Fixter, an online car maintenance service provider, has published survey results which show that essential businesses, such as independent garages, are valued more than before the crisis. Specifically, 89 per cent of customers who rely on their cars now think that it is more important than ever to keep it in a good condition.
The Motor Ombudsman has upgraded its online Knowledge Base with the introduction of a new category on the Coronavirus (COVID-19). It has been designed to help consumers answer frequently asked queries on car ownership, vehicle maintenance and dispute resolution, following the latest government measures which have recently been implemented in the UK.
Delticom has named the top-selling tyres sold on its sites, according to a number of different criteria. The rankings are based on Europe-wide sales from Delticom’s online B2B shops, such as Yourtyres.co.uk in the UK – across all brands and categories.
CAM is introducing a new online payment gateway in April 2020 that will align with future trading conditions to be negotiated between the UK and its EU trading country partners in the months ahead. It will also meet the SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) Regulation, part of the EU Revised Directive on Payment Services, which came into force on 14 September 2019, aimed at reducing fraudulent crime associated with online debit and credit card payments.
Evidence from a number of market research sources concurs – increasing numbers of motorists are choosing all-season tyres for their cars. The first indication came from GfK data, which compared the percentage growth of all-season tyre sales reported by its UK panelmarket (in terms of volume and value) in 2018 with seasonal tyre sales during 2019. Winter tyre sales volumes were down 1 per cent last year. During the same period, winter tyre values fell three times faster (down 3 per cent).
Online tyre and wheel distributor Delticom announced yesterday that Rainer Binder, the company’s co-founder and indirect major shareholder, intends to resign as chairman and member of the Delticom Supervisory Board. Binder is reportedly relinquishing this role for “personal reasons” and his resignation takes effect from 29 February.
The tyre comparison website WhatTyre.com will make its exhibition debut at Autosport International, from 9-12 January (Stand 3530, Birmingham NEC). Over the four show days, the site, which is operated by the same publisher as Tyrepress, will present its tyre comparison engine, which ranks more than 100,000 tyres using a unique TyreScore algorithm. WhatTyre will also host TyreSafe, which will assist with the site’s central message that high-quality new tyres are an excellent investment for motorists.
CAM’s Online Tyre Catalogue (OTC) now includes 600 brands and more than 326,000 individual products on the back of “unprecedented growth in the last 12 months,” the company states The central tyre data hub includes labelling information where applicable, product size data, and visuals across all available categories of tyre. Users can access the data anywhere in the world.
Startup Europe Partnership (SEP), an initiative by the European Commission, has distinguished Fiege as an Open Innovation Challenger. Having first achieved this standard a year ago, Fiege is being distinguished for the second time in a row. The annual ranking also includes multinationals like Google, Nestlé and Bridgestone. Next to Fiege, a further three German enterprises were distinguished: Bosch, Daimler, and SAP.
Goodyear has launched a direct to consumer online tyre retail solution in the European market. The roll-out begins with a pilot project in Germany. The direct-to-consumer approach is said to be in addition to existing distribution channels. Based at goodyear.com/shop, the site aims to “seamlessly plan the purchase from choosing the right tyre to assembling with a local trading partner”.
Online tyre distributor Delticom AG has announced a number of measures aimed at returning the company to profitability. These measures already include discontinuing some businesses and may lead to an investor acquiring Delticom or a significant share of the firm.
In October Halfords Group bought troubled online tyre retailer Tyres on the Drive for £746,000, but the company had previously valued the business at as much as £150 million.
Less than a year after Tirescanner.com was founded, at the start of November, the business reported that it is live in Florida. This means Tirescanner already covers 1200 postcodes codes, matching consumers with products from a range of hundreds of thousands of tyres and – crucially – connecting them with “the best local retailers”. At the moment this works on a next day install, but the plan is to take this to a same-day level. And more states are said to be coming fast. We’re used to pretty rapid progress when it comes to dotcom start-ups, but such fast growth is more understandable when you consider that Tirescanner is driven by Blackcircles.com founder Mike Welch. Tyres & Accessories recently caught up with Welch in order to find out how the company plans to continue and sustain this growth.
Lydia Limited, the company behind tyre price comparison site Motokiki, called in the administrators on 24 October 2019. Simon Girling and Chris Marsden of BDO LLP were appointed Joint Administrators on the same day. Tyres & Accessories understands that the administrators are seeking to sell the technology assets of the company and is seeking offers before a Friday 15 November 2019 deadline.
Michelin is the most search tyre brand on Google in Europe, according to price comparison site Rezulteo. Rezulteo studied the popularity of tyre brands in Europe using Google search volume data for tyre manufacturers in each country from 1 August 2018 to 31 July 2019. The study took “brand name” + “tyre” queries in the official languages of each European country into account.
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