Amazon tests ‘Treasure Truck’ service In Seattle
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Retail TouchPoints website.
Amazon is rolling out a Treasure Truck delivery service in the Seattle area. The truck provides consumers with access to limited-quantity goods on sale every day.
The truck appears to encourage consumers to try Amazon’s mobile app but also to get them used to one-hour and same-day delivery.
"Treasure Truck is a new way for Amazon customers to order and pickup highly desirable, limited-quantity products, food, and more," Amazon wrote on Treasure Truck’s webpage. "Treasure Truck features one can’t-miss item per day, several days per week. Each day is unique."
The service promises to offer "a wide-range of amazing items, such as popular consumer products, hard-to-find and exclusive gourmet foods, items from local producers with a unique story, and more."
![[Image: Amazon Seattle Treasure Truck]](/public/images/discussions/18398/treasure-truck-still.jpg)
Consumers can purchase from the Treasure Truck by using the Amazon mobile shopping app, clicking the "Buy Now" button and choosing a convenient location and time slot. Consumers also can show up at a pickup location and purchase a product on the spot.
Shoppers can sign up for push notifications or follow the company’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to find out what items the truck will deliver on a daily basis.
The first Treasure Truck was scheduled to begin delivering products to select pickup locations in Seattle neighborhoods on June 27, but the launch was delayed.
The Treasure Truck’s first offering is a $99 Solstice Bali paddleboard set, which typically retails for $476.99. Other upcoming deals include an exclusive, limited edition Glassybaby tealight glass candleholder, two porterhouse 24-oz steaks for $20 and a Firmstrong Beach Cruiser bicycle for $99.
While the items on the Treasure Truck are often discounted products, Amazon will not overstock the truck with items or other surplus goods.
Amazon has not yet announced plans to bring the Treasure Truck to other markets.
Discussion Questions
What do you see as the potential benefits of Treasure Truck? Will such special perks or rewards be necessary to encourage consumers to use retail apps and/or same-day and hourly delivery?
Poll
BrainTrust
Richard J. George, Ph.D.
Professor of Food Marketing, Haub School of Business, Saint Joseph's University
Interesting experiment. A treasure hunt effect, instant gratification for a small subset of loyalists and low-CPM brand impressions could all make this worth the effort.
Well, it’s an interesting way for Amazon to learn the perils of direct delivery and it will clearly build media buzz and generate some additional customer interest — assuming the test extends beyond one or two markets.
Eventually the special perks/rewards gimmicks won’t be necessary as a critical mass of shoppers shift their purchasing behavior, but for now the “hook” of app shopping still needs attractive “bait.”
The real questions are: how long will the experiment be conducted, will there be other markets and, if so, what will the selection criteria be, and how committed is Amazon to the project’s success?
Until we have answers for those questions, looks like another interesting guerrilla marketing campaign.
Amazon continues to experiment with different delivery options. Besides the same-day delivery advantage, the Treasure Truck takes a page from Costco’s Treasure Hunt phenomenon. Shoppers love a treasure hunt, not knowing what is available each day.
Absolutely! Just like food trucks have become a cult following, Amazon’s Treasure Truck will likely have the same if the deals and product mix are compelling.
Treasure Truck is an inexpensive way for Amazon to get consumers to interact with its mobile apps on a daily basis. By offering deeply discounted deals, Amazon reinforces its image as the low-price leader. Restricting sales to its app and a few trucks limits the company’s financial exposure. I hope they introduce the Treasure Truck to Los Angeles soon.
Love this idea. First, it gets customers to engage in doing business with Amazon. Fine for current customers, but great for new customers. Second, it continues to position them as a low price leader, as they have done for many years. Third, it may cause certain customers to check every day for a great deals, again causing customer engagement. Fourth, it may allow them to reduce inventory of overstocked items. Fifth, it may showcase some of the same-day and hourly deliver, which customers still aren’t used to.
It does remind me of the food truck concept. Tools, like Snap-on, are sold out of trucks that visit repair shops. In this case though, it sounds like you have to find and visit the truck at one of its locations, which is another trip a shopper has to make in their car. I don’t think I’d be interested in chasing down a truck, even for a good deal. But as a marketing tool, sure.
Brilliant. The Blue Light Special meets the neighborhood ice cream truck. PLUS they are making it fun—take a look at that experience design: the truck, the bag, real face-to-face physical engagement.
Oh, yeah and people, whether they actually do this or not, start thinking about Amazon the way they do physical stores: “Oh, I’ll just get it now (ish).”
Brilliant, indeed.
This is about deals, not instant delivery. The truck concept is a clever “third” logistical model for bargains. Costco makes use of in-store traffic. Coinstar tried and failed with discount electronics and fashion kiosks. The treasure truck plus mobile ordering creates a hybrid food-truck-meets-Uber-door-buster.
Demand is the hard part. Supply is easy. Amazon has no shortage of overstocked items.
The brand awareness benefits are a fantastic by-product of the deals (or is it the other way around?). I’d like them to add a distinctive sound to beckon shoppers, like the ice cream truck jingle or Harley engine rev.
By testing now, they’ll have the model tuned in time for the holiday season.