Ritchie Bros., the world’s largest industrial auctioneer, helps thousands around the world to buy and sell heavy equipment every year. At its Dubai auction site, the company recently held its first sale of the year with 1500+ equipment items, trucks and other items. Where the Dubai auctions usually see high onsite attendance, this time Ritchie Bros. encouraged bidders to join online because of COVID-19. More than 620 online bidders participated through rbauction.com and the Ritchie Bros. mobile app. Aside from encouraging and educating bidders to participate online, the company has taken several measures at its auction sites, including in Dubai.
“We put signage in place, installed hand sanitizing stations and our cleaning companies are implementing additional sanitization procedures,” said Eduard Faig, Regional Sales Manager Middle East, Africa, Asia Sub Continent.
Over the years Ritchie Bros. invested heavily in its online auction capabilities, constantly developing its bidding services through rbauction.com and its mobile app, available for iOS and Android. “Participating online in our auctions is really easy,” Faig added. “You are on the go and with our app you can search equipment, add items to watchlists, view detailed information & photos, follow live auctions and of course bid online. We recently also added ‘PriorityBid’ on rbauction.com, which enables customers to place bids several days before the live auction begins.”
More people than ever are bidding online these days. Almost 80 per cent of winning bids at global Ritchie Bros. auctions are made online. “In Dubai we see people really love the onsite experience, but online bidding is growing here as well. The Dubai auctions attract bidders from around 75 countries, so it truly is the gateway to international equipment demand. With the support from our Dubai team, a lot of customers from the region here placed their first online bids and were very positive about the experience. Overall, we had an exciting, excellent auction and strong prices on the equipment.”
The Dubai March auction in summary
- Over 1,500 lots went under the hammer in two days, with attendance from 1040+ bidders from 77 countries around the world.
- Top 5 asset categories in terms of value of equipment sold were: hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, crawler tractors, rough terrain cranes and hydraulic truck cranes.
- Top 5 Buying Countries in GCC included – UAE, Saudi, Yemen, Egypt & Kuwait
- Top 5 Buying Countries Worldwide included – Netherlands, Uganda, Pakistan, Nigeria and United States
Faig concludes: “We are fortunate to have an excellent team of experts in Middle East and Africa, that is every day committed to delivering the best auction experience to our customers. Many businesses in our industries – including contractors, rental companies, transportation companies, etc. – are going through challenging times. Everyone, including Ritchie Bros., is adapting to the circumstances. Over the coming weeks, and even months, we’ll see how COVID-19 will develop and what impact it will have on our industry. When it comes to either acquiring equipment items that are immediately available or downgrading the fleet size and turning equipment into cash, we are ready to help other businesses with their needs.”
