Sales of used luxury items in India are soaring, reflecting the growing aspirations of young shoppers and consumers in tier-II and tier-III markets, and fuelling a previously untapped market.
Despite signs of a slowdown in the global market for luxury goods, India’s Luxepolis, which claims to have an online user base of 3.5 million, recorded more than 80% growth in sales this year.
“We are planning to expand our retail footprint in 2024 with a couple of stores planned for Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru. Pre-owned luxury has definitely hit the mainstream market in India with many consumers buying pre-owned luxury goods and many smaller players launching me-too pre-owned luxury businesses,” said Vijay KG, founder of Luxepolis, an online marketplace for certified pre-owned and discounted new luxury goods.
“As per our research, there are about seven new pre-owned businesses launched this year,” he said.
Anvita Mehra, CEO of Confidential Couture, said 2023 was the best year for the company since its inception nine-and-a-half years ago with sales growing 60% year-on-year.
Confidential Couture opened its first experience centre in Delhi this year and plans to launch similar centres in other markets.
“The entire industry has been on an upward swing. The best performing category is handbags for us, followed by watches, and other accessories such as scarves and wallets. This whole combination of e-commerce backed by experience stores should be the future for anybody in this space. We are not a Nykaa. Our price points are very different and can go up to ₹16 lakh for a very high-end bag,” she added. Mehra sells products of brands such as Hermes, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Prada.
The market is growing and sales have gone up, said Arjun Singh Hira, founder of chronoseconds.com, a seller of pre-owned luxury watches. His company, for instance, sold a vibrant Grand Seiko rose gold watch for Rs 15 lakh to a buyer in Lucknow.
“The interesting thing about pre-owned watches is they don’t devalue. Cars devalue. If you buy a pre-owned watch, depending on the watch it will correct to a market price and then it will keep rising. That’s why people talk about watches being an investment,” he said.
“The popular brands are Rolex, Omega, Cartier, IWC and Panerai. In our portfolio, the most expensive watch costs about Rs 35 lakh, while the cheapest could be for Rs one lakh,” he added.
LabelCentric founder and CEO Chitra Goenka said it has been the best year ever for her company.
“The awareness is so much. Brands such as Balenciaga, YSL, Valentino are coming into India through official retail channels, which will make the market even bigger. Our discounts can vary from 20% for a relatively new item to up to 90% when it comes to shoes and clothing. We recently set up a permanent space at Nariman Point for customers to see the stock,” she said.
“We have also started a private members-only group called LC Sourced through which we can source new products of brands that are not available in India through luxury shoppers in Europe,” she added.
