Singapore – Recommerce platform Carousell has launched a new end-to-end service ‘Sell to Carousell’ in Singapore; the latest movement of the platform following its acquisition of Laku6, an Indonesian electronics recommerce platform, in the early part of H2 2022.
The new service affords users in Singapore an advanced option to sell their mobile phones directly to Carousell in under 24 hours from the comfort of their homes or by dropping off their phones at any iStudio outlet, the Apple premium reseller.
At the heart of the new solution is the quick on-the-spot diagnosis which is made possible through Laku6’s proprietary AI-first diagnostic technology. Carousell is able to inspect the condition of secondhand mobile phones in under two minutes and confirm the final quote through its own smart pricing algorithm.
Quek Siu Rui, Group CEO and co-founder of the Carousell Group, shared that since the integration of Laku6, they have seen a growth of 55% in the past half year alone in mobile phone transactions.
“There is huge potential for electronics recommerce in Greater Southeast Asia, which is slated to grow over 2.5X to US$18.6 billion by 2026, and Carousell Group is well placed to cement our leadership,” said Quek.
Founder of Laku6 Alvin Yap shared that since finding out consumers’ sentiment of seeing the activity of selling their mobile phones as burdensome through their own user research, they have been working on developing solutions tailored to local market needs.
“Since the soft launch in September 2022, the program has shown signs of a strong product market fit with thousands of phones processed,” said Yap.
The process for ‘Sell to Carousell’ starts with users filling in a short form about their phone condition on the app or website to get an estimated quote. Afterwards, users will be able to choose if they want to have a Carousell agent visit their home for device inspection and have an instant payout or visit a physical store themselves to complete the process.
This process has been made fully automated to remove the element of human error during assessment, at the same time, allows users the flexibility to change their minds on selling with no obligations upon receiving the final quote.
According to Quek, they would soon be launching similar products in Vietnam and Malaysia through its brands Cho Tot and Mudah.my respectively. He further revealed that the group’s next milestone is to provide an advanced option to buy certified mobile phones that would come with warranty for users who want to buy secondhand with peace of mind.
“These will give our users more choice and flexibility on how they wish to shop secondhand,” Quek added
