On 5 January 2024 the forum "Insight into Value: Sustainable Development of High-end Circular Consumption" was held in Beijing, where the 2024 research report on China's online seller (buy-back) market for pre-owned high-end goods was released. The forum was guided by the China Used Goods Association and co-hosted by the Luxury Research Centre of the University of International Business and Economics together with The LuxPik Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. The university published a report on the event.
What the Forum Set Out to Do
According to the report, the forum aimed to open channels between government, industry, academia, research and commerce, and to discuss how to build a market system that supports sustainable high-end circular consumption, with standardised and well-regulated services for trading pre-owned high-end goods. Attendees included invited guests from government departments, an inspection and quarantine research academy and the consumers' association, alongside trade body representatives and researchers from several universities.
The Report
The report was presented by Professor Zhang Mengxia, director of the university's luxury research centre. Its six parts cover the policy background and market conditions, trading categories and pricing, brand analysis, item condition and trading cycles, a profile of the seller side, and outlook.
The report quotes Professor Zhang's view that trading pre-owned high-end goods puts idle resources back into shared use as a form of circular consumption, and that the domestic market is large, with low turnover rates and considerable headroom. She also stressed:
Authenticity — buyer trust — is the precondition for a healthy market in pre-owned high-end goods, which makes an efficient authentication system and after-sales guarantee especially important.
Keynotes
The keynotes listed in the report included:
- Chang Dalei, vice-chair and secretary-general of the China Used Goods Association, on the state and outlook of the used goods trade, noting incomplete underlying regulation, the absence of a unified authentication and grading standard, and a shortage of trained specialists;
- Qiu Zhenjie, COO of The LuxPik (Sheshouduo), on the company's practice in the sector and its investment in authentication technology since it was founded in September 2014;
- Associate Professor Liu Hui on accelerating low-carbon green consumption in support of sustainable cities;
- Associate Professor Guan Guanjun on brand ESG strategy and the future of the pre-owned luxury market;
- Professor Zhou Yun on quantitative research into sustainability action within luxury brand database work.
Industry Roundtable
The forum closed with a roundtable on the lively vintage markets of 2023, the development and regulation of authentication bodies, and the outlook for 2024. The report records Qiu Zhenjie arguing that vintage markets widen supply and give consumers a richer selection; on authentication bodies he set out two possible routes — whoever authenticates bears the responsibility, or joint monitoring of brand and quality by a panel of trade specialists.
