…on this car, please.

Used to be that I thought vending a business card from a machine at motorway service stations was a (briefly distracting) novelty. But here’s the thing, what about coin-op for collecting your next car?

The story here is rather more to do with fulfillment than show-rooming and sales – it’s intended as the delivery mechanism, the back story tells:

“The vending machine is a bit of a gimmick, meant to promote Carvana’s online car store. (The) Vending Machine cost a lot in time and energy to build,” says Carvana’s Alison Deffner, “because we had to coordinate engineers and architects from all over the world. But it costs almost nothing to run. Customers can use the machine without any charge (apart from buying the car, of course), and still get Carvana’s cheap online prices.”

That aside, it’s an interesting take on how online retailers are bringing physical fulfillment ideas to bear as an integral (and signal) part of the customer experience.

Here’s the full 5-Stories