Jeez, not long ago buying a mattress online seemed radical.
“You have to try it first!” everyone insisted. “Lie down on it in the store!”
Now we’re buying CARS on Amazon.
On Tuesday, Amazon started selling new Hyundais in 48 US cities. No haggling. No awkward dealership coffee. Just click, configure, and schedule your pickup — casual like ordering dog food. 🐶
What gets me is not that Amazon is doing this.
It’s that most people’s reaction is “yeah, that makes sense.”
In I Need That, I talk about how the dog brain and tank brain negotiate major purchases. The dog brain says “I want that!” while the tank brain worries about risk.
What’s remarkable to me is how Amazon has trained our tank brain to trust increasingly massive online purchases:
First books
Then electronics
Then mattresses
Then tiny houses
And now… cars
Each step seemed impossible, until it wasn’t. Each success made the next one feel more natural.
I see this pattern repeating with my clients’ products. Something that “has to be done the traditional way” suddenly tips into “why can’t I just do this online?”
Look at what Amazon’s offering:
- Transparent pricing (no haggling)
- Dealership reviews
- Trade-in valuations
- Familiar interface
- Local pickup
They’re not really reinventing car buying. But they’re removing the parts everyone hates.
This is why I tell product makers to watch for behavior shifts that might seem unrelated to their category. When consumers get comfortable buying mattresses online, they’re also getting more comfortable buying other big-ticket items sight unseen.
The key is trust. Amazon has spent decades building it, one successful delivery at a time.
Need to return that item because you “didn’t like the quality”. No problemo. We trust each other here.
Action for today: What “impossible” change might be coming to your industry? What consumer behavior shifts could tip the scales?
Because someone’s probably already working on it.
What sacred cows in your industry are ready for tipping? 🫸🐮
Laurier
P.S. Fun fact: Carvana was considered cray-cray for selling used cars online in 2012. People said you’d never buy a car from a vending machine. Now Amazon’s making that look conservative.