Editor’s Note
KOMEHYO Holdings is expanding the global reach of its B2B auction platform by integrating WOVN.io’s automatic translation technology, aiming to make Japan’s largest brand reuse auction more accessible to international buyers and sellers.
KOMEHYO Holdings announced on February 7 that it will introduce the website multilingual solution “WOVN.io” provided by Wovn Technologies to the bidding site and corporate site of KOMEHYO Auction, a group company handling B2B used brand auction business.
KOMEHYO Auction operates “KOMEHYO AUCTION,” Japan’s largest business-to-business brand reuse auction. The auction comprehensively handles luxury-related categories such as brand jewelry, fine jewelry, loose diamonds, watches, brand bags, and apparel. Since 2020, it has shifted from venue-based auctions to online auction operations.
The background for introducing “WOVN.io” is that the domestic reuse market is estimated to grow to over 3.5 trillion yen by 2025. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of companies starting auctions has increased, and notifications to the National Police Agency for secondhand goods auction brokerage businesses have also risen.
While new entrants are increasing and competition is intensifying, few companies cater to bids from overseas. KOMEHYO Auction had previously received many requests from overseas companies wanting to participate in bidding. To meet these requests, automatic translation via “WOVN.io” was introduced to start accepting bids from overseas. This aims to increase participants, activate bidding, and expand distribution.
The reuse market is also expanding in North America, with expected growth to 2.3 times the 2021 level by 2025. One factor driving the increased demand for Japanese reuse items is the overseas popularity of vintage goods. Popularity is rising, centered on Chanel bags from the 1980s-1990s, fueled by celebrities using vintage bags. Japan, the center of the brand boom for items from that era, is said to hold a large stock of vintage goods. Recently, purchases of vintage items have increased due to the impact of high prices and news of rising market values.
By starting to accept overseas bids, popular vintage items gathered in the Japanese reuse market can be delivered to regions where their value increases further, primarily North America.
