Amazon Auto Sales Begin with Hyundai
The ecommerce experience that I am most excited to observe in 2024 is Amazon’s partnership with Hyundai whereby consumers will be able to purchase Hyundai vehicles entirely through Amazon. That retail experience will roll out soon. At present consumers may configure a Hyundai vehicle on Amazon’s website before the consumer is passed to a Hyundai dealership to complete the transaction. I am excited for later this year when the entire transaction may be completed entirely on Amazon.
This will get really interesting when new technologies are incorporated into Amazon’s buying experience. Think of:
Mixed Reality: A virtual dealer experience where the consumer observes vehicles on Amazon through Apple’s Vision Pro headset. Hyundai’s software designers ought to be working with Amazon to develop a virtual showroom experience for the Vision Pro now.
Blockchain / Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT): Desking documents (dealer and bank purchase documents that are processed at the auto dealer sales agent’s desk), that are executed via smart contracts on a blockchain network.
Digital Currency: I don’t want to see a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for a variety of reasons, but I would like to see large retailers such as Amazon offer consumers a place to park capital, earn a return on it (monetary and loyalty rewards), and transact with same-day settlement (example: an Amazon-issued digital coin pegged to the Dollar or to some basket of commodities).
