Blackcircles.com Opens Dutch Web Shop

British e-Tailer Blackcircles.com has thrown its hat into the ring in The Netherlands, seeking to do battle with competitors who, managing director Mike Welch says, “are growing on the back of offering customers an inferior deal.” Autobandenshop.com will offer Dutch motorists access to all the major tyre brands carried by the British website.

Welch continues, “One of the core guiding principles of Blackcircles.com is that there should be no barriers to tyre safety and we are delighted to be helping Dutch motorists to stay safe on the road. Our aim in Holland is to set a new standard for low cost tyres combined with high quality service.”

In the UK, the company has seen 40 per cent of its monthly business come from customer referrals, a factor the e-Tailer attributes to its quality of service and value for money. Blackcircles.com states that it has “been able to save customers an average of 40 per cent on their normal purchase of tyres.”

Welch was named one of the UK’s leading young entrepreneurs, having left school at 16 to become a tyre fitter before going on to launch Blackcircles.com in 2001, delivering tyres to more than 300,000 customers and generating sales of £10m.

The company has form in European expansion. In 2008, Pneus-online.fr was launched in France, offering mail order tyres for the French auto market.
Germany has Meinreifen.de, Spain Neumaticos-net.es and pneumatici-tutte.it in Italy. Blackcircles.com was recently named one of 20 winners at the 2009 BT Business Essence of the Entrepreneur awards, where Welch also received the Most Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year award.