Chinese retail giant Suning may offer consumers a big discount on Nio cars in its upcoming shopping promotion.
Local media quoted a Suning insider as saying that cars would be a must for the platform's "September 9 Super Discount" campaign and that it is still sorting out which brand to choose, which could be Nio, BMW, Mercedes, or Audi.
It's become a common practice for Chinese retail giants to offer big subsidies to attract consumers to their platforms.
During the August 28 shopping promotion, Suning offered a Jaguar sedan with a manufacturer's guide price of RMB 281,800 yuan. Suning was offering a subsidy of RMB 97,300 yuan to allow consumers to buy the car for only RMB 184,500 yuan.
The car sold out in just 4.5 minutes after becoming available. The case also showed Suning that consumers can be attracted to higher-priced products by offering attractive subsidies.
In late July, a merchant in Pinduoduo offered a 40,000-percent discount on China-made Model 3s, which was also quickly sold out.
However, this behavior was later questioned by Tesla, and a car owner in Wuhan had been refused delivery by Tesla. Although the owner eventually got his Model 3, he had a difficult time getting the car delivered to him.
For Nio, there was a partnership with Suning.
On August 5, cnTechPost reported that Nio signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Suning to collaborate in the areas of channel expansion, product sales, consumer services, branding, technology products, and development.
The agreement was signed during a visit to Suning's Nanjing headquarters by Nio Chairman and CEO Li Bin and marks the first time Nio has worked with a major retail company in China.
Under the agreement, Suning Plaza projects across the country will move forward with the construction of Nio Houses and Nio Space showrooms.
Suning's offline locations such as Suning Plaza and Suning Hotel will work with Nio to create a charging station customer service system.
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