News articles on the tyre retail business
(Akron/Tire Review) Monro Muffler Brake Inc. plans to buy ProCare Automotive Service Solutions Inc., currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The $14 million cash deal gives Monro 82 additional retail locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Monro said it plans to operate the ProCare stores as either service or tyre stores, and plans to retain all of ProCare’s employees.
Much has been written about the emerging Indian, Chinese and Russian markets, but what about South America? This continent is full of potential, something that is demonstrated by the fact that all the major players are there (Pirelli, Goodyear and Bridgestone/Firestone being particularly strong) and are already positioning themselves for the next market explosion. However for all its potential, the continent can also be described as tumultuous – at the end of November 2005, for example, Bridgestone/Firestone had to quell a violent dispute at a plant in Venezuela.
Blackcircles has formed a new partnership with Europe’s most popular motorbike site, biketrader.co.uk. The new deal will see Bike Trader launch its own online tyre shop powered by the Blackcircles retail engine. Through the new shop bike owners will have access to a range of over 10,000 tyres, including Pirelli, Bridgestone and Metzeler, at some of the lowest prices in Europe.
It’s time once again to vote for the winners of the NTDA Tyre and Fast Fit (TAFF) Awards. These were introduced last year and immediately became the awards that everyone wanted to win, as it is the customers who decided the outcome.
With the Marangoni/Group Tyre (UK) Ltd marketing partnership now firmly in place, details of a new retailer support package have been revealed. Building on the ‘Intelligent’ theme of the 2006 Marangoni/Group Tyre marketing campaign, key dealers will be known as ‘Intelligence Centres’ and strongly branded with prominent exterior signage and themed point-of-sale material.
(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire (BFNAT) has extended its sponsorship of the famed Bigfoot monster truck team through 2010. BFNAT began its sponsorship of Bigfoot in 1991, and the multi-vehicle team uses specially prepared Firestone tyres.
2005 was another record year for B-Quik, the Thailand based tyre and car services retailer. The company serviced over 200,000 customers through its total of 42 centres, four of which were new stores, opened during 2005. Despite the slightly declining aftermarket for passenger car tyres in Thailand (-1.2 per cent), B-Quik posted a 16 per cent increase in tyre unit sales. Total revenue increased by 19 per cent to a record amount of 826 million baht (£11.97 million or 17.5 million euros).
At 686.5 million euros, Nokian Tyres’ net sales in 2005 were 13.8 per cent higher than 2004’s figure of 603.3 million euros. The operating profit was virtually static at 115.8 million euros (115.6 m) and the net result was up over 11 per cent to 82.2 million euros (73.8 m). Nokian said that growth in the European passenger car tyre market was slower than expected, with sales of winter tyres in the Nordic countries and Eastern Europe beginning exceptionally late, thus shortening the sales season. The strongest growth was experienced in Russia, Eastern Europe and North America, with sales of new cars growing significantly in Russia.
Not everything that’s bad for the OTR end consumer is automatically bad for the retreaders of these tyres, too. On the contrary, sometimes it could even help them increase their sales figures substantially. In earlier years tyres for earthmovers have literally been driven run-through. Today, consumers “somehow try to keep them rolling” for as long as possible admitting that they have paid good money for a good product. As a consequence, the Rösler group – market leader in Europe in this OTR niche – has been able to increase its annual number of retreads by about 30 per cent. On the one hand this growth has been induced by the general market expansion, on the other hand sales figures have been triggered by increasingly urgent demand on the part of the customers that were unable to get hold of any new OTR tyres whatsoever.
Managers at Pirelli’s Carlisle facility have reportedly told unions that they want to keep workers’ annual pay increase below the rate of inflation. Pirelli’s Wolfgang Meier, who replaces previous UK industrial director John Nixon, is said to have argued that workers must accept lower pay rises to keep the site competitive. He also suggested that some manufacturing functions would have to be outsourced. However, Pirelli representatives downplayed The News & Star coverage, saying that Meier’s comments were taken out of context.
The Retread Manufacturers Association (RMA) has expanded the membership of its Green Dealer Scheme for tyre retailers who stock retreaded tyres. Following an in-depth research and recruitment campaign, the Association has added over 100 new outlets to its list of passenger retread stockists, bringing the total number of retail outlets listed under the scheme is 319.
Pirelli achieved extremely positive results overall in the Lisbon-Dakar, the first of the year’s rally-raids. The optimum fourth place of the private Tatra entered by the Petrobras team and driven by the talented Brazilian specialist De Azevedo, showed once more the strong qualities of the Pirelli Truck tyres, built in Izmit, Turkey.
As well as scoring an optimum overall placing, the fast Brazilian driver also became the top placed private entrant, confirming his notable ability and the high calibre of his team. The retail standard Pirelli PS22 tyres demonstrated their decidedly robust qualities and were able to deliver exceptional torque, even in the most difficult conditions and situations. The tyres’ achievement of three second and two third places on different Dakar stages also confirms the exceptional speed capability of these tyres by Pirelli Truck.
As Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK Ltd embarks on a fresh approach to its retail business, the company has employed 18 “top retail professionals” and founded a new call centre based at the heart of Goodyear Dunlop’s Birmingham operations.
With the recent announcement of new investment in Hi-Q, the company has pledged to invest in its training, marketing and systems whilst developing a new franchise programme in order to complement its company owned stores to create a strong nationwide brand.
Leading UK wholesale and retail tyre supplier, Stapletons Tyre Services has appointed a new sales manager to join its wholesale operation. Following a two-year gap, Nigel O’Hara, 46, returns to Stapletons as wholesale sales manager. Reporting to wholesale and IT director, Steve Parker, Nigel’s remit is to manage Stapletons’ wholesale tyre sales operation as well as the telesales division across the country. Nigel will also manage a team of field sales staff.
Blackcircles.com has launched a new online fleet service. As manager of Black Circles Fleet, recent appointment, Paul Collins, will be responsible for ensuring “consistent delivery and on-going innovation.” At the same time the company launched an online auction site and continues with a long-term strategy aiming at European expansion. Managing director, Mike Welch, gave Tyres & Accessories details of this growing business’ ambitious but pragmatic plans.
According to the company, the new fleet service will be available to vehicle fleets of all sizes. Furthermore, blackcircles.com/fleet is said to significantly simplify the purchase process by providing access through a web-based system. Businesses will have their own private area containing all their vehicle details and will be able to make transactions using a unique PIN number.
Blackcircles expects its announcement to be warmly welcomed by fleet managers and boasts that it has “the largest network of fitting stations of any UK tyre retailer.” Mike Welch, managing director said: “We have taken all the knowledge gained from our retail business, including all the feedback we have received from customers, and invested this in our Fleet service.
“For too long managers have had to contend with complicated systems and a lack of control. We plan to change this with a system that is far easier to use but a lot more effective. Through our unique tyre procurement process and ground-breaking delivery mechanisms, Black Circles Fleet offers forward looking business flexibility, immediacy and savings to their fleet tyre needs.”
Mike added: “Whether it’s five or 5000 vehicles, one preferred supplier or a managed matrix of tyre outlets, Black Circles Fleet can be utilised as the primary resource for tyre supply or simply as a secure back up.”
One of the UK’s leading online tyre businesses, Blackcircles says managers and small business owners will now be able to have tyres sent anywhere in the UK in as little as two hours and will be able to access the lowest prices and over 30 tyre brands.
According to Mike Welch, Blackcircles already has 8000 fleet customers. That’s all very well, but some observers would argue that there is not much room for expansion in the fleet market. Welch’s response is that, in a similar way to how the company’s consumer business is run, Black Circles Fleet will focus on the needs of the niche it currently serves with a view to expanding from this point.
“We’re not eating anyone’s dinner and we are not looking to make no profit. The Kwik-Fits and the ATSs can keep their large fleets because they don’t make any money on them,” Welch explained.
‘We just want to sell more tyres’
In spite of his confident outlook, Mike Welch is pragmatic about Blackcircles’ progress so far and its plans for the future. In his words, the company got where it is today (a 5-year-old business that became profitable in 2005 and predicts sales of £15 million in 2006) by focusing on its core customers and not overestimating what can be done with the Internet.
“People always think I am trying to put them off when I say that, but I’m not,” said Welch, adding: “The Internet is another shop front for your retail business, not the answers to all you sales problems. Selling tyres is not a traditional online business and we are not a traditional dotcom company, we are more than that.”
“Trying to win and retain customers is our priority and price alone is simply not enough to do that. It’s about service, price and satisfaction. We all say that, but do we all deliver that ‘hand-on-heart?” he continued.
Instead Blackcircles aims to add value to “the whole Blackcircles.com experience” with the announcement that it has launched a number of additional services – the company’s online fleet service and auction site (see box) being examples.
Pricing is another critical part of the business. While the company’s structure and volume purchasing power help it to keep prices down, it is about more than the lowest possible price tag.
“Being able to get a handle on retail prices is a whole lot more important – the tyre industry is a funny industry, being one of the few that is happy to sell a product and not get anything for it. This confuses customers and trains them to expect the same or less next time,” Welch comments, suggesting that appreciating the importance of profitability is central.
But no matter how it is presented as a UK retail chain with international business, Blackcircles is growing from an online foundation and not the other way around. And in order to succeed in this respect there are a number of non-traditional advertising and marketing mediums that have to be mastered.
So how many visitors does the Blackcircles website attract? Welch didn’t want to see the figure published, but he did say that visitor numbers have grown exponentially – growing by 50 per cent per quarter since the beginning. Conversions, the rate at which visitors become customers is also on the up.
Online marketing is an area that Welch, by his own admission, really ought to know a bit about. “Its all about gaining the right balance between traditional and other mediums. PR is good but it doesn’t live forever.” Then there are the non standard mediums like search engine Google’s Adwords system. For Blackcircles.com “Adwords is just an expensive branding exercise.” Instead Welch says that it is all about understanding our current and future customers adding: “We are very good at that.”
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.
