Turning luxury goods, antiques, and assets into second lives, Valuence Holdings pioneers circular design—breathing value into the unused and unlocking stories that enrich both life and planet.
To begin, I would like to ask about the broader landscape of the circular economy in Japan. As you know, Japan has long had a cultural concept of mottainai—a sense of regret over waste—which has made the country something of a leader in the global circular economy, particularly in areas such as the resale of luxury goods and fashion items. Within this space, your company has been at the forefront. From your perspective as President, how do you view the current state of Japan’s circular economy, particularly as it relates to luxury goods, and what do you see as uniquely Japanese approaches within this context?
I believe Japan’s secondary market for luxury goods has been expanding for several reasons. First, as luxury brands have continued to raise prices in the primary market, consumers increasingly perceive new products as expensive. This has naturally led to greater demand for pre-owned goods, which are viewed as offering better value. On top of that, the weak yen and the rise of inbound tourism have further fueled demand, pushing the secondary market into a sustained growth phase.
Interestingly, while the global luxury primary market has shown some signs of slowing recently, the secondary market continues to grow steadily. It has evolved into a vital mechanism that supports the ongoing circulation of brand value itself. In Japan specifically, there is even a phrase—“Used in Japan”—which carries strong associations with high appraisal skill, maintenance, and trust in safe, reliable transactions. These cultural and infrastructural factors have created an ecosystem in which both quality and trust are highly developed, enabling the market to mature and expand at a rapid pace. At present, I would say the secondary luxury market in Japan is in a very robust and dynamic stage of growth.
Your company has grown remarkably quickly, despite not having a particularly long history compared to some others. You have incorporated a range of brands, entered partnerships, and expanded globally, including into the auction space. Against that background, what would you say are your company’s core strengths—the competitive advantages that set Valuence apart from others in the secondary market?
Our strengths can be summarized in three areas: customer acquisition, purchasing capability, and sales capability. The first is customer acquisition. From the time of our founding, we introduced digital and web marketing strategies into this industry—something that was virtually nonexistent at the time. We built a system that integrates both online and offline channels. To give a simple example: many customers search online using keywords like “sell watches” or “sell bags.” We invested heavily in creating content that would surface in these searches, ensuring strong online visibility. From there, we guided customers into our physical stores, effectively pioneering the O2O (online-to-offline) model in our industry. Today, we are rolling out localized versions of this model at our global locations.
The second strength is purchasing capability. Over the years, we have accumulated a vast database of transactions. This gives us unmatched expertise in authentication—distinguishing genuine products from counterfeits—as well as real-time pricing capabilities. Every week we host auctions, and the data we collect is immediately incorporated into our pricing models. This ensures our purchasing is always grounded in the latest market realities.
The third strength is sales capability. When we began, most companies in the sector followed a C-to-B-to-C model: buying from consumers and then reselling directly to other consumers. We, however, lacked the capital strength to compete in that way. Instead, we innovated by focusing on speed and efficiency: buying from consumers and then reselling rapidly to businesses—what we call the C-to-B-to-B model. This allowed us to quickly convert inventory into cash, which we reinvested into expanding our retail footprint and purchasing channels. This cash-flow cycle enabled us to grow at remarkable speed. The combination of these three strengths—customer acquisition, purchasing, and sales—has create value and achieve growth.
Do you often encounter people trying to sell Items not covered by the regulations ?
Yes, it happens sometimes. There are generally two types of cases: people who bring in non-compliants unknowingly, and those who knowingly attempt to sell fakes. Unfortunately, the latter group is more common. Over the years, we have built a database of such incidents, including customer attributes. For example, if a very young individual brings in a Birkin bag, our system will automatically flag it for extra scrutiny. In authentication, it is not only about examining the item itself but also about considering whether the person and the item are consistent. That human-object matching is a critical element of appraisal.
We also now use remote specialists and advanced AI-based authentication tools, which have become highly accurate. By combining human expertise and technology, we keep the proportion of non-compliant we actually purchase to less than 1%—closer to 0.1–0.2% of all items brought in.
Shifting to your international business, your company has significantly expanded its presence across Southeast Asia—in places like Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia—and has built a reputation for service excellence, often described as inspired by Japanese omotenashi hospitality. As the global secondary market for luxury goods grows, how do you see your international expansion strategy evolving in the near to medium term? Which new markets do you consider especially promising?
If we look at market size, Japan has about 120 million people, and annual new luxury product sales are estimated at roughly 4 trillion yen. By contrast, the global market encompasses 8.2 billion people, with about 40 trillion yen in annual new luxury sales.
We have achieved strong growth in Japan, but when I look at the next 5 to 10 years, it is clear that expansion abroad is essential. By building out our international store network now, we will be positioned to achieve meaningful global growth in the years ahead.
Interestingly, Japanese competitors have been slow to expand overseas, so we are effectively ahead of the pack. Domestically, however, competition is intense, and many players are benchmarking against us and chasing closely. To maintain leadership and secure a truly unique position, we cannot afford to be complacent in Japan. Instead, we must move quickly overseas—expanding our stores through partnerships and franchise-style models, aiming for hundreds of locations globally. Speed is critical.
Another important factor is the structure of global competition. In many international markets, reuse culture is still underdeveloped, and existing players tend to focus on consignment models. They take goods on consignment without bearing risk and return revenue only after items are sold. In contrast, our approach is instant cash purchasing. Even outside Japan, all 45 of our international stores provide immediate cash offers—a model that was unheard of in those markets. This has proven very attractive to customers and is fueling our global expansion. Our strategic focus is particularly on South Asia and the Middle East, where demand is rising quickly and margins are strong. With our instant cash model and speed of store rollout, we believe we can establish a unique and dominant position globally.
You recently launched your own auction platform, ALLU AUCTION, which has already attracted international interest—for example, July’s Rolex GMT-Master sale drew bidders from China, Taiwan, and the Middle East. How do you envision this auction business developing in the future?
ALLU AUCTION has two main objectives. The first is to establish a system that fairly evaluates the value of each individual watch, enabling transactions at prices that both the current owner and the new owner can feel satisfied with. The second is to build trusting relationships with customers who have strong personal values and refined lifestyles through the medium of watches. From the outside, auctions are often seen simply as a place to “sell at the highest price.” However, for us, it is a place that creates new encounters between people and objects.
As rare and story-rich items gather, watch enthusiasts from around the world take interest, creating new touchpoints with Valuence. Our data analysis shows that while customers who make large purchases generate a significant portion of our profits, it is the diverse group of everyday customers who truly sustain our brand. Therefore, rather than targeting only a specific segment, we focus on providing the most suitable experience for each customer’s individual sense of value.
In the future, we hope to foster a circular culture in which customers who participate in auctions also consign their own watches, allowing them to be passed on to the next generation. ALLU AUCTION is a core business that embodies this concept of “passing on the value of things,” and it plays an important role in driving the growth of our company.
Finally, if we were to meet again five years from now for another interview, what would you hope to have achieved by then? What kind of company do you expect Valuence to be at that stage?
Our growth strategy is unquestionably global. Within five years, I want us to have doubled or tripled our store count worldwide, and I expect overseas sourcing to rise from less than 10% of our total today to about 30%. With that scale, we will have access to a much greater volume of attractive inventory, which we can channel through our B-to-B auctions. At the same time, we are developing our B-to-C retail brand, ALLU. Currently, we have five stores in Japan primarily serving inbound customers. But five years from now, our goal is to establish ourselves as the leading global e-commerce player in luxury resale—an international marketplace where goods can be purchased and delivered anywhere in the world within two to three business days.
That is the future we are working toward. By then, I believe Valuence will have matured into a truly global company, both in terms of sourcing and sales, firmly positioned as a central player in the worldwide circular economy for luxury goods.
For more information, visit their website at: www.valuence.inc
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