Exclusive e-shopping steers car owner carts

Nio Life positions itself as a lifestyle brand collaborating with more than 600 global designers, Zhang said.

"The purpose of the platform is to establish a community rooted in automobiles, share joys and growth," said Zhang. "The creation of Nio Life serves the purpose of building an interactive and longterm bridge between the brand and car users."

Over the six years since its inception, the platform has sold over 15 million items, introducing 800-1,000 products annually.

Nio Life features its sustainable fashion brand Blue Sky Lab, which prioritizes recycled fabrics and accessories.

The shopping platform has also developed its unique products. For this Chinese New Year, the platform has unveiled its dragon-themed collection, including collaborations with Chinese artist Lin Zinan.

"The core of Nio Life's business model is to create more value-added products for our car users," said Zhang.

Nio is not the only brand to do so. The rapid development of the Chinese NEV market has upgraded the way car users interact with vehicle producers.

The delivery of a vehicle is only the beginning of a long relationship with the users, creating more possible consumption scenarios.

For example, sales representatives often showcase to visitors to their store the company's official mobile app, which has strong social functions.

The accumulative points are part of a reward system of the app, often redeemed to buy consumer products or pay service fees for changing batteries or maintenance fees.

Lu Nan, 35, an office worker in Beijing, is all praise for this system. He bought a Li Auto six-seat family SUV last year. He earned 45,000 points that could be converted into purchases on the vehicle producer's official online shopping mall, which is integrated into the mobile app of Li Auto.

The points translated into a value of 4,500 yuan. Being a father of an 8-year-old daughter, Lu used the points to buy an outdoor cooking kit, a membership for video streaming platform iQiyi, a thermos bottle, an outdoor go-cart and an inflatable mattress.

"The car, with its comfortable seats and three screens for video entertainment, is like a moving home for us now," said Lu. "It is an upgraded experience from my old Toyota."

The iQiyi membership cards, available at the Li Auto shopping mall, sold out quickly given their popularity among car owners.

"To be able to watch movies and TV series in the car while waiting to pick up our child from school is pure pleasure," Lu said.

The model not only provided a smart in-car experience but also enabled the Lu family to ride to city suburbs for camping with friends.

Lu said outdoor gear and equipment purchased with points enhanced their outdoor activities, extending "the joy of exploring mountains and spending time with friends".

"Browsing Li Auto's online shopping mall has become a hobby for me," said Lu, who appreciates finding interesting products recommended by the vehicle producer.

According to user insight data from Li Auto, the primary buyers of its cars consist of men aged 35-44, many of whom are married with one or two children.

For its L7 model, 80 percent of the buyers are adult males aged up to 50.

Li Auto, a prominent Chinese NEV brand, has seen total deliveries in 2023 increase by 182 percent to 376,030 units, with cumulative deliveries surpassing 600,000 vehicles by the end of 2023.

It has operated 467 retail stores in 140 cities. Given the wide range of its user base, sales of consumer products on its official e-store are thriving.

In 2021, the e-store launched over 500 in-car wireless microphones priced at 365 yuan. They sold out within 25 minutes. Another batch of 1,800 units a few days later also quickly sold out within one hour.

A creative product with a cultural touch not only generates buzz for the brand but serves as a medium for emotional communication between the brand and consumers.

As Chinese NEV startups tasted branding success through creative consumer products with a cultural touch, traditional vehicle producers ranging from Geely to Volkswagen jumped on the niche e-commerce bandwagon.

Dongfeng Nissan has invested in the consumer product development category in recent years to foster its brand and reputation while enhancing interactions with car owners.

In 2020, the Sino-Japanese joint venture, which serves more than 16 million consumers, introduced its own consumer brand "Good Things", under which products like classic badges, 26 classic models and a new brand logo are retailed.

And then, in the following two years, Dongfeng Nissan continued to launch various consumer products, from the collaborative mahjong set, the "Father's Love Like a Mountain" wine set, to the "Cloud Map" electric boarding luggage.

Contact the writers at wangzhuoqiong@chinadaily.com.cn