Amazon’s Treasure Truck expands nationwide
Even in the age of one-hour delivery, some deals are worth getting off the couch for — or at least that’s the premise behind Amazon’s Treasure Truck. The Seattle-based deals-on-wheels vehicle is taking off on a road trip of sorts to a number of yet-to-be-disclosed cities around the U.S.
With Treasure Truck, Amazon customers receive a text message highlighting the offered deal of the day when the circus-themed truck is nearby. Products appear to be a hodgepodge of Amazon stables, ranging from must-have electronics to meal kits and pool floats. Those who opt to buy the day’s deal from their smartphone, can then pick it up at the truck, making it akin to a mobile pop-up shop.
Previously only offered in Seattle, Treasure Truck’s nationwide expansion was announced Wednesday on Facebook and Twitter with a pirate-themed video where deals are likened to pirates’ booty.
Amazon is staying mum on when and where its trucks will appear, but did indicate that once Treasure Truck expands to a new city, it will be stationed there permanently. Those who are interested can text “truck” to 24193 to receive alerts when the company’s Treasure Truck is in the area.
Seemingly designed as more of a marketing ploy than an actual money-maker, Amazon’s objective is to capture even more data on how people buy online and pick up in store, said Yoram Wurmser, retail analyst at eMarketer. In that vein, the company already operates lockers for ship-to-store-like convenience, is testing grocery pickup in Seattle and will likely use its Whole Foods purchase to push its e-commerce engine further into the physical world.
The Treasure Truck endeavor, then, looks like a new way to test a different angle of online-to-offline commerce, Wurmser said.
“It’s not a program intended to make money,” he added. “The goal seems to be to get as broad a spectrum of people as possible to interact with it.”
Business
jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin
UPDATES:
4:11 p.m. This article was updated with additional details.
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