Heuver Tyrewholesale has launched an incentive scheme in which customers receive bonus points for each order from the company’s web shop, which can then be exchanged for over 1000 different gifts, from garden tools to televisions. Heuver says the online shop illustrates its belief in the future of e-Commerce in the tyre sector.
It is certainly not the only development to take place within Bond International during 2011, but the wholesaler's recent launch of Tyregiant.com is likely to be the most headline-grabbing. Over the years various sources representing all the UK's largest tyre wholesalers have spoken of their capability of offering an online retailing capability, but up till now few – if any – have ventured onto the information superhighway. The solitary pioneering effort in this area was Grouptyre's GoodTyreGuide, which ambitiously seeks to fuse retailing, reviewing and wholesaling through its membership of whole operations. A year on from that, with the jury still out on whether this concept has delivered the kind of results expected at launch, Tyregiant is pitching itself as a straightforward retail site for consumers. The clever part for Bond (a company that has always shied away from retailing itself so as not to alienate its business to business customers) is that, like GoodTyreGuide before it, it is seeking to offer additional business to its customer base rather than itself becoming a competitor.
County Donegal’s Ulster Tyre Company has announced it is to use the Cameo platform to establish a line into MIDaS B2B from Cam Systems. The new applications will enable the tyre wholesaler and retailer to streamline trade lines with its partners to support its ambitious growth plans. The company’s 50,000 sq ft site houses over 20 different brands of tyres, covering all segments. The decision to introduce the two platforms together is based on the company’s desire to increase customer connectivity, interaction and delivery, and to acquire effective tools for effective operations in the future.
National road safety charity Brake is appealing to companies to register now for Road Safety Week 2011 to help spread life-saving road safety awareness on UK roads. The week will run from 21-27 November. Brake campaigns director Julie Townsend says: “Companies can play a crucial role in spreading road safety awareness and helping to prevent needless tragedies on our roads.
According to The Independent, former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy is providing “mentoring services on an ad hoc basis” to Blackcircles.com. Leahy, who the newspaper describes as being an “acquaintance” of Blackcircles.com managing director Mike Welch, also disclosed that he owns a stake in the online tyre retailer. Yet while admitting being a shareholder for some three years now, Leahy stressed to the newspaper he had “no hand” in orchestrating the Tesco Tyres partnership between Blackcircles.com and the supermarket giant. Further distancing himself from potential mutterings over conflicts of interest, Sir Terry reports he informed Tesco chairman David Reid upon acquiring his share in Blackcircles.
Double Coin Tires and China Manufacturers Alliance have launched a refreshed US market website. In addition to providing a wider viewing area and all-new tyre imagery, the updated www.doublecoin-us.com website features a resource centre where information and reference material can be downloaded plus a customer testimonial page.
In what has been described as a tyre “industry first,” Micheldever Tyre Services/Protyre has applied the Motor Codes online customer ratings tool, displaying up-to-the-minute satisfaction scores and real-time motorist feedback across all 53 Protyre outlets.
Powered by data collected through the Motor Codes online survey – a measure of service satisfaction amongst customers of its garages throughout the UK – the ratings widget has been developed as part of a recent refresh of the car service and repair regulator’s website. It appears against all Motor Codes garages, clearly visible to motorists using its Garage Finder tool to search for a reliable business.
Johnson Controls believes it is now providing stockists with a competitive edge over rivals by making available all the materials needed to market their battery business to UK workshops, fleets and commercial operators, and motorcycle and marine specialists online.
Tyrepress.com is never one to shirk a challenge, and when tyre supplier Maxxis International called the editorial office recently to announce a fantasy football league open to members of the trade and consumers alike, we already had our squad’s two goalkeepers selected (Paul Robinson and Chris Kirkland warming the bench – thanks for asking). The company is offering the chance to win prizes for the top-scoring managers each month. Should you want to join in, you first need to select your team at http://fantasy.premierleague.com. After that, click on the 'Leagues' link at the top of the page and select “Join a league”; chose “private league” and enter the code 1670445-352645 to join. Maxxis has sponsorship agreements with two of England’s top tier’s longest-standing clubs, Liverpool and Aston Villa, at whose grounds the brand will display its advertising materials.
Tyrepac has become the exclusive distributor of Nokian tyres in Singapore. The deal will see Tyrepac retail the tyres exclusively online. According to a statement released by the company, Tyrepac will further promote Nokian tyres via a variety of marketing campaigns. The deal Tyrepac’s brand count to a total of 18 marques for its Singaporean customers.
Tyregiant.com, backed by well-known UK tyre wholesaler Bond International, has been pre-launched today with the firm offering a taster of what the “the online pit stop for fantastic quality tyres at discount prices” has to offer. According to the company, the winning news is that by dealing directly with factories throughout the world they can offer up to 50 per cent savings on leading brands, beating competitors who claim to offer up to 40 per cent off. For full details see future issues of Tyres & Accessories.
Midlands-based member of the HiQ network Easy Tyre and Autocentres has announced the introduction of a new mobile tyre fitting service. Emma-Jane Kisby, marketing manager from Easy Tyre and Autocentres explains: “We have introduced our mobile tyre fitting service for those customers who just cannot find the time to visit a centre.
Those wishing to exchange online pleasantries with a 113 year old can now do so, thanks to a bit of help from Michelin. The French tyre maker has introduced a new feature on its corporate website, a ‘chatbot’ feature that enables visitors to engage in a tête-à-tête with none other than Bibendum, the iconic Michelin Man. The feature, created by VirtuOz, appears on the michelin.com website’s home page and provides a human-like interface between users and the Michelin brand. In announcing the feature’s launch, the tyre maker comments that Bibendum is the first world-famous brand icon to interact with users in this way.
Many happy returns! PneusNews.it, Italian sister publication to tyrepress.com, celebrates its first birthday today. Following many months of preparation the first news report was published on the www.pneusnews.it site on July 20 last year. Since then PneusNews.it has developed into a leading news platform for the Italian tyre and wheel market. Its editorial team has written and published more than 1,600 online news reports in the past year – an amount that increases day by day.
Midlands fast fitter Easy Tyre and Autocentres – a HiQ franchise – has announced an upgrade to its website, with a major new online tyre ordering facility. Easy managing director Chris Kisby is HiQ’s largest franchisee, and the new update, with a fresh design and new functionality, is reflective of the network’s retail strategy discussed recently with Tyres & Accessories/tyrepress.com (see related news link below). The site also allows customers to research tyre prices and book a fitting at the touch of a button.
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