A few days ago, the smart brand announced that it will accelerate the construction of the D2C direct sales agency business network, and 150 independent sales and service outlets will open this year.
Among them, in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Smart will build 6 theme flagship centers. Other types of sales and service outlets will gradually spread out in more than 40 first-tier, new first-tier and second-tier cities.
In April last year, Smart announced the adoption of the D2C direct sales agency business model in the Chinese market. The specific approach of this model is to create an APP with full-scenario functional integration for users online, and build facilities including CBD supermarket showrooms, brand centers, delivery and maintenance centers and other facilities offline.
The advantage is that Smart can grasp the right to sell, ensure a unified and stable price system, and directly provide users with vehicle delivery services. At the same time, recruiting partners are responsible for providing users with a sales experience and after-sales service, but do not have to bear inventory.
After a year, online, smart has built an APP "smart car", including car purchase, information, peripheral, co-creation and other functions, as well as WeChat mini program "smart car +", in addition to the official said that the online mall will also be officially launched in the near future.
Offline, Smart and the construction of a multi-level sales and service network, so that online services can be successfully landed. It is reported that smart's main partners are LixingXing Automobile, Yongda Group, C&D Group, Jitianxia Holdings and other luxury car distribution groups.
In the early morning of April 8, Beijing time, the smart genie #1, a small pure electric SUV model jointly created by Mercedes-Benz and Geely, officially made its world debut in Berlin.
The new car is built on the Geely Haohan SEA architecture, the design is led by Mercedes-Benz, Geely is responsible for engineering development, will be produced and listed in China in 2022, and will be sold overseas in the future.
It is understood that the smart brand was born in 1998, which is a mini car brand of Daimler, with global sales of 150,000 vehicles in 2012. But as the market for A00-class models shrinks, smart is in a slump, with global sales of just 38,500 units in 2021.
Subsequently, Mercedes-Benz and Geely cooperated to seek a turnaround for the smart brand, and the two sides formed a joint venture in January 2020.
As the first model launched after the establishment of a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Geely, Smart has moved away from the mini-car "human design" and aimed at the compact electric vehicle segment, while adopting a new sales channel.
From the change of product positioning, the use of agent direct sales model can be seen that smart is fully prepared for a new start, but still faces a lot of competitive pressure, the domestic electric vehicle market is in a scuffle, how to rebuild consumer brand recognition is also particularly critical.
However, the current high-end pure electric car market is still in a blank. Compared with the popular Model 3 and ID.3, smart genie #1 is more niche personality; compared with Euler Good Cat and BYD Dolphin, it will be more high-end in the brand; and the old rival MINI pure electricity will be put into production next year, and now it is more worrying about the price.