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Is the Millennial car shopper Amazon’s next big audience?

Written by RetailWire Staff

Source: Amazon

Amazon Prime Now members in Los Angeles and Orange County, California have been able to treat themselves to a test drive of a 2017 Hyundai Elantra over the past few weekends, according to TechCrunch. Prime Now customers in the test markets are able to schedule a two-hour window for the 45-to-60 minute test drive. "Trained experts” deliver the cars. Shortly after the beginning of the Hyundai partnership, Amazon announced the launch of a site called Amazon Vehicles, a research destination and community meant to help people with the notoriously complicated process of purchasing a vehicle. Amazon Vehicles will integrate with the Amazon Automotive store, which enables users to shop for individual car parts. The site will present specifications, images, videos and extensive customer reviews. “Our goal is to support customers during one of the most important, research-intensive purchases in their lives by helping them make informed decisions every step of the way,” said Adam Goetsch, director of automotive at Amazon.com, in a statement. Cars might seem like a strange place for Amazon's focus given that Millennials are said to drive and purchase them at a lower rate than previous generations. But more Millennials might relish the opportunity to test drive a Hyundai, and find it convenient to research a car online, than one might expect. In January, an article in Bloomberg challenged the conventional wisdom that Millennials aren’t buying cars, citing a J.D. Power study indicating that in 2014, the portion of new vehicles purchased by Millennials had jumped 9 percent in four years. The article also noted that the desire to have internet-connected, environmentally-sound automobiles may inspire Millennials to go for new, rather than used, vehicles

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