For many businesses, 2020 has been a transformational year and the heavy equipment industry is no exception. Due to COVID-19, heavy equipment auctioneer Ritchie Bros. pivoted entirely to online auctions in March and has seen strong bidder participation.
At its most recent online auction in Dubai in September, Ritchie Bros. saw 1,280 bidders from 86 countries joining – a 32% increase compared to the same auction in 2019 and a five-year auction site record. Early bidder registrations and enquiries are already coming in for the December Dubai auction – the last one of the year – indicative of the growing popularity of the online auctions among businesses from the region and abroad.
The Dubai auctions are held as ‘timed’ auctions, an easy to use online auction system with no auctioneer. Bidding is open for several days with auction lots closing at staggered times on the last days. Those interested can view items on the Ritchie Bros. website and – with health and safety precautions in place – at the Dubai auction site during viewing days.
“Buyers and sellers across the Middle East and Africa have responded very well to our online auctions,” said Eduard Faig, regional sales manager at Ritchie Bros. “They’re telling us they like the online experience, because there’s more time to place bids, they receive status notifications on their devices, and it is easy and fun to do. It is exciting to see businesses embracing our technology and confidently buying and selling throughout this challenging year.”
Online auctions are not new for Ritchie Bros. Before COVID-19, Ritchie Bros. already had strong online infrastructure with approximately 70% of winning bids coming from online bidders at the company’s globally held auctions. “Since we launched live online bidding back in 2002 as an additional bidding option, we never stopped developing our auction technology. This enabled us earlier this year to pivot fluently to online auctions,” Faig adds.
This year, Ritchie Bros. sold over 4,690 pieces of equipment at its Dubai auctions alone. Inventory generally ranges from excavators, wheel loaders, crawler tractors, and backhoes through to articulated dump trucks, mobile cranes and more. More recently, increased numbers of buses, pickup trucks, and passenger vehicles are being consigned, further broadening the auction inventory and range of options for buyers.
People from all over the world join the auctions to buy what they need. At the most recent September online auction in Dubai, bidders from 86 countries participated, including Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa, as well as from the Indian subcontinent. The online timed auction format makes it more accessible for bidders to attend than ever before.
Ritchie Bros. December 2020 auction
Ritchie Bros.’ final Dubai auction of the year opens for bidding on 8 December 2020. The auction takes place online, with bidding closing for individual lots on 15 & 16 December. Interested bidders or their representatives can make an appointment to visit the Dubai auction site.
Up-to-date inventory and more information about the auction can be found at www.rbauction.com/dubai.
