Ritchie Bros. Edmonton Registers 100,000+ Bidders In 2020

Ritchie Bros. held its final auctions of the year at two of its largest auction sites: Edmonton, AB and Fort Worth, TX. Over three days the Edmonton team sold 5,500+ equipment items for US$41 million (CA$53 million), while Ritchie Bros.' Fort Worth team sold US$69+ million of equipment in just two days. Both auctions were conducted 100% online due to COVID-19.

"Online demand continues to be strong, resulting in record bidder registrations and solid pricing across most equipment categories," said Kari Taylor, President, North America Sales, Ritchie Bros. "We would like to thank the thousands of buyers and sellers who have participated in Fort Worth and Edmonton auctions in 2020. A lot has changed, but thanks to our investments in technology, we continue to deliver certainty in uncertain times. Just this year we registered more than 100,000 bidders for our Edmonton auctions, which is up 32 percent year over year."

In its final auction of 2020, Ritchie Bros.' Edmonton site registered 14,500+ bidders from 60 countries. Approximately 94 percent of the equipment sold in this week's Edmonton auction was sold to Canadians, with 56 percent purchased by Albertans, while international buyers from as far away as India, Peru, and Poland purchased six percent of the equipment.

The final Fort Worth auction, on December 8 – 9, attracted 11,700+ bidders, which is up 40 percent from the same auction last year. In total, the Fort Worth site attracted 54,000+ bidders over five auctions in 2020, up 63 percent from 2019. Approximately 39 percent of the equipment sold this week in Fort Worth was purchased by Texas buyers, while out-of-state and international buyers from as far away as Australia, Egypt, and the United Kingdom purchased the remaining 61 percent.

"Our Alberta and Texas markets are major sources of equipment and trucks across North America and the globe," said Doug Olive, Senior Vice President, Pricing. "More than 70 percent of all dozers sold in Canada were sold in Alberta. In 2020 alone, Edmonton sold 540 excavators for $52 million! Meanwhile, Fort Worth sells an unbelievable amount of trucks auction after auction. This year, we sold close to 2,700 truck tractors for $71 million in Fort Worth."

With both auctions 100% online, traffic to Ritchie Bros. websites was also impressive. The Edmonton webpage received 496,000+ unique pageviews, with 59,000+ additions to customer equipment watchlists, and 11,000+ PriorityBids. The Fort Worth webpage saw 650,000+ unique pageviews, with 66,000+ watchlist adds, and 23,000+ PriorityBids.