Oak Tyres moves into new HQ

Oak Tyres has expanded into a new larger head office and warehousing complex in Haydock, Merseyside following recent growth. According to Oak’s finance director Andrew Burgess, the company’s 2010 accounts record annual sales of just over £30 million, a figure that has now grown to £50 million a year.

Sales director Don McIntyre is clear about the reason for the rapid growth: “We’ve been trading for 32 years on the basis of providing true service. So when times are tough, our customers know from their own experience they can rely upon Oak to carry the right stock at very competitive prices, available to them via the very best delivery service. In a challenging economic climate, all this matters more than ever – our partners need to be sure they are being supported by the wholesaler with the best service levels in the industry.”

A further key reason is said to be the reassurance offered to tyre retailers by the fact that Oak remains independent and wholesale-focused. “There’s no worry for retailers that they will be competing with their supplier on the high street, as is often the case with other UK wholesalers,” company representatives explained.

Don McIntyre continued: “It’s also about brands. We’ve made sure our brand portfolio is second-to-none. The Evergreen Performance Centre package is now strongly established in some of the leading tyre retailers across the UK, exclusively available from Grouptyre. It’s a package of wide-ranging support and rewards combined with competitive pricing and Evergreen’s unrivalled product quality. Hype aside, the fact is retailers genuinely benefit, and that in a nutshell, is why the brand package has been so successful. It’s why we and our retailers have enjoyed the success that we continue to see today.”

Two more brands have joined the portfolio this year – Landsail and Rapid. These are being billed as offering “a dependable economy option for today’s cash-strapped consumers” and are said to be proving very popular, while complementing Oak’s more established Evergreen and Goodride brands. “We’ve been actively scouring the world to develop partnerships with new suppliers,” explained Don McIntyre, “it’s how we get to bring the best deals to our customers from new and emerging state-of-the-art factories.”

Oak Tyres has also seen a surge of interest in non tyre products. The last 12 months have seen the company offer its largest range of tyre fitting consumables and equipment to date. The emphasis is on ease of ordering through straightforward online systems, backed the attentive service that Oak has always centred operations on.

All of which brings us back to the Haydock relocation story. “It was clear we needed much bigger premises,” says finance director Andrew Burgess, “At the new warehouse we can carry a much more comprehensive stock so our customers get what they need that much faster. We can now make operational efficiencies too, and again that means better service and keener prices.”

According to the company, the new site gives Oak Tyres an ideal platform for further growth, and clearly that’s very much part of the plan. Ambitious? Yes. But Oak Tyres is also one organization that is prioritising the importance of service.