Product Knowledge Gives Consumers Confidence to Buy Online

If consumers are to select a product and purchase it online, they need to feel confident they have the information to do it right. Sometimes that can be a barrier to completing the sale.

For example, automotive tires are a fast-growing product category in eCommerce because consumers are looking to save money on these products that are expensive and are purchased every few years — or more often, in the case of damage or when different tires are needed for different seasons.

At the same time, many consumers have been nervous about buying tires online because they’re not sure they’d be ordering the right size and specifications for their vehicle. The information is on the sidewall of the tire, but it’s in an alphanumeric code and it’s not something consumers look at every day. Even if they’re sure they’ve found it, they must then type it into the website.

“There are so many people who just don’t want to worry about that and want to be sure that they have the right number,” Lukas Kinigadner, CEO and co-founder of Anyline, told PYMNTS.

Uncertainty Turns Consumers Away from eCommerce

This uncertainty often leads consumers to instead go to a brick-and-mortar retailer to buy tires, because staffers there will determine the information and help select the tires.

Anyline aims to solve this challenge with a tire size scanning tool that can be integrated into the websites and apps of online retailers. Powered by machine learning and computer vision, this solution uses the consumer’s phone’s camera to scan the tire, determine the size and specs and share them with the retailer, which can then show the shopper the proper tires.

To the consumer, this solution appears as a button on the retailer’s website that they can tap to get the process started. Because this option appears at the time that would normally be a barrier to the purchase — the moment when a site asks about the size of the tires — this solves the problem and retains the shopper.

“We believe that this will smooth out that whole buying experience to an extent where the vast majority of people would stay in that whole buying experience and not churn away into more conventional channels,” Kinigadner said.

Consumers Don’t Want to Download Apps for Single Use

Tire store staffers also use a scanning solution to determine not only the tire’s size and specifications but also age and whether it’s the subject of a recall. Technology speeds the process and improves accuracy.

The Anyline product is offered to enterprises as software-as-a-service (SaaS) on a yearly subscription basis, and payments are made as part of the set-up process. It’s a white-label solution that can be integrated into a company’s consumer-facing website and app or on its employees’ camera-enabled devices.

“On the consumer side, what we see is that more and more people do not want to download and install apps for a single-purpose experience,” Kinigadner said. “We see that people want to be able to go on a mobile website and have a similar experience without an app.”

Knowledge Puts Customers in the Driver’s Seat

When consumers have the information they need, they can shop proactively rather than buying tires in a hurried fashion when a dealer or shop tells them their tires need to be replaced. Armed with product information, they can shop online, boosting an eCommerce market that’s already been growing.

“With eCommerce, customers can fundamentally change that and get back into the driver’s seat of that whole experience of buying tires,” Kinigadner said. “Who doesn’t want to do that? So, I believe that is the reason for that entire market to grow in that way.”