The marketplace for connected services – Mercedes me Store app

The Mercedes me Store is an omnichannel platform that serves as a marketplace for all vehicle in-car services. Customers are able to explore, book and immediately use services such as In-Car Office, Vehicle Monitoring, or Remote Park Assistant on their mobile phone. The store is a gateway to the ever-expanding service offering of Mercedes-Benz and its wide range of partners.

Within a few weeks, the Mercedes me Store app was made available in 32 countries, attracted over 700,000 users (01/2021), and evidently increased the conversion for connected in-car services. The factors of success: a personalized offering, a seamless integration with other Mercedes me apps and the onboard user experience (MBUX), and the easiest checkout possible. The checkout wows users with its briefness: it only takes three quick steps from product selection to purchase until the customer can use the service right on the spot. With a smartphone, in the car. This has led to a higher customer satisfaction and the increased sales of new services.

While other manufacturers are still working on an app store functionality for the car, Mercedes-Benz has already laid the groundwork to allow all kinds of customer services to be offered in the car. Carefully embedded into the universe of all Mercedes me apps, the store follows a clearly strategic and customer-centric approach. Furthermore, giving partners access to the platform will bring a whole new range of services to the car and will transform the customer experience.

From a technological perspective, the actual innovation runs in the background: For the first time, Mercedes me apps are based on a standardized development platform. With the Mercedes me Store app, the “Software Development Kit” (SDK) has been extended by holistic e-commerce functionalities. These are now the defining base for future apps to be developed – including third party suppliers.

To complete, the current user experience is by far the simplest and easiest to access service available. No matter if customers choose to book on the web, mobile or in the car.

Due to an agile approach to service innovation, we have continuously improved the Mercedes me Store app since its initial launch. One of the biggest innovations has been the realization of a completely new, easier to understand product structure that was recently piloted in Italy. This included a new logic for campaigns and special offers, allowing for easier implementation of sales campaigns and further marketing activities. Lately, we’ve been integrating the existing range of new vehicles into the app which will allow for a new step: Users can search digital products that fit the car they already own or explore new cars and digital products that they would like to use for their future mobility. This innovation is expected to launch in early 2021.

With the Mercedes me Store, the foundation for a flexible membership model similar to Amazon Prime has been established. Customers can access digital products at any time, from any place with the digital device they prefer. The personalized service is creating confidence and lets customers quickly adopt their mobility preferences. At the same time Mercedes-Benz is learning from customer behavior about expectations and needs, which makes it possible to realize future potentials in the customer experience.

The Mercedes me Store will furthermore contribute to the simplification of the offering and a higher service quality in the car. Therefore, scalability is a must – not only regarding new products, services and markets, but also when it comes to technology. By building on the existing SDK, we provided the client with an encapsulated software development kit for e-commerce functionalities. Future vehicle-based services as well as third-party apps are able to use this e-commerce kit instead of starting from scratch. This not only allows for a much faster distribution and effective sales, but is also ensuring a high quality of future e-commerce apps – the foundation for the creation of a curated marketplace.

The app’s success shows us unambiguously that we have reached our goals: Based on more than 2,500 ratings, the Mercedes me Store app is rated 4.6 out of 5 stars in the iOS App Store (01/2021). The users’ feedback in connection with their ratings confirms this: “Self-explanatory”, “intuitive”, “easy to use” or “fast, transparent and uncomplicated” are only a few examples. Just like the best customer experience is supposed to be. Comments like the following underline the success for our client particularly well: “The others can go home: Besides my C Class, I am driving a car of another brand and use the corresponding app for connected services including buying options. Comparing both apps, I am truly excited: Way more intuitive, great user experience and high-quality design. Others should take this as a benchmark,” or “The app is great. All booked extras are accessible at a glance, no inconvenient web application anymore. I am excited about Mercedes, both the car and the app. That’s quality in perfection. I am totally thrilled.”

View proof of the ratings here: iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/mercedes-me-store/id1488634540

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