s.  He said the team has received feedback from users over the years, asking for ways to buy authenticated pre-owned luxury products, as they lacked the knowledge to identify counterfeit items themselves. “Hence we have been investing in initiatives and programmes to help our users buy and sell luxury resale items with a peace of mind,” he added. Following the success of its ‘Certified Luxury’ and ‘Sell to Carousell’ programmes, Tan said that users voiced their desire for a wider selection of authenticated premium products, as well as the option to view large-ticket items in a physical location for added assurance.  Notably, LuxLexicon has a showroom on Orchard Road in Singapore, where it has carved out a niche for itself as the go-to destination for luxury handbag enthusiasts, specialising in authenticating and reselling coveted brands like Hermes Birkin and Kelly.  Founded by Florence Low in 2016, LuxLexicon will maintain its autonomy within Carousell Group, with Low continuing to spearhead operations under its established brand. Tan said the company was “inspired by Florence and her team, and we believe by coming together, we can supercharge the growth of the luxury business. We will do so by continuing to make selling and buying luxury bags convenient and trusted”. Onwards and upwards Tan said that both Carousell Group and LuxLexicon will be focusing on business as usual to enable a seamless transition and integration. He believes Carousell’s strength lies in being a multi-category re-commerce marketplace, and he is confident that LuxLexicon can tap into the Carousell platform to further grow the business online.  “For instance, LuxLexicon can leverage our customer and user base, tech team and marketing team to grow online, as well as leverage our data analytics capabilities to improve sales and CRM to name a few,” he said. Tan reiterated that this is a familiar playbook for the Group – as it has built up a track record of acquiring founder-led businesses, such as  Refash and Laku6, in the past and teamed up together to scale exponentially.  “Beyond growing organically as a top priority, we will continue to seek suitable acquisition opportunities with the right partners that can help us to make buying and selling secondhand items more trusted and convenient in re-commerce, so as to accelerate the future of secondhand in Greater Southeast Asia,” he explained. Some examples of areas that Carousell Group is interested in exploring are enhancing inspection and authentication capabilities across its 30-plus categories. Laku6’s AI diagnostics tool can inspect phones in under two minutes and helps power the ‘Certified Mobiles’ experience on Carousell, Cho Tot and Mudah.my.  “The Carousell ‘Certified Luxury’ programme has quadrupled its number of transactions, and ‘Sell to Carousell Luxury’ has more than doubled in leads. Such programmes build trust and acceptance for online luxury resale, and attract not only more first-time users but also repeat customers,” he pointed out. Challenges and opportunities According to Tan, a key challenge in the luxury resale market is the increasing difficulty in identifying counterfeit products, many of which are undetectable to the naked eye. The Group has been building a team of in-house authentication experts to combat this issue. In addition, the team has been running a pilot programme where users can request to send bags listed on the peer-to-peer marketplace for authentication before transacting. Tan believes that there are more opportunities than challenges for luxury resale.  Based on independent research the Group did with RedSeer Strategy Consultants, the total luxury resale market in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan combined is projected to grow to US$7.5 billion by 2026.  “This is due to many factors, including the growing importance of making more sustainable choices, a desire to have higher-quality products, increasing retail prices of luxury items, and scarcity of in-demand items,” he opined. The bigger picture Tan’s mission is to make secondhand products the first choice for everyone. The Group released its inaugural ‘Circular Economy Impact Report’ last December, which quantified the amount of carbon emissions that are avoided by purchasing secondhand items on its marketplaces. “Carousell Group’s user community avoided 116,577 tonnes of carbon emissions in four goods categories (fashion and luxury, electronics, furniture and home living and hobbies and toys) in 2022. This is the equivalent of around 76 per cent of total trees in Singapore absorbing CO2 per year,” he stressed. In terms of technology, artificial intelligence (AI) also plays a role in all of this. The Group is using it to personalise user experience through item recommendations.  For the ‘Certified Luxury’ program, data science modelling is used to better understand market demand and trends to guide pricing and purchasing decisions of bags. “We also use technology to optimise the operations for the luxury segment. For instance, we have a quote algorithm that is able to send out price quotes to ‘Sell to Carousell Luxury’ users, allowing us to respond to our users quicker and providing a better user experience,” he said. Ultimately, Tan believes that the future of secondhand is re-commerce.  “Re-commerce means bringing the best things that we know and like from e-commerce and availing it for secondhand products,” he added. For instance, the team has enhanced the transaction process to offer a one-click checkout process that integrates secure escrow payment and delivery options.  “By making it more trusted and convenient to buy and sell secondhand products, we believe more users will participate in the circular economy and overtake e-commerce as the preferred choice,” he concluded.