Retailers pair cars with everyday shopping

According to Ad Age, Walmart will open 250 CarSaver Shopping Centers at its stores. This program, announced last year, is being pilot-tested at 14 Walmart stores. In these pilot stores, the car-shopping centers are run as independent operations, often directly across from Walmart's checkout lanes.

Miami-based CarSaver, the company that founded the concept, uses a network of certified dealerships, banks and insurance companies to provide car-shopping services and purchasing assistance to consumers. Using Carsaver.com, a buyer finds a vehicle and then works with an "express manager" who arranges for a test drive or for pickup of the vehicle at a certified local dealership. CarSaver will soon be helping consumers sell vehicles too, by providing a cash offer through a network of certified dealerships that will bid on the vehicle.

In the U.K., meanwhile, U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co. will be opening a digital concession concept within the newly refurbished store of apparel chain Next at the Manchester (U.K.) Arndale mall. This hybrid concept, a collaboration among Ford, Next and British auto retailer Rockar, enables consumers to shop for clothes and a car at the same time. The platform will allow customers to specify, finance and order a car for delivery to a participating dealer, to Ford’s concession in Next Manchester Arndale, or to a home address anywhere in the U.K., Retail Gazette reports.