Social media has made accessing the opinions of trusted peers easier than ever, so it makes sense that garages and workshops should find ways to increase this free publicity. Dipstix, a website dedicated to helping motorists manage their cars, has created TrustBay to offer garages a chance to generate vital customer reviews.
On 15 June Michelin launched what it says is the tyre industry’s first cloud-based content syndication platform. According to the company, the digital platform will allow partner dealers to access any kind of official digital content provided by the manufacturers in real time in order to automatically update their own sites.
Online tyre retailer Delticom has begun rolling out the first in a series of new national websites that combine tyre sales, tips and information in the one location. Delticom’s name for the new information portal is TyresNet, and it says it aims to “open up the world of tyres and wheels” to motorists and tyre, rim and wheel suppliers. The first two sites to go live cater to the German (reifen.de) and Austrian (reifen.at) markets.
The director of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) has voiced her organisation’s support for the DVLA’s extension of online services. The Authority has made it possible to retain and assign a registration number online, a feature for which the NFDA has previously campaigned.
At Delticom’s Annual General Meeting in Germany yesterday, shareholders were informed that the online tyre retailer would distribute a dividend of € 0.25 per share for the 2014 financial year – only half that of the previous year. This smaller dividend particularly reflected a three-quarter drop in net profit – a decline “mainly due to the higher cost base after the Tirendo acquisition.” Andreas Prüfer, head of the company’s board of management, also told shareholders that the Tirendo business concept “of achieving 50 per cent or 100 per cent growth in the online tyre market through high advertising and personnel expenses did not prove successful.”
Kingsway Tyres has become the first tyre dealer to register with e-jobsheet.com, CAM’s open-access mobile data platform for digital tablet technology in the truck, bus and van service arena. Signing up at the CV Show in April, director and general manager of Kingsway Tyres, Martin O’Brien, says, “We were persuaded to register by the many benefits associated by taking greater control of our truck tyre service work which will continue to improve our processes, drive efficiencies and reduce costs.”
MAM has announced the release of the latest in its suite of mobile and tablet apps, MAM StockTake, which integrates with a suitable MAM business management system to simplify the stock count process.
Online tyre retailers are nothing new, and Michelin’s current 40 per cent share acquisition of leading French portal Allopneus shows the major manufacturers are taking an interest in this business. That said, no major tyre maker sells directly to the public over its own website – but this is about to change. As Goodyear chairman and chief executive officer Richard Kramer announced at the company’s annual shareholders meeting on 13 April, the US-based company is gearing up to begin rolling out online tyre sales in its homeland. Goodyear has yet to comment on whether it plans to extend these web retail activities to other markets.
IMI has launched a series of online vehicle diagnostics training modules, funded by digital solutions charity Jisc. The resources will be free to access through the IMI’s eLearning platform, acquired in 2014 by the IMI. They are aimed at individuals with a background in car maintenance and level 3 qualifications, providing technicians with an opportunity to brush up their diagnostic skills and learn new ones. Modules will be made available to IMI Members first before becoming accessible to the wider industry.
Michelin says its acquisition of a 40 per cent share in France’s leading internet tyre retailer is a way to offer consumers “a simplified and financially-advantageous path” between searching online for tyre information and making a purchase and having tyres fitted by professionals. The tyre maker is investing €60 million for a minority stake in Allopneus SAS, which currently holds a seven per cent share of the French tyre market and sold some three million tyres last year.
The Pon Group has invested heavily in expanding its tyre business in recent years. After acquiring Euro-Tyre in 2010, the Dutch firm also took over German tyre wholesaler Reifen Gundlach. Jannes Bouman, Pon Group senior vice-president responsible for the Pon Tyre Group, now reports a further recent acquisition; the company has acquired a majority share in German B2C online tyre retailer Goodwheel GmbH.
CAM has scheduled the second UniSerV User Group (UUG) meeting for April, coinciding with The CV Show at the Birmingham NEC. Chaired by Anne Sherwood, group business support manager of Tructyre Fleet Management, CAM says UUG² will continue to discuss the benefits of e-jobsheet, CAM’s open-access mobile data platform for digital tablet technology in the truck, bus and van service arena.
Blackcircles.com has launched a sales initiative with a lifetime guarantee. The online tyre retailer is offering a range of “Quality Choice” tyres as a step up from its Value Choice range. Like the lower-priced tyre, the Quality Choice does not specify a brand and model, though it does show tyre labelling grades, instead using its own branding on the website’s point of sale. Unlike the Value Choice, Blackcircles.com is offering an added incentive to customers choosing the Quality range; the online retailer will replace the tyre “in the very unlikely event that your tyre develops a fault due to the manufacturing process or materials used.”
Oxfordshire’s Scotlands Ash Garage has launched a new website providing an improved interface and updated information about its range of services. Peter Welch, Scotlands Ash Garage owner, said that the site “underlines our commitment to hassle free, safer motoring for Oxfordshire motorists.” Over a year in the making, www.scotlandsashgarage.co.uk is designed to make it easier for customers to book in work and to view the independent garage’s latest developments.
In addition to the Dealer Locator app for smartphones announced today, Trelleborg has launched its Tyre Selector. The online tool is designed to help farming professionals select the right tyres for individual applications, including agriculture, forestry, agro-industrial and light service.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.