How Ohuhu and Thousandshores turns customers into loyal fans

'Even when we had only 100 customers, we listened to them, understood what they were looking for, and made the exact product they wanted,' says Thousandshores president Eric He

Transcript

Thousandshores is a global ecommerce retailer, representing well-loved and respected brands in markets from consumer electronics to fitness and art supplies – the latter under the brand Ohuhu, which thanks to a dedicated customer relationship team and a number of viral social media successes, has become a firm favourite in the colouring art book space. Eric He, Thousandshores’ president, discusses the strategy behind Ohuhu’s success, and the company’s plans to foster that same support and loyalty for its other brands as it targets growth in Europe.

European CEO: Eric, one of the most important stories about your brands is that they don’t just have customers, they have fans and ambassadors. Tell me about Ohuhu, and how you developed this kind of relationship with your market.

Eric He: Ohuhu is our art brand for artists and hobbyists. From the very first day, we proactively communicated with our customers – even when we had only 100 customers. We listened to them, understood what they were looking for, and made the exact product they wanted.

For example, customers asked for a brush nib, so we created the Honolulu series with both brush and chisel nibs. The first batch of 3,000 pieces sold out in just two hours. Fans then built their own communities online and promoted our brand organically. That’s how we turned customers into fans, and why we say users are the core asset of a brand.

European CEO: So, social media is really core to your marketing and audience engagement strategy: tell me more.

Eric He: Yeah – social media is where we engage with organic users and influencers. For example, a TikTok coloring trend expanded our customer base enormously – even celebrities, from top soccer players to famous singers, used our markers and posted about them.

Beyond that, we have a dedicated consumer insight department that uses AI to automatically monitor social media mentions of our brands and competitors. This real-time feedback helps us understand what people think and gives us a clear edge in our markets.

European CEO: So, how will you continue to leverage this strategy among your others brands as you pursue growth – especially in Europe?

Eric He: Social media breaks down borders, but in Europe language is still a barrier. Our best markets are English-speaking – US, UK, Canada, Australia – while Germany and others lag due to language.

We plan to hire more local influencers and multilingual teams. Our other brands – iClever for kids’ headphones, Tribit for Bluetooth speakers, and Sportneer for home exercise equipment – follow the same philosophy of connecting closely with customers, but we tailor the approach to each market.

Our next big milestone is to get iClever to number one on Amazon, and with Ohuhu’s success behind us, I’m confident we’ll get there.

Watch more with Eric He, explaining how Thousandshores builds brands “for the long haul, not quick wins”.