What Tesla teaches us about modern approach to e-commerce

Tesla is unlike any regular car, and you know that already. Electricity driven cars with accessible autopilot made it big in 2014 with it’s Model S and since then, the company has sold over 125k cars. But, their sales happen mostly online, and it’s the first car ever to be delivered to your home door. And that’s just the beginning of what we can learn from Tesla on e-commerce matters.

Monthly Payment Subscription

You can order your Tesla mostly in a monthly payment option, starting from about 1k dollars. This subscription model is unusual for any other company in the car industry, and since an outstanding deal of drivers take a loan for a new vehicle, this makes it much simpler. Businesses on premise rise to a scale, that almost every service or tool can be found being sold in this model. A huge wake-up call for those that still think of one-stop payments. SaaS & any other rental systems are going to be the future, and we are getting more and more used to monthly charges for the services provided to us. This way a negative connotation with banks & credits is eliminated, and it’s “just” a payment, also when it comes to opening an online store. That’s why from the beginning DreamCommerce works in & sells this model.

Customized with a click

If you want to order a Tesla, you can’t avoid the Design Studio, that allows you to modificate and customize your own Tesla model. From the panel you can choose the colour (any other than black will cost you extra 20$ monthly), special interiors also for monthly additional fee and multiple other options like upgrades or autopilot with a rate of about 80$ monthly. There are a lot of options to modify your vehicle, and that’s another e-commerce lesson, that we might take out from Elon Musk’s main product. You can have a look at the Design Studio, to catch a glimpse of the idea — easy & intuitive builder shows how your preferences influence the final price. Customization and personal influence on the final product is something that is happening already, but there are some great examples on making it better and more intuitive.

Web page experience

“Order your Tesla now” is the first thing you see on the car’s webpage, and that only can teach you to make clear Call To Actions. No other moto-company has it as well put as Tesla, usually inviting it’s users for a test ride rather than making it obvious to sell. But, that’s just a part of the selling experience. At Tesla’s webpage you can do more than just buy a car, you can also shop for accessories, gloves, wallets and jackets. Upselling is just a natural thing for Tesla company, and that’s a lesson to be remembered in e-commerce. You can always sell more, because your users are browsing for interesting products that match the previous order. If they are searching for a cabrio car, they will definitely be interested in having a cap & shades. Tesla provides great delivery as well — if you live too far from the showroom, the vehicle will be delivered to your doorstep, and you can always contact Delivery Experience Specialist for more info & comments.

Tesla’s Community

How to keep your customers well maintained? The simplest and most common way is to send newsletters, and e-commerce software like DreamCommerce provides such options. But, here as well Tesla takes a step ahead with customers center & engaging forum for owners. There is a shared sense, that Tesla owners stay connected with the company, and they can do it not only by a desktop experience but also controlling the car via an app, that was designed to monitor and control the vehicle over the phone. App based controls, heat changes inside the vehicle, summoning the car and many more options are not just great user-wise, but give company some extra marketing data on their clients. As you stay with Tesla at all times, it’s easier to target a precise offer on different channels.