If you’re an artist at NFT Showroom, or are thinking of joining, here’s a post about some recent data I collected that outlines some of NFT Showroom’s fundamentals as a platform for your art practice.
I recently chose NFT Showroom as my primary platform to sell my artwork (see my gallery). Not only did I really like the feel, functionality and enthusiastic team at NFT Showroom, but I chose it because Hive transactions are extremely eco-friendly, and I believe that Hive as a whole has lots and lots of potential.
The Web 3.0 is upon us, and the Hive ecosystem is heading towards that tipping point where it has the potential to really take off. NFT Showroom is Hive’s primary art platform and it’s fundamentals are looking pretty rosy.
Alexa.com Rankings
Alexa.com is a great tool for gauging the traffic and activity far a particular website, and it ranks each website in terms of global internet traffic and engagement over the past 90 days. I’ve been keeping track of various platforms, and this was one of the pointers that informed my decision about joining NFT Showroom.
In my opinion, NFT Showroom is just lying on the cusp of a possible break-out. Let’s take a look at its rank data:
That’s a pretty healthy increase of activity. It shows a consistent growth over the last three months, and NFT Showroom’s front page will back this up with details of a growing stable of artists and increasing numbers of sales.
Now, there are of course, many notable NFT platforms on the web, and some now sound like household names, but lets take a look at their own 90 history and see if there is anything useful we can glean.
Mintable.app
Mintable is one of the leading platforms right now, but 90 days is along time in crypto. Let’s look at how it’s fared over the last three months:
So interestingly, 90 days ago it had a lower rank than NFT Showroom’s present position. This might indicate one possible pattern of growth that awaits us here at Hive.
Foundation.app
Foundation is a platform that’s recently taken off and you see a lot of Foundation artists visible on Twitter.
Again, 90 days ago, Foundation a little lower than where NFT Showroom is today. If NFT Showroom can emulate the same kind of growth, we’ll be in a good position.
Nifty Gateway
Nifty was the name that hit the headlines with the sale of Beeple’s $63m sale. It’s the name that probably gets mentioned first by non-crypto art collectors who are looking to get in on the game. And for good reason - it accepts credit card payments, making it a perfect “gateway” into crypto for a newbie. This for me is a killer feature, that really gives it an edge.
So we see here that once a site gets into the #30,000-ish mark it becomes harder to maintain that stellar sort of growth, in terms of rank. But don’t be fooled - breaking into the under #10,000 means a tonne of activity and traffic.
Opensea.io
The big one. The biggest NFT market. No-one is likely to overtake this behemoth in the medium terms but lets take a look for comparison:
There seems to be a trend here that shows there can be a tipping-point in activity where a site can really hit the stratosphere when it crosses the #100,000 mark (ish). At that point, if the fundamentals are right and the platform offers something exciting, it can kick on and become a powerhouse, and threaten to shoot on up and towards that magic #10,000 mark.
The near future...
My hope is that all the positive things that NFT Showroom has going for it will help it to kick on when it crosses this #100,000 threshold. And when a platform takes off, being one of the early-adopters is a huge opportunity to establish your place in the market.
Creary.net
But it’s not always straight forward. Just to show it’s not all one-way traffic, here’s the rank data for creary.net - a really slick-looking gallery site on the decentralized Crea token.
It’s seen its activity really drop off in recent weeks, and I don’t know why that would be, beyond other emerging platforms eating into its market share.
This is a cautionary tale, since in this frenzied period for NFTs, no platform can rest on its laurels or it will be swallowed up by its competitors.
Ways to keep innovating
NFT Showroom is in a really good position to capitalize on its strengths and become a leader in the NFT market. But success is never guaranteed, and any project needs to keep finding ways of being one step ahead.
What can NFT Showroom tap into to help it kick on?
Keep attracting high-quality artists - presently, it uses a verification process to ensure that all artists are bonafide. This is a good way to ensure it cements its reputation for high-quality art.
Accept credit-card payments - In my opinion, this would be the killer function that might see it break through that #10,000 mark - BUT, it’s not an easy task by any means (Nifty Gateway was backed by a billionaire).
An alternative might be to have an easy guide or a funnel page that directs new buyers to Moonpay, where you can buy hive with a credit card. I have no experience with Moonpay so I can’t comment as to it’s service. I also know that different countries/states have different rules about buying crypto-currencies, and so this makes it difficult to write a universal how-to guide.
I don’t know how Nifty got round these problems, but it’s something worth looking into. If there were a way to easily transfer fiat into Hive (rather than trickling over from other cryptos) I think we would see a huge influx of growth into the Hive ecosystem.
Conclusion
When you decide which platform to stake your stall in, you have a number of choices - you can:
a). Rock up at one of the major marketplaces and hope you’re work isn’t drowned out by all the noise and chaos;
b). Dip in and out of each platform and risk never really get a foothold in any one of them;
c) Jump whole-heatedly into a project you can really get behind, where you feel that your commitment will be rewarded by a sense of community and connection.
For me the bottom line is about making art and feeling positive about it. Art can be a solitary activity sometimes, and having a group of other familiar online faces can be great for bouncing ideas off, or as a source of motivation and inspiration. And rather than seeing each other as competitors, you are each stakeholders, pulling in the same direction.
In terms NFT Showroom’s medium-term growth? I think there’s lots to be optimistic about, and there's every reason to feel excited if you're hopping onboard right now.