“We Have a Job to Do”

With 15 years of experience in the aftermarket components sector, Stuart Jackson was not completely unfamiliar with the tyre business when he joined Vredestein a year ago. Having said that, 12 months after becoming UK managing director, Jackson admits that changing lanes into the tyre segment is also “a really good challenge.” In his words he is “very happy to bring a fresh perspective to the business.” In a recent interview with Tyres & Accessories Jackson reflected on the last year revealed details of Vredestein’s plans for 2009.

2008 has reportedly been a “very successful year” for Vredestein – with the company predicting that its UK operations are on track to report a 16 per cent growth rate year-on-year. According to Jackson this does not simply reflect tyre sales volume, but rather “organic financial growth” and “great commitment” from dealers. Some months are said to have been better than others, but by working flexibly with its partners order fill rates have been “consistently high.”

“We all knew that this year would be tough and in order to negate the short term negative impacts the company has diversified in some areas,” Jackson explains, giving the company’s current discussions with a new scooter tyre distributor as example of how the company is diversifying.

However, passenger car tyres and agricultural tyres remain key markets for Vredestein and these are areas in which the company expects to grow siginificantly. “We are a premium quality product, with a genuine focus on safety. This is something that will become increasingly noticeable through the re-branding of dealer partners’ branches through 2009,” Jackson commented explaining Vredestein is in the process of expanding its preferred dealer network across the UK. The philosophy here is: “small, consistent, mutually profitable incremental growth.”

Currently product mix reflects the traditional market model with the company selling roughly 40 per cent premium products to partners, however this figure that is expected to increase during the course of 2009.

‘Vredestein is a premium brand that’s selective’

Vredestein has 50 preferred dealers across the eight national regions it operates in. Each have a “selected” geographical territory in order to maximize sales. According to Jackson, regional managers have a target of increasing the number of partners by roughly 10 per cent in each region. The regional managers involved will be looking to work with partners that are motivated to sell the product – after all “Vredestein is a premium brand that’s selective.”

“There are some very enthusiastic dealers out there, which all bring benefit to the business,” Jackson continued, explaining that the strategic objective behind the company’s expansion is to grow mid-range customers into preferred partners: “There are some very good partners that will grow into the preferred level. Its not about market share, but rather about the benefits we bring to the market and the added value we offer dealers.”

One example of the kind of added value he describes is Vredestein’s courtesy car scheme. Vredestein UK first launched this two years ago incentivising stockists by offering a Mini Cooper with the dealer’s logo and contact details to branches that exceed sales targets.

“We support dealers who deliver performance topping results, not only with promotional materials, but with image building opportunities like the Mini Cooper,” said Jackon, adding that he expects many more dealership to benefit from the “mobile billboard” scheme in the months to come.

New for 2009…

The Vredestein brand has had an excellent track record when it comes to magazine tests in the UK, having won Auto Express’ annual product comparison five times. This year Vredestein’s second place (0.3 percentage points short of the lead) was, from Jackson’s point of view, still a very strong showing: “99.7 per cent was not a win, but it is still an excellent performance and shows that Vredestein is still an excellent choice for consumers.”

Despite being philosophical about this silver medal, the managing director concedes that it is “still nice to win.” Perhaps the introduction of a number of new products next year will help. “Some significant new products are coming in the second quarter of next year, including the replacement for the Ultrac, which keeps legislative changes in mind combined with still excellent performance and style,” he explained.

In addition to new product launches, Jackson revealed that the popular Ultrac Sessanta will “improve in its current form.” And there will be a number of other size and product range additions in line with customer demand.

Vredestein maintains a particularly strong position in the agricultural tyre market, with internal changes designed to bring an increased replacement focus in addition to the company’s strategic OE sales. To this end Jackson reports that the company is employing an agricultural market specialist to help drive this forward.

A wider all-season offering

The Dutch company’s involvement with Tyresafe shows how it is committed to communicating tyre awareness issues, said Jackson: “We must show consumers that they need this safety critical item. I am delighted to be involved in a consumer focused campaign like Tyresafe – leaving our competitive nature at the door. Our first priorities here are tyre pressure and tyre condition.” According to Jackson, the same consistent corporate message will come out across Vredestein (globally) during 2009.

In light of the company’s involvement with non-partisan campaigns like TyreSafe’s Tyre Safety Month, and considering the fact that the concept of cold weather/winter tyres is not to every manufacturers taste, has Vredestein’s winter policy change? In answering, Jackson made it clear that Vredestein remains a winter tyre specialist, however, there are also increased signs the company is moving towards a wider all-season offering. The aim is said to be to achieve this without losing any of Vredestein’s focus on cold-weather specific winter tyres. So, the company will be aiming to step up communication of the benefits of specific summer, winter and all-season applications to consumers. Having said that, the company has reportedly experienced tremendous success in the UK with its Winter 4Xtreme becoming popular all year round.