LeEco, the Chinese tech manufacturer, content provider and new Vizio parent, is bringing its line of titular phones and TVs to retail.
The products, which made their U.S. trade debut in the fall, have thus far been sold direct through the company’s LeMall website in a series of intermittent flash sales. But starting Dec. 1, the devices became available at select Best Buy locations and wireless dealers (100 stores in all), and online at Amazon, BestBuy.com and Target.com, the vendor said.
LeEco’s e-commerce site has also officially opened with 24/7 service.
Following the Amazon model, the products are competitively priced and tied through a proprietary interface to a content and services catalog, where LeEco hopes to make back its investment.
“We continue to bring to life our vision of a connected ecosystem that puts content at the center of the experience,” noted Danny Bowman, chief revenue officer, LeEco North America. “We’ve had tremendous success with our direct-to-consumer e-commerce site, LeMall.com, but we’re thrilled to be working with the top retailers to make our products more accessible.”
Those products will include the company’s Le Pro3 and Le S3 GSM smartphones and Super4 X Series and uMax 4K UHD LED-TVs. To help kick them off at retail, LeEco is offering free-with-purchase access to DirecTV Now for up to one year, in an introductory offer that’s good through Jan. 5.
The company, which also sells bicycles, VR goggles and electric cars, recently received a $600 million finance infusion after CEO Jia Yueting warned that the business was overextended, and cut his salary to 1 yuan (about 15 cents) a year.
TVs brought to retail include the 4K Super4 X series and the top-of-the-line 4K uMax85. The 5.5-inch GSM phones include the Le Pro3 and the Le S3.
LeEco paid $2 billion to purchase Vizio in July.
