Growth of online platform points way forward for buyer-seller engagement

With bidr now operating weekly at 10 saleyards across the country, and becoming more of a focal point in livestock sales, buyers and sellers are finding more sophisticated ways to take advantage of the online livestock sales platform.

This year’s two-year-old bull sale season has featured heavily on bidr, with more than 90 sales using it.

While many buyers still attend and bid in person at on-farm bull sales, several studs are thinking more strategically in the digital world, with bidr a key component in reaching their market.

This year has seen a notable rise in the number of studs uploading video files of their bulls in advance of sales. Even if farmers are not choosing to bid online, many are using bidr to inspect bulls ahead of sales, monitor prices as the sales proceed and refine their purchasing plans.

Growth of online registrations, participants, and bidding continues. Vendors are seeing the benefits of that, and consistent online under bidding has been notable at many bull sales. Based on bidr engagement and sales data, breeders are also able to analyse what features are drawing attention to their bulls, increasing their engagement with buyers and broadening their opportunities to market their offering beyond the catalogue.

Over and above bidr being a ‘phone buyer with a camera’ at an auction, it is becoming a forum to help breeders market their progeny, as well as assisting purchasers with their decision making. Through the current bull sales season it is also increasingly a tool to promote studs and give clients more chance to make good decisions leading up to and on sale day.