According to statista, the combined number of cars and trucks sold in the US The year.
That’s trillion, with a “t.”
The length and scope of what may be at stake here is what makes this announcement so intriguing.
After all, who said: “Your margin is my chance?”
Oh yes, old Jeff Bezos himself.
There are three big reasons why this announcement could herald a new age for how U.S. consumers purchase automobiles.
Hyundai, the Southern Korean car manufacturer, is known for its price and reliability. It is observed for its limited guarantee of the motor train at 10 years / 100,000 miles. Or, according to the road, it is the basis of the maximum fundamental characteristics of automotive brands. It is utilitarian, an intelligent price, and that will lead to where you have to go.
The same is true, and is not gentle (the opposite, in fact), of Amazon’s electronic commerce experience. It is also the price and help consumers to locate what they want as temporary and temporary as possible, without all elegant bells and whistles of many competition websites.
Hyundai and Amazon are made for others in this regard.
It’s why starting with a fancy automobile brand, one that requires customizations, a level of hand holding, etc., say a Mercedes or a BMW, would never be the right move. The right starting partner for Amazon to sell cars online is a brand that is as true to utilitarianism as Amazon is, a brand that consumers can understand right from the get-go because, cognitively, the idea of buying a car online is already a big enough adjustment for most consumers.
Amazon stands out for the writing of press releases in which they plan to announce new advertising reports to interrupt the market, then paintings to galvanize them. In fact, it is literally a key detail of its approach to solve disorders “painting the other way around. “
No doubt Amazon has taken the same approach here.
The key to success, the things that drive every car buyer mad, are pricing transparency and paperwork. If Amazon, through its reverse engineering process, can make a dent in either one of these two friction points, consumers will come, Ray. They most certainly will come.
Pricing transparency is already one of Amazon points of differentiation as is one-click buying. Should either of these concepts ultimately be grafted onto the auto buying process in some new fangled way, look out.
Because those two ideas, if combined in the right way for car buying, have the makings of something special.
The most interesting (and smartest) angle of the new partnership between Amazon and Hyundai is that Hyundai dealers still appear to be a key part of the car buying process.
According to an Amazon press release, the envisioned “new digital shopping experience will make it easy for customers to purchase a new car online, and then pick it up or have it delivered by their local dealership at a time that works best for them. Customers will be able to search on Amazon for available vehicles in their area based on a range of preferences, including model, trim, color, and features; choose their preferred car; and then check out online with their chosen payment and financing options—all within the Amazon experience they already know and trust.”
Translation: Although the total concept is great and revolutionary, it is actually just a reskin of a concept that discovered its legs through the retail sale of pandemic – bopis, aka “buy online, collected in the store. ” It is only in this case, “in the store” it is replaced through “in concentration. “
And, that is a great explanation why the total concept can paint well.
Customers, across every age group, are now comfortable with searching online and then going to a location to pick up their goods. The pandemic forced everyone to adopt this new shopping habit, and it, more than anything, is one habit that has stuck around.
For example, recent studies recommend that in 2022 (almost 3 full years into the pandemic), there was a 66% construction in the number of online shoppers who used the collection from the street last year. This statistic, combined with the fact that now more than 50% of primary retail chains are also offering the service, implies that Bopis and the curb are there to stay.
Imagine, believe how delicious the groceries to buy cars would be delighted if the only steps required in the concessionaire will pass there to inspect the car, take it for a quick test and then a click to buy.
It sounds too clever to be true because it is, and therein lies the strength of Amazon’s press release, which, in this case, is no doubt pre-written in a similar vein and shared internally on Amazon.
Amazon isn’t so much a retailer as it is the infrastructure provider for how retail can be done better. From its online marketplace to AWS to its Just Walk Out technology, Amazon’s brilliance lies in figuring out what makes consumer experiences better and then honing them to the point where consumers can no longer live without them.
The procedure of buying a Hyundai can very well do just that: the first vertebra of a column created through Amazon for how car purchases can and deserve to be greater in the 21st century.