Find this 1 on Lazada
BMW is partnering Lazada to launch its new 1 Series. Should car salespeople be worried?
Singapore
SOMEONE had to be the first, and it was this 1. BMW is launching its new 1 Series on Lazada, thereby becoming the first car brand in Singapore to introduce its latest model on an e-commerce platform.
Eleven units of the new 118i will go on sale at the site at 8am on Sept 9, as part of the online retailer's 9.9 Sale event.
The Lazada cars come with a sweetener in the form of cheaper financing, with a loan for one costing 1.18 per cent instead of the usual 2.68 per cent.
For a buyer who borrows the maximum 60 per cent of the car's price over seven years, that means an installment that costs S$199 less every month.
But Lazada users won't actually be buying the BMW, which costs S$157,888 with Certificate Of Entitlement, on the site.
Instead, they'll be able to book the car for a refundable deposit of S$500 on BMW's LazMall store within the platform. They then complete the sale at Performance Motors' BMW showroom on Alexandra Road.
It would have been possible to carry out the full sales transaction on the site, but both parties had a different aim in mind, said James Chang, the chief executive of Lazada Singapore.
"We feel that the new 1 Series is the right fit for us to launch this partnership, as it allows us to reach a younger and more tech-savvy customer base that's more receptive towards using an e-commerce platform like us during the car-buying process," he said.
BMW Asia's managing director, Christopher Wehner, called the 1 Series collaboration a "pilot project."
"By partnering with Lazada, we are expanding our customer touchpoints beyond the showroom and bringing the brand to customers in the comfort and convenience of their homes," he said.
BMW is mulling over making other products and services available on Lazada. Users could eventually book test drives on the site, buy spare parts or make service appointments.
"We hope to gain deeper insights into our customers' interest in engaging with the BMW brand via this platform," Mr Wehner said.
For its part, Lazada has dabbled with car sales in other markets. Last year Mini listed 20 Monte Carlo editions of its hatchback for sale on Lazada Philippines, and Volkswagen put 11 units of its Polo hatchback up for grabs on Lazada Malaysia. Both brands put their cars on Lazada as part of a sale on 11.11, otherwise known as Singles Day in the online retail world.
If successful, the collaboration could lead car brands to the realisation that, having groped around in online retail by themselves for years, it might be worthwhile to partner with outsiders who have greater reach; Lazada aims to have 300 million users in South-east Asia by 2030.
Yet, the retailer's CEO sees the collaboration with BMW as way to "synchronise" online and offline sales, instead of replacing showrooms and car salespeople. "If anything, our role is to help drive traffic to the dealership," Mr Chang told The Business Times.
Salespeople may have reason to be wary anyway. The 11 cars that Volkswagen offered on Lazada Malaysia were all sold in less than a minute. If the platform works just as well for BMW here, the 1 Series collaboration could be the first in a series.
