Japanese secondhand luxury brand broker SOU Inc. will set up three new arms in Singapore, China and France to expand its overseas auction network amid fierce competition at home.

Star Buyers Ltd., SOU's Hong Kong subsidiary managing auctions for luxury items such as watches, jewelry, bags and clothes, will create the new subsidiaries in Singapore, Shanghai and Paris by May this year.

The subsidiaries in Singapore and Paris will focus on business-to-business relationships by cultivating local buyers and looking for local sellers, respectively, while the Shanghai unit will initially promote consumer sales via shops in Japan.

Aiko Kishi, SOU's brand communications & investor relations manager, told NNA on Monday that Star Buyers plans to boost its auction participants more than 10-fold from about 15 firms now to 200 firms by August 2021.

"Many tourists from China visit our shops in Tokyo and Osaka," Kishi explained. "As online sales for the Chinese market are doing well, we will step up consumer sales." (NNA/Kyodo)

==Kyodo

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