But we are not only a marketplace. We are also a platform that holds a lot of information and data about its users. We want to use this information to help our users find the best watches. Now, we know pretty well what the users like, looking at their search profile and what they have bought. We have also introduced a feature where buyers can upload their existing watch collection so that we can make tailor-made suggestions to them.
First of all, we take private data protection very seriously. We do share metadata with brands, to give them deeper insights into their industry. We also help them to get access to watch lovers and collectors worldwide – but we won’t and are not allowed to hand over any personal data to them. For instance, we know that when someone is looking for a certain model, he might also like another model.
Imagine you go to a store and you say that you are interested in an Omega Speedmaster, and the seller presents you some Speedmasters, as well as, based on our research, watches from other brands with the highest proximity. It is purely based on data. It gets increasingly interesting for the watch brands, even though they might not publicly work with us on our platforms.
KEY NUMBERS ABOUT CHRONO24
• 10-12 million visits per month
• 1 billion euros in transaction volume generated in 2017
• 2,400 professional dealers registered
• More than 90% of sellers are professional dealers
• 100,000 watches bought/sold through Chrono24 in 2017
• The most expensive watch ever sold through Chrono24: a Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon, for more than one million dollars
More and more established watch brands do want to work directly with us, because of our global reach to potential buyers, but they also realise that it is sometimes easier to convey the brand message via the internet than in the store.
A lot of brands have a strong heritage and the question is: are all salesmen able to talk about it to potential buyers? In many cases, the founder or the watchmaker of the brand can do it much better and more emotionally, using videos and images. It is sometimes better than talking to a seller, who might not know the brand very well.
Chrono24 already has the categories of vintage, preowned and new watches. The biggest by far is the vintage and pre-owned watch segment, but we are trying to develop the new watch segment as well. We are already working with brands that want to directly sell to our users.
Some brands do it openly in our newly established brand boutiques; other brands just advertise on our platform or work with us in other ways to build a direct bridge with the potential customer. For example, if a really exclusive brand wants to host a collectors’ dinner in Dubai or Tokyo, we can easily invite 20 to 30 people in the city, who have a very strong tendency to buy this brand or who have bought similar brands in the past.
We are in talks with almost all brands and are discussing potential ways of working together. Some brands are already openly selling on Chrono24, others use a partnership to connect to potential buyers worldwide, and we are just opening discussions with yet other brands. But there are very few brands that are ignoring us, and not looking for a discussion at all. We are open to discuss with all brands. But maybe we still need a few big names working openly with us, to overcome the psychological barrier.
We know from our users what their core interest is by looking at their search behavior, and we use this to make better suggestions. We also gather data when users upload their existing watch collections.
We are open to all kinds of partnerships.
We do careful due diligence on all the dealers that join the platform, in order to be sure we keep only the best ones. In addition, when you buy a watch on Chrono24, we hold the money in an escrow account until the watch is safely delivered to your home. Only when you say that you are happy with the watch do we release the money.
Otherwise, you get your money back. It is very rare that a watch is really fake: there have been fewer than five returns over the last few years because of authenticity issues. And more than 100,000 watches are being transacted through Chrono24 per year. We would rather kick a dealer off the platform than risking having a single fake watch.
That is also part of our policy. You can return any watch that has been bought on Chrono24, no questions asked. But very few watches are actually returned: very low single digits. The most common reason for returns is that the watch is not as it was described on the platform. Only around 1% are returned without a specific reason, just because the buyer does not want it anymore, mostly because the watch is a bit smaller than expected, not because it is fake or damaged! Our total return rate is less than 5%.
We are indeed considering all kinds of measures to bring people together and to build trust during the transactions. Chrono24 is a lot more than a digital market place. We are also considering developing logistics services. There are a lot of developments to come yet.
Article originally published on Europa Star. Republished with permission.
Cover image credit: Chrono24. Image: Tim Stracke, Co-CEO of Chrono24
