e-commerce and online tyre business news
Having seen increases in its Iberian customer base, Dutch wholesaler Heuver has made its web-shop available in Spanish. Heuver said the introduction of another translation was a logical step, since it wants to offer the fastest possible access to the whole range and make things as easy as possible for customers.
Axle Group Holdings, parent company of National Tyres and Autocare and Viking Wholesale Tyres, has appointed two to its digital division, growing its marketing department. James Kelly has been appointed as digital marketing manager, and Jack Underwood as digital marketing executive.
Online tyre retailer CarTyres.com will provide its customers with fitting choices from e-commerce platform, epyx’s 1link Service Network of 18,000 franchise dealers, national garage chains, independent garages and fast fit centres – including 317 Halfords Autocentres. IT solutions provider epyx specialises in the automotive sector, with 1link products helping to improve the efficiency of major fleets and their suppliers. This covers functions such as vehicle procurement, maintenance, hire, disposals and relicensing. Its best-known products are the 1link e-commerce platforms.
During the course of the 2016 Paris Motor Show, Tyres & Accessories took time out with Florent Menegaux (Michelin chief operating officer in charge of product and core business).
Our conversation covered four key areas: Mobility – that is, Michelin’s increasingly evident philosophical evolution away from simply being a tyre maker towards being a mobility provider; Products and services – in other words the traditional well-established product centres the company is best known for (as well as the innovations connection to and rising from these areas); Experiences – what has traditionally been known as the maps and guides part of Michelin’s operations, but which is increasingly seeking to connect the firm’s excellent brand and content with technology and monetisation options; and finally distribution – the actual means of getting products (and services) from the manufacturer to the end-user via the professional supply chain.
The US Department of Transportation’s (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued guidance to improve vehicle cybersecurity.
The guidance offers best practices to help protect against breaches and other security failures that put motor vehicle safety at risk, according to US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
CAM is introducing a bespoke scalable cloud-based solution that will enable dealers to streamline the administration associated with using eBay and doing so eradicate errors and save time and labour.
According to the company, the solution will also future proof businesses by implementing a core business management system that exerts control across their operations and dramatically reduces the vast amount of manual overhead, freeing up retailers’ time.
Michelin has returned to the top of our annual online brand equity study run in conjunction with Cambridge-based specialists NetNames. The results marks a return to fortunes for the French global player, which has dominated the research for most of the 12 years it has been running until Continental seized first position last year. Indeed, the research has only been topped by three of the tyre majors in its history – Michelin, Continental and Pirelli. However, while the top of the table has been dominated by a select few of the world’s largest tyre manufacturers, some of the biggest gains have been made at the opposite end of the spectrum where the mid-range and economy brands we study have some of the biggest gains.
Grouptyre’s 20th year has been marked by several new developments, including the appointment of Gary Oliver as its new chairman of the board of directors, new warehouse expansions for members, and the continued development of e-Commerce models on the wholesale (GroupLink) and retail (Tyres Online) sides – for more on the latter, see this month’s Online Tyre Business feature.
Swedish software house Compilator announced that it has agreed to acquire English tyre software specialist Team Systems Ltd on 15 September. As a result of the acquisition Compilator gains about 500 new customers as well as six new employees.
ZC Rubber has hosted its 2016 dealer meeting in Brazil. The Hangzhou based manufacturer outlined its new strategic plan focusing on business development. According to Ge Guorong, vice president of ZC Rubber, the company has continued steady development with output reaching more than 7 million truck and bus tyres and more than 14 million car and light truck tyres in the first half of 2016, accounting for 17.57 per cent and 13.21 per cent respectively within the Chinese tyre industry.
After over a decade below the radar, Tyresoft has embarked on a marketing campaign designed to introduce the cloud-based e-commerce system to the wider tyre business. Tyres & Accessories spoke with head of business development, Tony Mann in order to find out more.
DriveRightData, the wheel and tyre data provider, has established a new testing facility based in Fullerton, Los Angeles, which opened in July. According to DriveRight, the majority of the world’s wheel production is shipped via LA, meaning the establishment of a testing facility close to the port is an “ideal location”.
While it was difficult to predict the outcome of June’s EU referendum, it is even harder to predict what the resulting Brexit vote means for the tyre business. Much of the discussion relating to the post-Brexit tyre market has focused on the legislative changes that may be coming. However, just over three months after the Brexit vote, the latest pricing data from market insight specialists Encircle Marketing appears to suggest that while UK sterling tyre prices are going up, exchange rate effects mean theses same UK prices are moving in the opposite direction when converted into euro equivalents.
ReifenDirekt.de, Delticom’s mytyres.co.uk equivalent in Germany, has won first place in TestBild’s latest online tyre retailer test.
ReifenDirekt.de won with a score of 2.31 based on four categories with different weightings, namely: “choice/selection”, “tyre prices”, “service and advice” and “privacy and security”. In addition to the extensive review of the shops has TestBild also evaluated customer reviews of each provider.
The increasing growth in tyre sales through consumer-facing websites has led CAM to enhance its Online Tyre Catalogue (OTS), available from November, to support the ongoing opportunity for dealers to develop their online business.
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