Li Rixue, CEO of Secoo. Photo: Courtesy of Secoo

China has become one of the world's biggest luxury goods consumers, and also has a booming electronic commerce market. These factors have combined to create a juicy opportunity ripe for picking. It is an opportunity that has been seized by Secoo. Providing wealthy consumers with excellent all-round service, Secoo has become China's largest and most authoritative one-stop website for individuals buying and selling their luxury goods.

Metropolitan (MB) asked Li Rixue, CEO of Secoo, to share his wisdom and thoughts on this thriving business.

MB: How did you find this opportunity?

Li: Secoo was born amid China's rapid economic development. Initially, I was involved in the traditional home appliances market. I gradually learned that more and more people were going abroad to buy luxury goods. People tend to cast off their old luxury items for new ones. This helped explain the huge consumption of luxury goods, and also created an opportunity.

Based on this, I began to engage in luxury goods trading. The most important factor for success is perseverance. In your lifetime, you must do something that is meaningful and prove yourself.

MB: What is Secoo's biggest advantage compared with other online luxury goods marketplaces?

Li: Looking at the big picture, our advantage is that our business model is both online and offline. The user experience plays a significant role in the high-end luxury industry. For online, we have our own website and for offline, we have shops and clubs. Looking at things from an operational level, we have two main strong points. The first one is our appraisal process. The key thing for us is to ensure that the goods circulating in the market are not counterfeit. We invited many professional appraisers from the United States, Japan and other countries. Now we have developed a professional system of appraisal. The second strong point is after-sales service. Nothing in this world goes off without a hitch. But if our customers have problems, we will spare no efforts to solve them.

MB: What do you think of the prospects for the future for this industry?

Li: The luxury trading marketplace industry is developing quickly. This is because buying luxury goods is very easy for consumers, but selling them is difficult. This lack of reciprocity is causing a waste of resources. Trading luxury goods online represents the general trend of the future.

MB: What are the prospects for Chinese brands becoming global luxury brands?

Li: In my view, a luxury brand must satisfy two factors: quality and culture. Chinese brands are is working hard, and I believe that it will not be very long until there are more and more international Chinese brands.  Secoo now is making efforts in this direction.