Sotheby’s Ramps Up Digital Offer, Hiring Gareth Jones as CMO
LONDON — Sotheby’s It is becoming more like an ecommerce operator with digital sales and online strategies aimed at a new generation.
As part of that strategy it has hired online marketeer Gareth Jones as its chief marketing officer.
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Jones had a similar global title until now. FarfetchOnline marketing has been a part of her career for over three decades. eBay Carphone Warehouse
He will report to Sotheby’s chief executive officer Charles Stewart and work with members of the executive team on a global marketing strategy to support the sales calendar.
Jones has been charged with deepening engagement with clients and growing audiences, as well as deploying research and data analytics “to create a unified best-in-class client experience to bring our industry-leading suite of offerings to life,” Sotheby’s said.
At FarfetchJones supervised 200 people and had a mandate that covered brand and marketing strategies in 180 countries.
His nearly three-year tenure was at FarfetchHis responsibilities included demand generation investment and digital performance; CRM and scaling data-driven personalization; strategy, insights, marketing experiences, channel diversification, brand and content and media sales.
Before joining Farfetch, he was the U.K. chief marketing officer for eBay where over a five-year period he helped grow the active buyer base to 26 million customers and GMV to $14 billion and launched the new brand positioning and playbook, which included an increased focus on sustainability.
Sotheby’s is fast making inroads in digital.
The company said that Buy Now, its online destination for extraordinary fine art and luxury objects available for immediate purchase, has grown more than 100 percent in gross sales.
In response to growing demand from collectors in Asia, the offer was launched in Asia.
The company said that in 2022 it saw a strong audience increase in both reach and demographics “with continued investments in seamless digital client experiences and cultural collaborations” with creatives including Skepta, Robert Pattinson, Robbie Williams and Jerry Gogosian.
According to the company, it has 4.7 millions social followers on all platforms and more digital initiatives are in development.
January will see the expansion of Sotheby’s Metaverse, a destination for curated digital artworks and collectibles.
The Sotheby’s Metaverse will include a peer-to-peer venue for secondary sales, with transactions executed on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains. The company said it is “committed” to the digital art and collectibles community.