Chinese secondhand consumer electronics recycling and trading group Aihuishou, which is valued at over $2.5 billion and counts e-commerce giant JD.com as its largest shareholder, is ramping up its expansion in both its home market and internationally.
In 2019, JD.com merged its secondhand commodity trading platform Paipai.com with Aihuishou, and led a $530-million Series E round funding in the firm.
“Our working capital flow is positive, but we will need more strategic investments for a further business extension,” Xuefeng Chen, co-founder and CEO of Aihuishou, told DealStreetAsia.
Launched in 2011, Aihuishou is a customer-to-business (C2B) platform offering auction-like solutions for digital items including cameras, phones and laptops among others.
Aihuishou operates three secondhand trading platforms: aihuishou.com specialising in 3C (computer, communication, consumer electronics) products; pai.aihuishou.com with a focus on digital products, and paipai.com. It also owns over 600 brick-and-mortar stores. Its on-site service network covers about 120 first and second-tier cities in the country.
As of 2019, Aihuishou recorded more than 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) in annual transactions. In 2019, it recycled and traded over 22,000,000 digital goods, with 50,000 transactions per day.
Its CEO Xuefeng Chen details the opportunities and his business plans for the near future.
Edited excerpts of an interview:-
