Ritchie Bros. drove strong results for consignors with its first big Canadian auction of the year, selling more than 5,100 equipment items and trucks in Edmonton, AB, for $42 million. The three-day, online auction attracted more than 17,000 bidders from 66 countries, which is up 50 percent from the February 2020 event.

"We drove record demand in Edmonton last year, registering more than 100,000 bidders through six auctions, and it continues in 2021 with a 50 percent increase in bidders year over year for this event alone," said Trent Vandenberghe, Regional Sales Manager, Ritchie Bros. "Leading up to and during the auction we safely welcomed thousands of bidders onsite to inspect items they were interested in. Then they would drive to their home or office to bid from their laptop or phone. This hybrid-style auction, with equipment onsite and 100 percent of bidding online, provides safety and results. Buyers love the quality of the equipment; they just want more—now is a great time to sell."

The auction set new online demand records for the February Edmonton auction, including new records for online page views (over 1.7 million and up 55 percent year over year), watchlist adds (more than 103,200 and up 75 percent Y/Y), and PriorityBids (more than 11,300).

All items in the auction were sold unreserved and online only, with equipment stored onsite to help facilitate inspections. The company provided detailed equipment information through its website and mobile application and has also recently launched new data tools and services from RB Asset Solutions and Rouse Services to help customers better understand market pricing.

"Like Houston and Orlando earlier this year, we continue to see strong Ritchie Bros. pricing relative to all our market indexes and benchmarks. Last week Edmonton came in with an average price performance of 115 percent of Rouse's auction channel pricing benchmark index," said Sunil Tellis, Senior Vice President, Data & Analysis, Rouse Services. "In Edmonton we saw particularly strong returns for small and medium earthmoving equipment, which achieved 126 percent of benchmark, and aerial equipment, achieving 135 percentof benchmark."

Approximately 94 percent of the equipment in the auction was purchased by Canadians, including 53 percent by Albertans, while international buyers from as far away as New Zealand, France and the United Arab Emirates purchased the remaining 6 percent.