Imagine a pair of Christian Dior grey silver tone earrings originally priced at Rs 35, 000, now retailing for Rs 21, 000? Or Prada oval frame sunglasses costing a mere Rs 7, 000, as against the original Rs 26,000? Or a pretty Dolce & Gabbana dress that you can buy for half the original price of Rs 45, 000?
It ain’t raining in discounts from the world’s leading luxury brands. It is instead a fast-evolving trend of retailing ‘pre-owned’ luxury. Owners of high-end luxe brands find re-sale value in their super-expensive Cartiers and Salvatore Ferragamos, while aspirational consumers perceive pre-owned goods as a great way to own an unaffordable brand. And to leverage this demand and supply are fashion-savvy entrepreneurs who’ve started platforms where buyers and sellers can indulge in luxury transactions.
“Luxury was considered unaffordable in India. Only a few people would indulge in it and that too overseas. By retailing pre-owned, we are making luxury accessible to more people. Moreover, owners of luxury can look to make some money for goods they no longer use,” says Anvita Mehra, founder & CEO of Confidential Couture, a platform for luxury buying and re-selling.
According to Mehal Kejriwal, co-founder of DuaVivo, which connects luxury buyers and sellers, pre-owned has caught up with people across India and the trend is growing.
The concept works when sellers list out their products, which undergo stringent quality and authenticity checks, followed by bio-cleansing and professional photography; before being made live on the platforms for re-sale. Sellers earn anywhere between 40 – 70% of the original value of the item.
According to Mehra, the buyers are usually working professionals and students in the 17-50 age group. “The initial stigma attached to pre-owned luxury is fading now. The interesting part is the paradigm shift in the type of visitors; with buyers becoming sellers and vice versa,” says Mehra, adding that the most expensive item to be sold through the platform has been a Gypseire bag from Hermes, originally costing Rs.620,000, which was sold for Rs.440,000.
The experts state that though most sellers are from New Delhi, Mumbai or the other metroes, buyers come from every place. “We have seen buyers from Jhansi, Sikkim, Raipur and Vizag,” says Kejriwal, who asserts that approximately 60-70 products get transacted through DuaVivo each month.
The potential for pre-owned luxury is high. The Indian luxury market is estimated at $18.3 billion, growing at a compound annual rate of 25%.
And sensing the potential, the luxury platforms are chalking out growth plans. DuaVivo has plans to go international by tracking buyers and sellers from geographies like Dubai, Singapore and the UK. Kejriwal plans on introducing offline stores to create awareness about the pre-owned concept, engage with buyers and sellers and garner more traction.
Confidential Couture, which witnesses a 20% growth in order volumes month-on-month and a 15% growth in the items that come in for selling, is looking at adding more product categories. “We are also working towards a better UI/UX, especially for mobile phone users,” says Mehra.
...& ANALYSIS
- In this fast-evolving trend, owners of high-end luxe brands find re-sale value in their super-expensive products
- Aspirational consumers perceive pre-owned goods as a great way to own otherwise unaffordable brandp
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