Editor’s Note
This article details a new collaborative service from APRE and NEC, leveraging AI and verification expertise to authenticate luxury goods.
APRE Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Taito-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Kaoru Kaifu; hereinafter “APRE”) and NEC Corporation (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, President and CEO: Takashi Niino; hereinafter “NEC”) have co-created a new authenticity verification service called the “TAL Grading Report Issuance Service” as a new business for APRE. This service combines APRE’s high-level authenticity verification technology for luxury goods with NEC’s AI technology.
The secondary luxury goods market (including vintage items, parallel imports, etc., Note 1) is expanding year by year, with distribution routes diversifying beyond traditional B2B and B2C to include C2C via the internet. Amid this growth, there is a strong demand for measures to prevent damage from counterfeit goods and for transactions at fair prices based on proper appraisals. The judgment of authenticity and condition (hereinafter “authenticity verification”) for secondary goods is performed by specialist appraisers, but the number of appraisers affiliated with appraisal agencies is small. Since appraisals are required for each transaction, the shortage of specialists to handle the necessary appraisal workload is an issue. Furthermore, even if an appraisal certificate is issued, there is a possibility that the actual item and the certificate could be swapped, and the widespread use of appraisal certificates for transactions also presents challenges.
Through this collaboration with NEC, APRE has created a new business by combining the high-level authenticity verification technology it has cultivated with NEC’s “GAZIRU Individual Identification Service” (Note 3), which utilizes the physical fingerprint recognition technology from NEC’s cutting-edge AI technology group “NEC the WISE” (Note 2).
The “TAL Grading Report Issuance Service” issues the authenticity verification results for luxury goods by APRE as a grading report (Note 4). By linking the product’s image with the report for management using NEC’s “GAZIRU Individual Identification Service,” it enables the provision of highly reliable reports that prevent swapping.
As an image of service usage, secondary market businesses and individuals can use APRE’s main service when selling their own purchased goods in the secondary market. They can receive the provision of a grading report issued and managed based on the authenticity verification results of the purchased goods. This eliminates the need for re-appraisal by specialists in subsequent transactions, potentially reducing appraisal costs and alleviating the overall shortage of appraisers in the secondary market industry. Furthermore, by enabling transactions with peace of mind through highly reliable reports, it contributes to promoting the sale of one’s own purchased goods. This main service is scheduled to begin provision from September this year.
With this initiative, NEC has applied its “GAZIRU Individual Identification Service” to the secondary luxury goods market for the first time in the world. The GAZIRU Individual Identification Service utilizes “physical fingerprint recognition technology” that identifies individuals from minute differences naturally occurring on the surfaces of products or parts. Since individuals can be identified using only photographic images of the product itself, it not only expects to reduce costs for attaching/embedding identification tags like IC tags or barcodes but also offers stronger security against counterfeiting. This enhances the reliability of the “TAL Grading Report Issuance Service” provided by APRE and contributes to eliminating/excluding counterfeit goods from the secondary market.
APRE has already built a track record of conducting transactions with a wide range of partners in domestic and overseas secondary markets.
NEC will continue to utilize advanced ICT centered on AI and IoT technologies to accelerate digital transformation in the secondary market. By doing so, NEC aims to contribute to the “co-creation” of new social value, such as realizing secure and fair transactions that protect the interests of both sellers and buyers, and the healthy development of the market.
(Note 1) Secondary market: Transactions of reused goods conducted between B2B, B2C, and C2C. APRE’s main procurement items are jewelry, brand bags, accessories, watches, etc., targeted at B2B or B2C.
(Note 2) “NEC the WISE” is the name of NEC’s cutting-edge AI technology group. “The WISE” carries the meaning of “wise people,” embodying the idea that people and AI collaborate harmoniously to solve complex and advanced social problems with high intelligence.
(Note 3) GAZIRU Individual Identification Service
(Note 4) Grading Report: A report document that visualizes the condition of the target product, evaluated and quantified with a rank and numerical values based on APRE’s authenticity criteria.
