AI toy brand MarveLab partners with JD.com

Domestic AI designer toy brand MarveLab announced on Tuesday that it will form a comprehensive strategic partnership with JD.com to develop consumer AI hardware, digital content and sales channels, as it seeks to expand a product category combining collectible toys with interactive AI.

Online cooperation will center on JD.com's direct retail operations, including presales, exclusive launches, search exposure and livestreaming. MarveLab also plans to gradually introduce its products into physical retail settings such as JD MALL and JD Home.

The first major initiative of the cooperation is an exclusive JD.com presale of the company's new "Spacetime Phone" product, scheduled for July 3, the company said.

Positioning itself as an emotional-technology brand combining AI with designer toys, the brand said it aims to turn AI into a digital companion capable of building a lasting relationship with users through physical products, digital content, long-term memory and character-based interaction.

The device retention for its first product, RAGUS & WHITE, stood at 73.74 percent after seven days, 61.90 percent after 30 days and 51.45 percent after 60 days, its data showed.

"For a new category combining collectible-toy appeal with AI interaction, the figures point not only to interest in the product's design and concept, but also to sustained demand for character personas, memory and continuing interaction," a company representative said.

The company said it plans to begin overseas expansion in December, with North America as its first priority market and targeting overall sales of 50,000 units this year.