KUALA LUMPUR: Main Market listed Industronics Bhd’s Hong Kong unit Ecgo International Ltd has launched its luxury watch e-commerce platform, watch-exchanges.com.
In a statement on Tuesday, Industronics said WatchExchange will issue authenticity certificates for pre-owned luxury watches in Malaysia and Asia Pacific.
The group's venture into e-commerce will require extensive funding, which will be used to develop and enhance the group's platform and carry out both online advertising and offline promotional activities, it said.
“The group is looking to set up a fund in Hong Kong to raise a total of RM250mil from potential investors. Proceeds raised will be utilised to purchase different brands of luxury watches for resale on the group's platform.
“Industronics aims to invest around RM25mil or 10% of the total funding required, together with Hong Kong Cyberport Fund, which will invest an equivalent amount as the group or at a one for one ratio.
“The remainder of RM200mil will be open to other investment groups for investment, ” it said.
Industronics said WatchExchange’s success will depend on excellence in several key areas -- stability, sustainability, search engine optimisation (SEO), and new media marketing, all of which will help boost traffic to the group's platform. It will directly benefit from a highly optimised official website and landing page.
Industronics executive director Datuk Chu Boon Tiong said based on data and overall market performance, the pre-owned luxury watch market has promising growth prospects.
“We are excited to capitalise on the growing trend with the launch of WatchExchange and aim to pave the way for a streamlined trading platform that will not only revolutionise the transactions of pre-owned luxury watches but drive further growth in this industry.
"As we have seen over the last few years, pricing and demand for pre-owned luxury watches have been so strong that even high-end watch brands are moving into the pre-owned market themselves.
“However, the biggest challenge for the pre-owned luxury watch market lies in authenticating the watches. Our role here is to ensure that the shoppers can safely purchase luxury watches on WatchExchange without having to worry about the security and authenticity of the pre-owned luxury watches, ” Chu said.
Industronics designs, manufactures and installs electronics and microprocessor-controlled products, telecommunication system, audio video multimedia systems, intelligent transportation systems and information communication technology related system.