Something for the weekend: Employers looking to procure company cars for their workforce have a range of options available to them. And organisations in China may soon have a n additional one to add to that list. Chinese online shopping organisation Tmall has come up with an innovative car shopping experience to save time: an automotive vending machine.
Tmall, owned by the Alibaba Group, plans to launch its car shopping experience later this year to provide Chinese drivers with the country’s first car vending machine. Currently, the only other car vending machine is in Singapore, operated by a different organisation.
Individuals looking to buy new wheels will be able to browse the range of cars available on their smartphones, making their purchase digitally. The corresponding cars will be stored in a huge garage-like building. Once bought, the chosen car will then be delivered to its new owner at ground level.
If consumers use Alibaba’s credit-scoring system, Sesame Credit, the purchasing process could be even quicker, because anyone with over 750 points on the credit system will be able to select their chosen model online, pay a 10% initial fee, and drive away in their new car immediately. This will be followed up with monthly payments to repay the full value of the car.
Yu Wei, general manager, automotive division at Tmall, said: “It will make buying cars as easy as buying a can of Coke. The era of online car shopping has already arrived.”
Here at Employee Benefits, we have considerable expertise in online shopping, so a digitally accessible car vending machine could prove far too dangerous for our receipt-laden wallets…