Trait of e-commerce business is grilling every sector into its fashion, where the auto industry isn’t left for an exception. In India, we have seen the two-wheelers went online for a sale during the recent months, but none of the four-wheelers did so, until we reported the BMW i3 went on sale across Amazon in Japan. Now, the hot pick for the geeks of internet is, a renowned Chinese website will retail cars of BMW, MINI and Jaguar Land Rover via its e-commerce portal. Named as ‘Alibaba’, it is the Chinese substitute for Amazon and e-Bay.
Thus, this portal isn’t the first one to do so. The Tmall.com too is doing the same job since 2014, and till date it has sold more than 120,000 cars of 50 different brands from 10,000 dealerships.
Reportedly, at the Shanghai Auto Show the trio signed an agreement of memorandum of understanding which says, the Tmall.com will remain major platform of group in e-commerce.
Thus, the reason for signing a deal with Alibaba is to keep the cash register ringing during the time when Chinese economy is going slow for a while. And the problem arisen with BMW, with regards to its MINI, the car is perceived of feminist class in the country. Going by the sources, Alibaba has already sold 75 MINIs online. So, profit for those carmakers is ensured with the increased footfalls sourced via clicks on the internet. Just thinking, are other carmakers in the league of moving to this same strategic route?