Thursday, August 25, 2016

Amazon Wants To Show You Cars Online, But Won’t Actually Sell One To You

In yet another effort to strengthen its grip on e-commerce and infiltrate shoppers’ lives even more deeply, Amazon.com has just launched a new online car-browsing tool.

You won’t actually be able to buy a car from Amazon Vehicles, however, as it’s more of an online showcase with listings for car specifications and reviews, aimed at helping shoppers research car purchases, the company says.

Potential new car owners can type in the model they’re interested in, and then browse by year, make, model, fuel economy, or customer rating. There’s also an “community engagement” aspect, with customer reviews and a feature where shoppers can ask questions, perhaps about a specific model.

At the same time, Amazon is trying to gently steer shoppers towards its Amazon Automotive store, where it will definitely sell folks parts and accessories for those cars.

“More and more customers are turning to Amazon for researching products, and now we’re enabling that experience for vehicles — which is one of the most important, research-intensive purchases in customers’ lives,” an Amazon spokeswoman told The Seattle Times.


by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

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