Pune: Offering a gateway to indulgence without a hefty price tag, India’s pre-owned luxury goods market is catching the fancy of youth not only in metros, but also in non-metros.
Flaunting stylish Hermes handbags, authentic Louis Vuitton slings, Jimmy Choo heels and Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses, youngsters are making heads turn at social gatherings.
A lot of these high-end branded goods are bought from the booming second-hand luxury goods market.
Dikshita Motwani (33), an Indore resident, has no shame in flaunting her second-hand Louis Vuitton handbag at social gatherings. “The bag is in top condition and no one can even tell that it is a pre-owned bag,” she said. The idea of buying pre-owned luxury handbags struck Dikshita when she was browsing websites to check if a limited-edition channel bag was available anywhere. Not only did she find the bag on a pre-loved luxury goods website, but also bought it for half the original price.
“We saw an 80% year-on-year sales growth last year and have a quarterly online reach of 20 million in India on our platform. Apart from metros, we are seeing good demand from non-metros like Surat, Pune, Nagpur, Jaipur, Guwahati, Coimbatore, Mangalore, Bhubhaneshwar and Indore to name a few,” Vijay KG, founder of one of the largest pre-owned luxury goods marketplace, Luxepolis, said.
Namisha Gupta, founder and CEO at ReTag, a pre-loved luxury goods website, which was founded five years ago, said she is seeing 200% growth in the sector. “It is a big thing for people to own their first luxury handbag. A marketplace like this allows people to even buy products which are still in stores at a lower price. Pre-loved luxury products sell cheaper in India,” Gupta, said.
Two key factors that customers are wary of while buying these used luxury goods online are — pricing and authenticity.
Most of these online marketplaces help sellers set a benchmark price so that they can benefit from the sale. Depending on the condition of the product, the price is usually 20-30% lower than the products original selling price.
Owing to the relatively high pricing for pre-used luxury goods, many online marketplaces offer some EMIs or bank offers to allow buyers to make instant purchases and be able to pay later. Anvita Mehra, founder and CEO at Confidential Couture said that the company has tie-ups with third parties for EMIs and buy now, pay later options.
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