Carousell Group, a multi-category platform for secondhand in Greater Southeast Asia, has acquired the business of Singapore’s luxury bag reseller and authenticated luxury consignment platform LuxLexicon.
Carousell Group said in a statement on Tuesday that the move is to supercharge growth of Luxury, one of the group’s largest categories, with an omnichannel strategy and expanded premium luxury offerings.
Cited a research by RedSeer Strategy Consultants, the firm said the total luxury resale market in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan combined is projected to grow to $7.5 billion by 2026.
The group has observed similar organic growth over the past few years, and is well positioned to cement its re-commerce leadership.
This is mainly organically driven by Carousell where its luxury bag category listings in Singapore have grown monthly by 71 percent over the past two years, according to the firm.
To further encourage more users to choose secondhand, the group has launched programs in 2023 to make buying and selling authenticated luxury bags more trusted and convenient.
Carousell Certified Luxury, which allows users to buy authenticated luxury bags, has quadrupled transaction volumes since launch.
While Sell to Carousell Luxury, which allows users to sell or consign their bags directly to Carousell, has more than doubled in leads.
With the success of these programs proving that consumers increasingly want a more trusted and convenient option for luxury bag resale, Carousell Group acquired the business and assets of LuxLexicon to further enhance its portfolio with their strong reputation, wide supply in premium luxury bag resale and consignment, and deep expertise in offline retail.
The acquisition will also allow LuxLexicon to leverage Carousell Group’s expertise in online recommerce and overseas expansion for future growth.
LuxLexicon will continue to be led by founder Florence Low and operate as its own brand, retaining its name, retail space, and team.
“We are excited to partner with Florence and the LuxLexicon team to accelerate our ambition of creating the largest managed marketplace for authenticated secondhand luxury bags where users can buy and sell with trust and convenience,” said Marcus Tan, Co-founder, Carousell Group.
“We originally met Florence to partner with LuxLexicon for our Carousell Certified Luxury program,
“After conversations, we realized that we had a similar vision, and by joining forces with LuxLexicon’s expertise, we could help each other supercharge our luxury bag business in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan over the next few years,” he added.
According to him, the firm has been strengthening its recommerce foundations to drive its multi-category approach on our top growth categories.
“Part of these efforts were acquisitions for fashion, mobiles and autos over the years, and we are thankful to have these founders not only continue to partner with us to drive our mission, but also lend their expertise to the wider Carousell Group’s businesses over the years,
“Beyond growing organically as a top priority, we will continue to seek acquisition opportunities with the right partners across our focus categories and markets to accelerate the future of secondhand in Greater Southeast Asia,” he said.
Florence Low, Founder, LuxLexicon said that LuxLexicon and Carousell Group share a common goal of providing a trusted and accessible platform for buying and selling authenticated luxury bags.
“Additionally, we both see similar strong consumer demand for popular brands such as Hermès, CHANEL and Louis Vuitton,
She said this acquisition allows the firm to offer more variety of bags and recommend interested consumers to each other.
“I am excited to further grow the brand with Carousell Group’s scale, investment and regional expertise in the coming years and beyond,” she added.
According to the statement, this acquisition follows Carousell Group’s 2022 acquisition of Laku6, Indonesia’s electronics re-commerce platform in Indonesia and REFASH, Singapore’s largest omnichannel fashion re-commerce retailer.
In 2023, Carousell Group launched Carousell Campus, its regional headquarters dedicated to advancing re-commerce capabilities and housing its various Group brands under one location.
Carousell is a multi-category classifieds and re-commerce marketplace that is available in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
The Carousell marketplace has a diverse range of products across a variety of categories, including cars, lifestyle, gadgets and fashion accessories.
Founded in 2016, LuxLexicon is a luxury handbag reseller and authenticated luxury consignment platform in Singapore.
The firm has one of the largest resale Hermès bag selection in Southeast Asia.
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