It appears in high-end and retail, everybody is going experiential. And that’s where electrical adventure-vehicle maker Rivian (RIVN) wishes to be.
With a shipment target of 50,000 cars this year, the EV-maker sees retail and experiential places as one method to increase purchaser interest and sales, specifically in the locations it views as crucial — huge cities on the East and West Coasts, along with cities with greater per-capita earnings like Chicago, Denver, and Atlanta.
On Friday, Rivian revealed its latest principle, which the business is calling Spaces, in New York’s fashionable Meatpacking District. Think of it as a location where visitors can see Rivian cars kitted up with bike racks, overlanding camping tents, and things like that, in addition to locations for visitors to lounge and get concepts for outside activities through crowdsourced ideas. The business is likewise providing merch and products like its super-handy flashlight, the one that normally comes developed into its cars, for sale.
“There is just something that resonates with people in physical experience,” Rivian senior director of retail, Denise Cherry, said in an interview with Yahoo Finance at NYC location. “You can see a video and you can hear someone talk about something, but for you to get into the car itself and to touch and feel the materials, and to see how our brand and our mission come to life in physical space, there’s just something that really builds a lasting relationship with our customers.”
Cherry says the Spaces — which are coming next to Chicago, Vancouver, and Seattle — are more than a space for interested buyers and pre-order holders, they are also for current owners too. The company plans to hold events for groups like owners clubs, and to hold community based-events like pet adoptions to foster stronger ties to the locality where the Spaces exist.
That being said the retail locations need to help the company achieve its goals of profitability in the coming years, and that means sales. Rivian notes that at the end of Q1 2023 the company delivered nearly 30,000 vehicles since start of production in September 2021, and produced nearly 35,000. Rivian’s target for this year is 50,000 shipments this year alone is huge one — specifically for trucks that start around $73,000.
At the moment, the company isn’t revealing sales metrics it anticipates from the Spaces. “I think for us, [physical retail is] really core about building our brand and building our awareness, and eventually, that will lead to ‘top of funnel’,” Cherry said, describing informing and drawing in consumers. “But we really want to meet our customers where they are, and get people super excited about being able to touch the product.”
That being said, it’s not difficult to see the brand-new retail places quickly reaching “bottom of funnel,” or purchasers who remain in the acquiring phase who want to test drive cars and being in the driver’s seat prior to shooting on a purchase.
The concern is whether those retail purchasers suffice to move the needle for a business that already has countless pre-order holders awaiting shipment.
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Pras Subramanian is a press reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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