E-Solution Professionals has been supplying e-commerce platforms for the tyre industry since 2001 when the company signed up its first TireWeb user. Today TireWeb is the most widely used business to business e-commerce program in the US, and E-Solution Professionals project that in their home US market more than 7 million tyres will be sold on TireWeb sites during 2007, with some business receiving upwards of 70 per cent of their wholesale orders via TireWeb.

According to E-Solution Professionals USA sales manager Brian Erickson, the company’s specialised experience in the area of e-commerce solutions, such as the ability to connect with every type of accounting software in use, has enabled them to deliver a product that exceeds customer expectations. “Many companies have designed their own software, invested a lot of money into it and are at first reluctant to stop using it,” he explains. “But when they see what ours can do for them they have a change of direction.”

With the TireWeb website linked to a distributor’s database, customers can search the distributor’s inventory for tyres according to size format, description or product code, and distributors can set web only special pricing for particular lines or brands or for specific customers. TireWeb also takes care of online ordering, and these orders are then electronically entered back into the distributor’s accounting software, enabling a printed work order or invoice to be produced. Bonus features such as rewards programs can also be implemented using TireWeb.

As Brian Erickson points out, letting a specialist take care of e-commerce requirements makes sense. “After all,” he says, “the average tyre retailer can’t afford to spend all day sitting in front of a computer screen.”