Subscriptions in the lifestyle field that increases presence

Netflix and Hulu cloud storage to Spotify and Apple Music, note and NewsPicks, d magazine. Subscription (fixed rate billing) models are spreading in all areas of lifestyle. Of course, fashion is no exception. Air closets and Meshakari are handling monthly fashion rental services for women, and subscription services such as men's business wear and wrist watches are also appearing.

By the way, the Millennial generation is about generation that became about 25 to 34 years old as of 2018, and has begun to have purchasing power. But they are not obsessed with the concept of "ownership" over the above generations, they do not mind if they want to "share" them if necessary, and they feel even smarter. It is the sharing economy that attracts attention.

Sharing of fashion Economy seems reasonable as well as flow of the times. Millennials, which is important for self-branding with SNS such as Instagram, does not appear on SNS many times in the same clothes. If clothes that do not wear over and over are cheap, I would like to sell it soon. So purchase and sell clothes with CtoC service such as Mercari. Of course borrowing can also fulfill that need.

Well here I would like to think of a luxury bag. If the same reason as above, it is not so smart to have the same bag all year round because it is a brand bag. Still, hundreds of thousands of high brand items can not be purchased easily. There is CtoC, but it is still expensive, there are risks of counterfeit.

A service that captured such needs is a flat-rate rental service for luxury bags "LaxusThat's it. This time I talked to Mr. Kodama, the representative director of Lexus Technologies, which manages Laxus.

(Interview: January 2018)

All-you-can-eat bags for up to 6800 yen per month

Services launched by Lexus Technologies are "Lexus" and "Lexus X (X)".

Lexus is a subscription service for luxury bags launched in 2015. When the user pays 6800 yen per month, a high-brand bag such as Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Chanel etc. can be borrowed. Interview Currently there are 23,000 bags to be borrowed. Consumers purchasing luxury bags have many households with annual income of 8 million yen or more, but Laxus users have lower annual income than that. Age is widely distributed at the age of 24 to 50 years, it is not that there are many specific generations, not only Millennial but also widely accepted is the difference with other share services.

In Laxus it is possible to use a specific bag all the time, and if you get bored you can borrow another bag. You can borrow the latest bag or you can choose the item that matches the season. When observing the word of mouth, "I wanted to try it before buying it myself" "Convenient for bags used only temporarily, such as travel and wedding," "impressions of various bags" Is rising.

Lexus is also sticking to the box of bags to enhance the design. It also prevents the box from being placed sideways by making it vertical.

The surprising rate at Lexus is the continuation rate. In fact, more than 90% of users continue to use the service, and the churn (withdrawal rate) is low. "It looks fashionable just by holding a luxury bag, I think that I want to use other bags when I use it once, I think that I will not quit easily."

Laxus X lets users' bags to other users

The other "Lexus X" differs from "Laxus" is how to procure bags. Laxus stocks are procured / owned by Lexus Technologies in-house, but at "Laxus X" users lend their bags. That is, CtoC's service that user A lends a bag and user B borrows it. (By the way, "X" of Laxus X is getting changed from e "X" change)

Although I am aware, I think that there are not many women possessing multiple brand bags that own a number of luxury bags, or who do not use it easily but throw away or sell it is wasteful. Such a user lends the bag to other users via Laxus X.

The advantage of lending users is to earn pocket money first. You can earn 2,000 yen a month with one bag. When I open the application of Lexus X, the information "This bag is waiting for xx people" is posted and the rate of return is calculated based on these information, not "lending out because I do not use it" It is said that there are users who "buy to lend out".

Keeping the bag at home may cause damage such as "mold grows", "sunburn", "collapse in shape". From the user who borrows bags, if dirty items are sent according to CtoC 's service, it may not be borrowed next time. So at Lexus X, when you rent a bag, it is a mechanism that you can be kept and stored free of charge. If you keep your bag in Lexus X, it will complement the thread of the horn (of course there is a limit), storage will be suitable for optimal temperature. In other words, the user keeps the bag in a beautiful state when it rents the bag, and it also makes money for earning money. Users benefit greatly.

"I want a luxury bag if my" friend "

For now it is understood that words such as "from" owned "to" shared "" and "sharing economy" get citizenship, and Laxus can also be understood as a service in that context. But when he tried launching Lexus, he said he was opposed to all employees and investors. Nonetheless why did Luxas Technologies start subscription business for luxury bags?

I did a questionnaire inside the company. I ordered a relatively reasonable, cospa high bag and a high brand bag that was prevalent at the time and asked "Which bag do you want to use?" However, the test results are staggering. Everyone says "These bags are in fashion recently" and picks a cospa's high bag.

Then I thought of giving up, so I tried to give the staff girls because the bag is unnecessary. Then, until a while ago, everyone said they wanted a good bag of cospa, but everyone wants to choose a high brand. "If you get anything, you should have a high-brand bag."

I thought that something was wrong, I interviewed another group. However, this time I heard "Which would you like to use if you are" your friend "? Then everyone chose a brand bag. Everyone does not put it out, but I decided to develop Lexus, thinking that this is a real need.

Lexus Technologies (then "Es" at the time) launched Laxus. As a result, it has grown to services that tens of thousands will use in three years. According to the subscription and rental model (according to a major foreign securities company) Laxus has started to apply in the world for the first time, and similar business models are appearing one after another.

Laxus Technologies Inc. has also frequently appeared on pitch events and others.

Laxus is also planning to develop services overseas. In Europe and the United States, it seems that they are thinking about deployment in growing regions such as Singapore, Hong Kong, mainly in the center city of fashion such as New York, Paris, London etc, in Asia. Pre-registration has already started in New York, and it got three times as much response as at launch in Japan.

When considering overseas deployment, Japan still has a big barrier of language. In that regard, including fashion bags fashion is a universal language, we believe it is easy to expand the world.

Expand the range of business using data

Lexus Technologies not only lends bags but also focuses on various data analysis. First of all it is recommended. In this fashion, there are cases where it is decided that you want a specific item, but conversely there are many cases where there is only an abstract need, "I want a bag." In such a case, I do not find what I want, even if I search, and I do not know how to search for it in the first place. In such a case, "Recommend that you would like items like this?"

Besides, it has been found that there is compatibility between brands. For example, "people who like brand A tend to like brand B", "people like brand C do not like brand D" and so on. Such data gathers one after another, and the accuracy of recommendation also rises.

And today is the era when big data analysis is prominent. There may be the future that cooperates with other services with the above recommendation data and continuation rate data. In fact, other companies may visit Luxas and discuss the use of data.

There are also aspects that the existing fashion industry can not utilize data well. For example, there are cases where luxury boutiques in department stores can not use point cards in department stores. Although it may be good for boutique branding, in exchange, that boutique can not get customer's data.

Lexus Technologies acquires various data such as preference data and behavior data, and other people may be able to provide necessary data. Although it is acquiring data, it is a fact that it is not fully utilized. I would like to use technology in cooperation with other business operators from now on.

There is another interesting example. Looking at Luxss' s HP, you can see that the bags are included as well as the coordination to match with the bags. In addition, Laxus Company also launched an application called "Lexus Coode". This is a bag specialized Instagram .

Posted sample coordination with bag (left) User posted Corde using bag by Lexus Corde (right)

Lexus said that there is a need "I do not want to buy it, but I want to borrow and try it out because it's so hard". However, in that case, there seems to be a lot of users suffering from coordination suitable for bags. I posted the coordinates that fit the bag with the bag there. This worked well, resulting in the conversion rate going up 2.7 times. Some say that someone who wants to sell this coordination as it is is also going up.

What will you do with your bag? Reading out the user's psychology and behavior

Finally, I heard about future development of Lexus Technologies.

The relationship between fashion and users is changing more and more. For example, it is said that users who make "one shot consumption" to change fashion items one after another by using CtoC or subscription service so that the same clothes are not posted on the Instagram many times at the moment It is. This and the Lexus subscription model are very compatible, but in addition to holding a bag, we have to respond to what we do with a bag.

The rest is it, but I will put more power into overseas expansion and data utilization from now on.

From ownership to sharing, Instagram etc. Rise of SNS, one shot consumption, decline of brand faith, popularity of CtoC fashion, subscription service. Clearly in the 2010s, the relationship between fashion and consumers has changed significantly. Lexus Technologies Inc. seems to be trying to expand, keeping the flow of such a time. Even in catching up the trends of the times, such as overseas development and utilization of technology, I really want you to follow the movements of the company.

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