How Heritage Auctions uses Tangiblee to support more transparent, successful sales
Established in 1976, Heritage Auctions is the largest auction house founded in the United States and the largest collectibles auctioneer in the world. Built on a foundation of integrity, expertise, and innovation, Heritage facilitates the sale of precious objects such as jewels, rare collectibles, rare coins, and fine art. Its website is equal parts marketplace and informational resource, as the company maintains that all participants in a trade or sale should have access to all relevant information about the item.
As Heritage began shifting more of its operations online, they realized something was missing—written information and photos only went so far in describing an item up for auction. Prospective buyers wanted the ability to see the item and, in the case of jewelry and wall art, visualize how it would look on them and in their space, respectively.
The challenge: Contending with a lack of context
Heritage needed a practical solution that would allow them to easily show product size, scale, and context. However, finding a vendor proved challenging due to the diversity of their item listings and how frequently they changed. Most product visualization tools focused on the needs of traditional e-commerce retailers, which the company was anything but.
Eventually, Heritage debated whether it might be easier to develop its own solution in-house. That way, the company could build something tailored to its exact use case. Unfortunately, this approach came with its own roadblocks—prohibitively high upfront time and resource requirements.
Then Heritage discovered Tangiblee.
Enter Tangiblee: Seamless visualization at scale
Tangiblee's On-Model and Compare To features were exactly what Heritage was looking for in a solution. The capacity to scale for jewelry and wall art and its low resource footprint were also major selling points for the auction house. However, what truly sealed the deal was Tangiblee's flexibility.
Our consigned items are only available to bid on for a limited time. Tangiblee adapted their implementation to match our needs, saving us the trouble of developing a custom solution internally. We weren't just a sale to them; they wanted to help us succeed. —Ray Bachmann, Web Production Manager at Heritage Auctions
Results: Supporting virtual viewing
Tangiblee was an instant success with Heritage's clients, who appreciate the ability to view and interact with items while they are open for bidding. Prospective buyers could see how wall art or a piece of jewelry looked before committing to a bid. Since launching Tangiblee for jewelry, Heritage has also started covering its Fine Arts category with Compare To and Room View.
What's Next: Additional categories
Pleased with Tangiblee's solution's initial success, Heritage Auctions plans to expand its use of the features to additional categories and explore Tangiblee's 3D offerings.
We're looking forward to helping Heritage Auctions continue to enhance the user experience for bidders and consignors and helping to maintain their ideals of transparency, efficiency, and innovation.