining some key personnel in consultant roles, according to the report.

Sotheby’s launched the Buy Now program, which offers fine art and luxury goods online, in Hong Kong in 2022 and expanded it to mainland China in the first half of 2023, according to the report.

The auction house told the FT, per the report, that China remains a “key market for both art and luxury,” that Sotheby’s Beijing and Shanghai offices are open and active, and that the company is now focused on client relations.

Sotheby’s also closed on office in Bangkok, according to the report.

Major auction houses like Sotheby’s launched online platforms to make sales during the pandemic and to appeal to clients who were new to the fine art and luxury markets, per the report.

The shutdown of Buy Now is part of a wider retreat that saw Sotheby’s global auction sales drop 23% in 2024 and saw the company begin layoff talks with about 50 staff in its London office during the first half of 2024, according to the report.

Sotheby’s introduced a Buy Now feature in September 2021 — six months after the start of the pandemic — amid a 600% increase in the value of online auctions, PYMNTS reported at the time.

Buy Now allows people to go online and buy collectibles from Sotheby’s marketplace, without having to wait for an auction.

About three-quarters of the customers who were transacting through Buy Now shortly after its introduction were new to Sotheby’s.

It was reported in June that luxury brands in China were resorting to “unprecedented” discounts to sell unsold inventory and entice cautious consumers amid China’s economic slowdown.

China’s middle class, a key segment of the luxury market, was becoming more frugal and cautious in their spending.