ATRenew NYSE: RERE outlined its recycling and trade-in strategy for investors at the 94th Emerging Growth Conference, with Head of Investor Relations Jessie Jin emphasizing the company’s scale in China’s secondhand consumer electronics market and its efforts to expand into additional categories and overseas circulation channels.
Jin described ATRenew as “the largest secondhand consumer electronic transactions and services platform in China.” She said the company supported the circulation of close to 43 million used devices in full-year 2025, with a small portion from overseas markets, and supported 10.8 million consumer goods devices in the first quarter of 2026.
The Shanghai-headquartered company began in 2011 with smartphone transactions in China and has since built an offline network of more than 2,000 physical stores, Jin said. The stores operate under the AHS Recycle brand, which means “I love recycling” in Chinese, and are designed to give consumers easier access to recycling and trade-in services.
Four Core Business Lines
Jin said ATRenew’s operations are organized around four main offerings. AHS Recycle serves consumers directly through stores and online channels, while also supporting trade-in programs with e-commerce platforms and consumer electronics brands. Jin cited JD.com, Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo as partners in trade-in scenarios.
The company’s PJT Marketplace, launched in 2017, is a business-to-business marketplace for secondhand consumer electronics in China. Jin said it serves about two million registered users and helps standardize nationwide transactions. Paipai Marketplace, acquired from JD.com in 2019, supports business-to-consumer resale, while AHS Device is aimed at global circulation of used devices across regions including Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Jin said ATRenew operates both a first-party model, in which it acquires used devices as inventory and resells them after inspection, grading and sometimes reconditioning, and a third-party model, in which it provides marketplace, inspection, consignment and after-sales services for commissions.
Automation and Store Network Support Expansion
ATRenew has eight operation centers across China, including Hong Kong, according to Jin. Two facilities, in Dongguan and Changzhou, are fully automated inspection centers used for grading and standardizing secondhand smartphones, tablets and other devices.
Jin said the company’s stores are typically small-format locations in high-traffic shopping malls, and she characterized the store network as a light-asset model. The company is also using the stores to enter new recycling categories, including luxury bags, watches, gold and accessories. Jin said those categories are operated under a third-party model, which means ATRenew charges commissions and does not take inventory risk, including exposure to gold price fluctuations.
Financial Results and Shareholder Returns
Jin said ATRenew’s first-quarter 2026 revenue grew 32% year over year, driven primarily by its first-party businesses and supported by double-digit growth in service revenue. She said profit margin improved by about 60 to 70 basis points, citing improved operational efficiency in inspection, grading and fulfillment, along with prudent sales and marketing spending.
The company has a three-year shareholder return plan covering 2025 through 2027, Jin said. She described the payout ratio as about 60%, including share repurchases and cash dividends. Jin said ATRenew returned about $36 million to shareholders last year through repurchases and a cash dividend deployed in April.
On gross margins, Jin said the company is working to increase the share of direct-to-consumer retail sales, which she said carry a gross profit margin about 6 percentage points higher than wholesale sales. She said the share of first-party-to-consumer retail rose from 25% to 27% one to two years ago, to 37% last year, and to 45% in the first quarter.
Customer Acquisition and Competitive Position
In a question-and-answer session, Jin said customer adoption has been supported by China’s trade-in subsidy program, ATRenew’s fulfillment network and marketing through short-video platforms including RedNote and Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. She said the company works with bloggers and influencers to build awareness and promote store and doorstep services.
Jin said ATRenew’s ability to source high-quality devices is tied to its store network, partnerships with JD.com and major electronics brands, and consumer trust. She said face-to-face interaction is important because used phones contain personal information and data, making secure handling a key factor in consumer confidence.
Jin also said large e-commerce platforms would face challenges replicating ATRenew’s refurbishment and pricing infrastructure because the secondhand industry requires capabilities in inspection, pricing, facilities and industry-specific know-how. However, she said ATRenew is open to working with e-commerce companies by combining their strengths in new device distribution with ATRenew’s collection and trade-in capabilities.
Looking ahead, Jin said ATRenew plans to focus on partnerships, additional in-store recycling categories, further automation and expanding retail sales with higher gross profit margins.
About ATRenew (NYSE:RERE)
ATRenew Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates pre-owned consumer electronics transactions and services platform in the People's Republic of China. It primarily sells mobile phones, laptops, tablets, drones, digital cameras; and vintage bags, watches, liquor, gold, and various household goods through its online platforms and offline stores, as well as provides services to third-party merchants to sell the products through its platforms. The company was formerly known as AiHuiShou International Co Ltd.
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