ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has entered into a capital and business alliance with Defactostandard, Ltd. (headquartered in Ota-ku, Tokyo; Takato Ojima, President & CEO; hereinafter “Defactostandard”), a consolidated subsidiary of BEENOS Inc. (headquartered in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; Shota Naoi, President & Group CEO; hereinafter “BEENOS”), with the aim of further expanding the scale of the brand-name product buyback service “Brandear” (http://brandear.jp/ ) and rolling out e-commerce operations globally. As part of the alliance, Defactostandard will be issuing new shares to ITOCHU via a private placement, making ITOCHU the second largest shareholder in the company after BEENOS.

Purpose of the capital/business alliance and plans for the future

Having launched Brandear in March 2007, Defactostandard has gone on to develop a “buyback service model” and establish a market-leading position for itself in terms of second hand e-commerce sales, thanks to its efficient operations underpinned by cutting-edge IT systems. Brandear operates based on a CtoBtoC model, whereby the company buys back designer goods sent in by customers, values them using its own unique marketing skills and expertise, and then lists them on online marketplaces (auction sites). In fiscal 2014, Defactostandard recorded the highest sales* in the second hand e-commerce market. It has also achieved the best score on Yahoo Japan Auctions, one of the company’s sales channels, for five years in a row.

In addition to conventional sales of IT equipment and services, ITOCHU also focused on IT-led business process outsourcing (BPO), and has actively invested in a string of domestic and overseas businesses as it has continued to expand its operations.

ITOCHU and Defactostandard have already worked together on an operational level, including increasing operating revenue from Brandear through an alliance with the ITOCHU Group, and providing procurement support of logistic materials in order to cut costs. Having entered into a capital and business alliance, ITOCHU now holds 10.8% of shares in Defactostandard, taking collaboration to the next level. In terms of specifics, the aim of the alliance is to expand operations overseas via ITOCHU’s global network (finding overseas sales partners, etc.) and to develop new business using Defactostandard’s operational startup expertise.

As a result of this alliance, the BEENOS Group meanwhile will be working with the ITOCHU Group to jointly establish a new online distribution model, focusing particularly on business based on cross-border platforms.

*Reference: 2nd Second Hand E-commerce Sales Ranking (2014 figures), Nihon Net Keizai Shimbun, December 4, 2014

Defactostandard’s Brandear home-delivery based buyback service

Covering everything from designer names to everyday brands, Brandear handles a wide range of over 6,000 brands, including clothing, bags and accessories. Despite the fact that the service has been up and running for less than eight years, the total number of users has already passed the 1 million mark (as of January 26, 2015).
Not only operating its own site, but also Brandear works with cooperative companies and partners such as co-op stores, Dinos Cecile and Tokyu to secure sales channels. It also has growing ties with buyback services such as “Yahoo Kaitori” (Yahoo) and “Yamada Kaitori” (Yamada Denki), and has established itself as the number one buyback company in Japan. As well as waiving valuation fees and return shipping costs, Brandear is always conscious of customer oriented services such as same-day delivery and same-day valuation. Its ability to respond quickly using a combination of online and real-world mechanisms has become one of its key strengths.

Outline of Brandear services

Defactostandard

Brandear

• http://brandear.jp/

Brandear Auction

• http://auction.brandear.jp/