This article is from 42HOW Community Ruokexi (WeChat: QJY0611666), a marketing practitioner in the Norwegian retail industry.
Editor’s note: On November 25, 2017, NIO House, the first NIO House of NIO, was officially opened at Dongfang Plaza on Beijing Chang’an Street, with an area of over 3000 square meters and a prime location, instantly establishing a “high-end” image in consumers’ minds. After more than three years of development, NIO House has been a great success in China.
On April 28, 2021, NIO officially announced the country where its first NIO House in the overseas market is located. Today, 42HOW community members have dug up the location of the first NIO House store and provided a detailed analysis of the surrounding environment. Enjoy~
On April 28, NIO announced on all its platforms that the strategic conference for the first step in the overseas market, Norway, will be live-streamed online on May 6.
Marius Hayler, NIO Norway’s general manager, also posted on the NIO community on the same day, stating that the conference will mainly introduce NIO’s preparations in Norway, and also gave a sneak peek of the address of the first NIO HOUSE in Oslo.
(Not sure if you noticed, but at the beginning of this year’s NIO Day, Bin Ge had “secretly leaked” the address of the NIO HOUSE in Oslo.)
Multiple official sneak peeks have aroused the curiosity of NIO fans! Community users with excellent investigation skills used some kind of earth software to simulate a remote visit on the same day, striving to become the first person to remotely check in at the overseas NIO HOUSE.
Bilbransje24, a local automotive media outlet in Norway, was the first to interview Mr. Marius Hayler, who was appointed as the general manager/CEO of NIO Norway in a report published on April 12.
The report also revealed the address and pictures of the first NIO House showroom in Norway. Mr. Marius later shared the report in his LinkedIn feed, indirectly indicating his jump to NIO Norway through the media.
Taking advantage of NIO’s full network announcement of its Norway strategy, let’s go to the Norwegian capital, Oslo, and explore what the NIO House, NIO’s first stop in the overseas market, looks like, and actively participate in the real-life sneak peek.
Hello, Norway; Hello, Karl Johans Gate# The first NIO House in Norway is located on Karl Johans Gate, the main street of Oslo.
Whether you are a Norwegian or a tourist from around the world, you will not be unfamiliar with Karl Johans Gate when you come to Oslo. It is the busiest main street in the city center, covering almost all of the important historical landmarks and the densest shops in the city center in just one kilometer.
From the plain and simple Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Norway in the west (built before the discovery of oil in Norway), to the Oslo Central Train Station in the east, in the middle, we have the University of Oslo Square, Oslo National Theater Square, churches, parliament buildings, etc.
The first NIO House in Norway is located at the corner of the famous Paleet Duke’s Boutique, also the lower right corner of this old photo, located in the core area of Karl Johans Gate, between the royal palace and the central train station.
Currently, Karl Johans Gate looks like an ordinary pedestrian street in Europe. This is because Oslo is still under lockdown due to the recent COVID-19 epidemic. Except for daily food supermarkets, all other shops are closed to the outside, and restaurants can only provide take-out services. Most Norwegians are still working from home, and every street is very deserted.
During normal times, especially during the summer tourism peak season, the street is as lively as Shanghai’s Nanjing Road pedestrian street. In winter, the most characteristic Christmas market in Oslo is located opposite the Paleet Duke’s Boutique at the Fountain Square, facing the NIO House.
There is no exaggeration that when tourists from all over the world come to Oslo, they will definitely come to this street to check in and pass by the NIO House. However, NIO’s entry into Norway and the heavy investment in building its first overseas NIO House is not mainly for tourists to check in and visit.
According to data from the Norwegian Statistics Bureau, Norwegian overseas tourists are mainly European tourists, with the largest number of foreign tourists visiting Norway coming from Germany.
The main function of the NIO House is to showcase cars to potential car owners and provide comprehensive user services for NIO car owners. Who are the car owners? Local Norwegians! Will NIO’s location on Karl Johans Gate in Norway attract local potential customers to visit the store? The answer is, sure it will!# Karl Johan Street, which is not only the main commercial street in Oslo, but also a presence similar to Chang’an Street in Beijing in the hearts of the Norwegian people.
In the sparsely populated country of Norway, with a population of only over 5 million, on May 17th, the Norwegian Constitution Day (National Day), the crowd flow and density of the Barnetog children’s parade on this street is no less than that of the Shanghai Bund New Year’s Eve lighting show. In June, there is also the Pride Month parade, which is simply spectacular.
Hello Number 33
Karl Johan Hotel, which has a long history, is located at No. 33 Karl Johan Street, where the NIO House store is located as part of the Duke Shopping Center.
So, why mention this hotel?
Because it was recently completely renovated, including the storefront leased by NIO. The whole Karl Johan Street is basically a historic preservation building, and the shops are all prime locations. There are not many places that are suitable for showrooms, where cars can be driven in, and where you can have a 1700-square-meter grand and luxurious space.
If it weren’t for the hotel’s renovation, even if NIO had a lot of money, they might not be able to rent this 1700-square-meter store in this prime location. NIO’s luck is simply incredible!
Currently, it looks like this “construction site, no entry!”
So, with all this said, what does NIO’s first store in Norway, No. 33 Karl Johan Street, actually look like?
Well, for now, it’s empty! As of the week of April 28th, the construction team has just started to build construction fences and barriers, and the large glass windows have just been covered with paper. This is the first week of work.
According to observation, there are about 10 display windows on the first floor of the NIO House store.
On Karl Johan Street leading to the palace, there are two golden window positions on the front door of the hotel on the two levels. The left window will be planned as the NIO Cafe/Bar coffee shop and bar.
Coffee and alcohol are two cultural liquids that are integrated into the blood of the Norwegian people. NIO House has placed these two functional areas on the main street side, forming an ecosystem with the nearby historic restaurants and cafes, which can be said to be very down-to-earth, and fully cater to the preferences of the Norwegian people.
In the future, NIO’s Norwegian car owners should also be able to redeem special drinks with points.
On the right side of the hotel main entrance and the corner of Rosenkrantz street leading to Oslo pier, NIO’s first-floor store has more than 10 large windows for major car displays. It is a medieval stone building with concrete floors and minimalist glass windows.
NIO’s two-floor store includes the ground floor and the basement.
The basement will cover several core areas of NIO house: a library with a fireplace, Joy Camp children’s area, meeting room or shared space. It is unknown how the interior design will be revealed.
In addition, the first-floor display windows of NIO’s store are facing the famous and historically significant Grand Hotel, which is the preferred hotel for heads of state visiting Norway. Norwegian people with strong nationalism also spend a lot of money ordering suites with terraces during the National Day, where they can have a high view of the magnificent parade and see the royal family waving to the crowd from the balcony of the palace in the distance. Although NIO’s store only has one floor, at least it is the best place for admiring the view. How many points do NIO car owners need to advance book?
Not the First, Not the Least
Although there are not many details to be discussed about the current on-site scenes we can see, NIO’s first overseas store is still worth anticipating.
NIO will be the first Chinese new energy vehicle brand to establish its own independent store and showroom in the bustling area of Oslo city center for display in Norway and even throughout Europe.
NIO is not the first car brand to have a showroom in Oslo city center.
In 2019, Polestar opened the “car space exhibition” trend in the Oslo central business district at the corner of Øvre Slottsgate and Prinsens street, establishing a relatively new display space on the Norwegian car market: the Polestar space.
Speaking of the site selection considerations for Polerstar, they are also very excellent!The street where it locates gathers well-known boutique design brands in Northern Europe, and of course, many international trendy brands also have opened their stores on this street. The first stores of Chinese technology companies DJI and Xiaomi are located just across the street from Polar Star.
There are also two other boutique department stores in this block, and Oslo’s luxury shopping street is just a stone’s throw away from NIO and Polar Star, only a hundred meters away.
So where did Tesla, NIO’s overseas competitor, open its stores?
Its stores are not in the downtown commercial street, Tesla directly opens a car service center with integrated retail and delivery in the Skøyen district, which is booming in the western part of downtown Oslo.
Apart from the headquarters of many wealthy companies and enterprises nearby, the most practical thing is that there are wealthy people of Oslo in every household.
Tesla directly uses an existing factory building in the Skøyen district for design, allowing Norwegian customers to pick up cars directly in a relatively central area. By this reckoning, Tesla is estimated to be the first car brand to open a retail store in the city center.
Turning back to NIO’s overseas first NIO House, it is expected to open in September this year.
But it is challenging to open on time in September. The construction speed in Oslo is not as fast as in China, especially now that Oslo is in the lockdown stage of the epidemic and it will take some time to gradually reopen the society.
Although NIO currently has an advantageous position in the city center of Oslo, if it fails to open on time, other domestic brands may make other moves before NIO does.
It would be disappointing if NIO, which everyone is eagerly waiting for, delays the opening.
So far, the construction progress is estimated to be only 5%. Good luck to you. Hope it won’t be criticized as opening a store with a PPT!
For more NIO Norway strategic information and store layout details, let’s explore together on the NIO Norway press conference on May 6th.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.