Russia-based Avito, the world’s leading horizontal by traffic and listings, has launched Avito Premium, a section dedicated to premium clothing, footwear and accessories, according to a press release from the company.
The section, which is confined to its iPhone app for the moment, has more than 26,000 active sales cards showing brand new and second hand merchandise from both commercial traders and private sellers. All products are checked for authenticity and are tagged with the “Original” badge. According to Avito, products tagged in this way generate 25% more views and responses than similar items without a badge.
Authenticity is verified by Avito’s partner Legit Grails, which analyzes photographs of the items and their labels for this purpose. According to Legit Grails, it has checked more than 60,000 ads to date. The checks are currently available for around 200 brands — including Alexander McQueen, Armani, Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, Prada etc. — and Legal Grails is planning to add more.
“Avito Premium is designed for both our current customers and new customers who are used to the convenience of ordering goods in one click on marketplaces and to premium service in offline stores. Every day, up to 600,000 searches for luxury brands are registered on the Avito site,” said Aleksey Kozlovsky, head of Avito’s lifestyle division.
Last year Russia-based marketplaces Yandex, Ozon and delivery service SDEK launched parallel imports and the resale of luxury goods, which were well received by local consumers in the wake of the exodus of foreign brands from the country as a result of the war in Ukraine.