Commerce Opportunities in Connected Vehicles

Merchants and OEMs need a car commerce strategy

While in-car commerce is a nascent industry, the amount of consumer spend that can be brought into cars is virtually limitless. As cars become connected and eventually autonomous, what drivers can do from their seats is evolving. Vehicle differentiation is shifting from hardware to software; now is the time for merchants and OEMs to strategise how they will engage with this shift.

Touch-based platforms are popular now but voice will be the commerce winner

OEM-developed software competes for in-car screen space with smartphone mirroring platforms such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The only car-based commerce platforms currently available use touch controls. Advanced voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa circumvent the competition for screen space and enable in-car commerce without drivers taking their eyes off of the road.

There are divergent ways through which automakers are pursuing in-car commerce development

There are only two known automakers that offer in-car commerce opportunities with multiple merchants: GM with its Marketplace platform in the US, and SAIC/Alibaba in China. GM chose to partner in order to roll out Marketplace, while SAIC outsourced nearly all of the infotainment development to Alibaba. A third option for OEMs is building all infotainment software on their own –the strategy Tesla has pursued. However, Tesla does not offer any in-car commerce opportunities.

The near-term will be messy

Consumers have not yet decided whether third-party developed software (e.g., Android), automaker-developed software (e.g., Tesla), or some combination of the two will emerge as the infotainment and car commerce winner. The next few years will be a pivotal, albeit messy, time.