e-commerce and online tyre business news
epyx is expanding its low price tyre initiative. According to the company, the project, which has so far concentrated on franchise dealers, is now moving into the independent garage sector. Called 1link e-procurement, it allows independents to access a much more competitive level of tyre pricing than they generally been able to achieve, the company says.
Nearly 20 years after Stapleton’s introduced the ProfitLink ecommerce system, the company is rolling out an upgraded version along with the latest edition of TyreSurf. The news follows an earlier ProfitLink overhaul just a few years ago, with the introduction of the retail mark ups system. In addition, Stapleton’s made an announcement in May this year, when Stapleton’s Wholesale director Nigel O’Hara revealed that the market could expect a new edition of ProfitLink.
Looking at the market as a whole, online tyre prices have fallen on average since the start of 2018. According to the latest data supplied by market research specialists at Encircle Marketing, online tyre prices in August 2018 were 1 per cent lower on average than in January. However, the data is not uniform across the sector and different online tyre retailers (otherwise known as e-tailers) have different pricing policies.
TecAlliance and Continental have developed a prototype of the first digital voice assistant for vehicle workshops as part of a joint innovation initiative. The innovative voice assistance system supports mechanics during the initial vehicle inspection. The companies are presenting the proof of concept at Automechanika.
TechMan has collaborated with award-winning independent Audi and VW specialist ADS Limited, to deliver an honest appraisal of their experiences to date since implementing the TechMan garage management system less than four months ago.
Having recently revamped its corporate identity, Dayco, the engine products and drive systems supplier for the automotive, industrial and aftermarket industries, has completely redesigned its corporate and aftermarket websites to more accurately reflect its position as a leading global manufacturer of original equipment (OE) and aftermarket components.
Cooper Tire Europe has launched a new Cooper Brand Portal, providing online access to a host of digital assets for media and brand partner use. Product photography, event images and video content are now all readily available for download.
TecAlliance will be presenting exciting highlights for the automotive aftermarket at Automechanika 2018 in Frankfurt. “With our innovations, we are concentrating even more on optimising the processes of parts manufacturers, traders and workshops and strengthening the collaboration among them,” emphasises Jürgen Buchert, Managing Director of TecAlliance, at Automechanika. “Our aim is to develop practical and innovative solutions for the digital automotive aftermarket to make day-to-day business easier for our customers. We also want to help them gain access to new target groups and markets,” explained Jürgen Buchert.
Amazon has launched a developer kit that makes it possible to integrate the company’s Alexa into car infotainment systems. In addition to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, drivers now have a third option for navigation, streaming songs, making calls and finding restaurants, gas stations and hotels. Alexa as part of the infotainment system eliminates the need to plug a mobile device into the car.
In the USA, Sears Auto Center is expanding its tyre installation and balancing programme for customers who purchase tyres on Amazon.com. Initially launched in May at 47 Sears Auto Centers in eight metropolitan areas, the ship-to-store option for buying tyres is now available nationwide including Alaska and Hawaii.
MTS Exhausts Systems, distributed in the UK by Opera Automotive, has become the latest company to invest in electronic trading with motor factors as part of its wider plans to grow the brand in the UK automotive aftermarket.
In the USA Yokohama Tire is offering tyre dealers access to Rallio, a social media tool that is designed to help with “easy publishing and personalizing of Yokohama-created social media content for their communication channels”.
US-based Inc. Magazine’s “Inc. 5000” list of top American private companies has named SimpleTire as the fastest-growing automotive brand in America. It was also described as the second fastest-growing retailer in Philadelphia.
Delticom has re-launched its Tyretest.com sites following a design facelift. The customer review-based website has also been optimised for display on mobile end devices. Tyretest.com was launched in 2000. Since then, the portal has been expanded to over 20 countries. It now has more than 600,000 tyre and product reviews in its database.
DriveRightData is promoting its parc data as “the ultimate forecasting tool for the tyre professional”. According to the company, the strength of its system is that it matches “accurate and comprehensive reports on the number of vehicles in a territory…to DriveRightData’s unique tyre information”. Available in 77 countries and collated from national registration databases, the combination is only said to be supplied by DriveRightData.
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