Partners and long-time friends, Edouard Gouin and Clément Ouizille created Convelio in 2017. Based in Paris, London and New York, the company pursues its mission: to make the transportation of artworks and objects easy, accessible and secure, while integrating the sector's environmental challenges. Through their online platform, professionals in the high-end Art, Antiques and Design sectors can instantly benefit from a competitively-priced quote for turnkey transport. Discover a fast-changing business through a company offering a host of technological and digital solutions for the sector.
"Convelio's Convelio's strength lies in its ability to offer the full range of services, from the most accessible to the most high-end. "
1. How did Convelio come into being?
We both began our careers in a start-up incubator in Germany. Drawing on our respective experiences in the creation of art-related marketplaces, we quickly realized that the logistics of artworks and design pieces remained one of the biggest problems on the market. For us, coming from the world of e-commerce, this was a surprising realization: long lead times for quotations, high prices, and a lack of geographical coverage with highly localized offers. We therefore wanted to create a simplified, global and competitive solution. With very little initial investment, our model immediately attracted the interest of an antiques marketplace in the United States. Gradually, we opened up to the most prestigious auction houses and professionals: art and design galleries, antique dealers, architects and interior designers, marketplaces, as well as international exhibitions, fairs and trade shows... In this way, we consolidated our services through contact with different customers and partners.
2. What stages of the value chain are you involved in?
Transport can be intra-European, or oversea - around 70% of our volumes - by road, air or sea. If we take the example of air freight ordered by an art gallery, we are involved at every stage of the value chain. At the first stage, we have simplified and accelerated the generation of quotes. The gallery owner obtains an instant quotation on our site by entering key information. A very wide choice of options is available: insurance, freight type, white-glove delivery, etc., for shipments to other countries. - for shipments to over 80 countries. In the second stage, we organize collection and crating. Depending on its value and fragility, we decide which partner to use. The piece can be crated on site, or packed for transport to a specialized packing center. Air freight then follows. For items of no particular fragility, and below a certain commercial value, it is generally accepted that, if well packed, Fedex / DHL can be used. Beyond that, we prefer airfreight service, with tailor-made logistics and supervision at the airport, depending on the work and the customer's wishes. Finally, for the last stage, we manage all customs procedures with our in-house declarants, right through to last-mile delivery. In the USA, we do a lot of white glove deliveries, with assembly and installation on request.
3. What are the main constraints overcome by Convelio?
First of all, we have fundamentally accelerated the time it takes to obtain a quote, and brought a level of transparency that didn't exist on the market at the time, by offering the market's first instant pricing algorithm in 2018. Secondly, we have reduced historically high costs by cutting out as many intermediaries as possible in the value chain and automating our processes. As a result, Convelio is now among the 20% most competitive on the market, while offering a quality of service equal to the oldest players on the market. Secondly, we developed the first end-to-end tracking solution not only for our customers, but also for their own customers. Galleries, auction houses, art foundations... now offer their end-customers a solution that will enhance their buying experience. Finally, in 90% of cases, the estimate and assignment of a service provider is generated automatically by our algorithm. We are capable of automatically assigning the corresponding value chain to a work based on multiple parameters. Through a smart dispatch solution, we are able to match a work to the most appropriate level of service: from the most economical to the most premium. Communication with our logisticians is then seamless, thanks to the software we make available to them.
4. What steps have you taken to reduce the ecological impact of transport, particularly for trade fairs?
Our industry is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. Convelio was one of the first art transporters to commit to sustainable development through its "Climate Care" program. This program aims to minimize the impact of our business on the environment and support the art market in its transition to a net-zero future. Recently, we had the pleasure of working jointly with Art Paris, which shares our commitment to making the fair as sustainable as possible and offering new services:
- Grouping of art collections from Paris galleries to reduce both transport costs and carbon footprint.
- More environmentally-friendly packaging.
- The production of wooden crates for exports in triple-flute cardboard or wood from French forests, in compliance with ISPM15 standards. The wood scraps produced will then be donated to bakeries in the Paris region for their wood-fired ovens.
For fairs based abroad, which attract a large number of European galleries, we systematically offer a sea freight service from Europe, with the option of groupage shipping. The ecological footprint is much smaller and the price lower, but this system does have a few disadvantages: longer lead times, immobilized works and the need to anticipate the choice of works presented, which is not always possible. In addition to this offer, and thanks to our partnership with Squake, we are able to offer our customers a tool for offsetting their carbon footprint after each shipment. Obviously, the aim is to reduce our footprint, but until we're in a position to do so significantly - not least because this will require structural changes to transport methods - it's a tool that has the merit of moving things forward. We're still in the early stages. Our responsibility is to propose solutions and support our customers, partners and all stakeholders in this area. There's still a lot to do.
5. What are the major challenges ahead?
In the short term, we want to continue transforming our market to become the leading logistics solution in the art market, which will involve constant technical improvements to the pricing algorithm and increased in-house automation. Certain products will also benefit from significant investment. This is particularly true of our API. The latter enables our customers to add Convelio's fine art shipping services to a website, digital platform or database. Many of these integrations are currently underway for customers such as auction houses and major marketplaces. In terms of our geographical development, we're thinking of expanding into Asia, which is obviously a very important export zone. Finally, and in the longer term, we're not ruling out the possibility of offering other types of services, so that our digital and technological expertise continues to serve and accompany the transformations of the art market.
Convelio
- 200 employees
- 4,600 customers accompanied to over 80 international destinations, with two main hubs in the United States and Europe
- A worldwide network of 200 professional partners in art logistics and transport
- 30 million euros in funds raised by March 2022
More information at www.convelio.com
