When we think of a vending machine, the idea always seems to think small. Some seek to buy a soft drink, others a bag of chips or a sandwich, but why not think big and launch into a lot more ambitious market like cars?
That’s right, this is the challenge that the Alibaba e-commerce company has set itself, with which it hopes to revolutionize the way in which it meets the needs of buyers in the middle of the street.
Of course, it will not catch us by hand. At the moment there will be only one, one in Shanghai and one in Nanjing. The idea is that the process is done online, without any kind of human interaction: first you see a car that you like on the street, you take a picture of it with the company’s application and they are the ones that indicate when you can go to try it and, if you liked it, buy it.
To be able to take it you will only have to identify who you are with a facial recognition image. The car you have chosen will be delivered to you in the nearest “vending machine” (called Tmall Auto) and you can use the car for at least 3 days.
If the car meets your expectations, you will only have to pay the rest of the payment through your mobile phone or return it. The variety of cars is wide and that’s where their fort resides, since they expect to have as many different cars as possible, which will allow the buyer to get what they want at the time they want.
Where is the trick?
For the moment, to be able to access that future service it is necessary to be a “Super Member” within the Alibaba platform and reach a certain level within the platform’s scoring system. In just two months, those who can access the service, can try an average of 5 cars every two months, but all of different brands and models.
This business model is nothing new and there are already businesses of this type in the US and Singapore; But Alibaba hopes to give a boost to this way of buying vehicles.
https://youtu.be/NvJFluC3A5s
