WWD - As consumers crave greater personalization, convenience, ease of use and speed of online shopping, Mavi.io brings to market an “in-car commerce” app that allows shoppers to order goods right from their dashboard. The company’s “Mavi OnMyWay” solution is designed to bring “safe, easy, curated shopping to the dashboard of consumers’ favorite connected cars,” the company said in a statement, adding that the solution will be available via the Harman Ignite Store connected vehicle platform beginning in mid-2022 in vehicles that are equipped with Harman Ignite.
“Drivers can use Mavi to request that their connected cars recommend, order, pay for and coordinate pickup of coffee, meals, groceries and need-it-now items like phone chargers, flowers and personal care products,” the company stated. “In addition, they can use Mavi to coordinate with service providers like dry cleaners and parking garages, so they can make fewer trips and get what they need whenever and wherever they’re driving.”
Mavi.io is piloting the app with two retail partners, BurgerFi and Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings. Additional partnerships are expected to be revealed later in the second quarter.
Behind the launch of the platform is a $1.78 million investment from an affiliate of the Jay Schottenstein family along with a group of angel investors that includes former Amazon executives and other retail leaders, Mavi.io said.
Mavi’s OnMyWay commerce solution works by calculating the optimal location to order from “based on a driver’s route, destination and timing as well as a store’s or restaurant’s current inventory,” the company said, noting that the technology“facilitates hands-free or dashboard ordering and payment using the driver’s preprogrammed information, and then coordinates all logistics, telling the driver exactly where to park to pick up curbside and ensuring staff can prepare and bring the order out to the driver’s car right on time.”
By offering instant in-car commerce, Mavi.io said its solution also provides consumers “with a more sustainable way to shop, helping reduce the number of trips drivers need to make and eliminating the added traffic congestion, packaging and fuel associated with at-home deliveries from stores that shoppers are already driving past.”
Cynthia Hollen, chief executive officer and cofounder of Mavi.io, said, “[Drivers] love the convenience of curbside pickup and they want to be able to shop from their cars safely and efficiently in order to make the most of each trip.” She said Mavi OnMyWay gives consumers “a safe and easy way to shop from the driver’s seat, whether it’s for something they need en route, like coffee, a snack or gas; something they’ll need when they arrive at their destination, like a phone charger or a parking spot, or groceries or a pizza to take home for dinner.”
“For retailers and service providers, Mavi’s in-car marketplace brings customers back to their store doors and drives new customer acquisition, sales and loyalty, ensuring they can meet their on-the-go customers’ needs for immediacy and convenience,” Hollen said.
The other angel investors in Mavi.io’s seed round included: James Thomson, chief strategy officer at Buy Box Experts and former head of business for selling on Amazon; Thomas Plaster, a former principal product manager and senior business development manager at Amazon; Debbie Kiederer, founder and principal of ChalkDust Consulting and president of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization of NY, and the Double S Group, a South Florida technologyinvestment group.
Naoki Ogishi, director of product management at Harman Ignite Store, said the store was built to give developers “more freedom to bring innovation into the connected car experience so consumers can access everything they need on the road from their dashboards — from in-car shopping capabilities and music to entertainment and safety solutions.”
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