SAN FRANCISCO -

Digital retailing platform Prodigy is offering a one-to-one concierge shopping service for online car buyers that it says provides online car shoppers the same hands-on experience they get on the showroom floor.

Prodigy says the service, called Virtual Showroom, brings that experience to shoppers with the convenience of an Amazon-like checkout process from their homes.

Virtual Showroom is assisted by live chat and video integrated into Prodigy's Digital Retail platform in conjunction with chat-based sales tools.

With the feature, online shoppers can find what they are looking for, and a dealer representative can answer their questions directly.

Virtual Showroom is available to all Prodigy customers using the Complete Digital Retailing platform or Prodigy’s Online Digital Retailing platform.

Prodigy is offering the add-on free of charge for 90 days.

That, according to the company, is “a small measure to help dealers during unprecedented economic times.”

Prodigy said that with Virtual Showroom, dealership staff can engage customers personally and walk them through the buying process. Staff can switch vehicles, update deal details, change pricing, obtain manager approvals, and collect deposits. And those staff members can do that while live chatting or video chatting with customers.

The company said that allows customers to receive a convenient buying experience from their local dealership and not worry about leaving their home.

A demo of Virtual Showroom is available.