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B-Quik – Tyre retail service Thai style

International News

Here’s a question for you – which tyre retailer has 42 outlets in the capital and in November opened the 43rd on a Tesco hypermarket, making this the 10th centre on a Tesco forecourt?

The answer is B-Quik, of Thailand and the capital city is, of course, Bangkok. For many people in Europe, the first they heard of the name was during the period when the Ford Motor Company was going through its “showroom to scrapyard” phase and it bought Kwik-Fit in Europe and B-Quik in Thailand.

4th November 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Group Tyre Gains Exclusive Marangoni Distributorship

Group Tyre (UK) Ltd is to exclusively distribute Marangoni passenger car and light truck tyres in the UK mainland. “The move will allow Group Tyre to offer the independent sector a European manufactured product with premium brand quality but offering better value for money,” the wholesale operation said in an official statement.

“The addition of the Marangoni brand to our portfolio illustrates our commitment to offer our customers a full range of quality brands. We believe that we can develop Marangoni in the UK market to emulate the success it has achieved in the rest of Europe, and that Marangoni will contribute to our continued success in the independent sector,” commented Group Tyre chairman, John Church.

4th November 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Blackcircles Aims for UK Retail Revolution

Blackcircles.com is aiming to turn 700 independent garages across the UK into franchisees. And what’s more, managing director, Mike Welch, has a five-year plan to capture 10 per cent of the market and plans to enter Europe in 2006.

Blackcircles.com is something of dotcom success story. Founded in 2001 when Mr Welch was 23, the company currently operates a network of 987 independent garages serving consumers from “Thurso to Truro.” Next the 27-year-old managing director is aiming to capitalise on this position by turning 700 of the garages into branded franchisees, making local independent garages into outlets linked to Blackcircles’ ordering and stock checking systems.

4th November 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Wholesale Changes at Stapletons

For the last 18 months Stapletons has kept pretty quiet about its plans for the UK market and consequently rumours have abounded about the strength of the company’s position. Now, chief executive officer, Kenji Murai has broken silence, announcing efficiency cuts and $25 million of investment designed to set “Stapletons apart from its competitors…into 2006 and beyond.”

On the 11 October Stapletons announced that it plans to close its Dereham tyre distribution centre (TDC), cut around 50 jobs and introduce new stock distribution methods at its Bristol, Coatbridge and Warrington TDCs. Delving deeper, Tyres & Accessories learnt that the cutbacks are the first step in a programme that will see the company’s Japanese backers invest a minimum of $25 million over the next three to five years.

At first glance words like restructuring, redundancies and consultation can paint quite a negative image, but Stapletons representatives insist that the moves are growth driven. While CEO Kenji Murai concedes that cutting jobs and closing sites is a response to the “challenging trading environment that the whole industry is widely acknowledged to be facing,” he also believes it is a positive move.

Taking this into account, it is clear that the events of the last 18 months, and the number of recent top-level personnel changes that have taken place at the company, signal a tide change in the direction of the wholesaler.

Take the recent appointment of Andrew Long as head of marketing. Mr Long comes from a non-tyre background and will have been selected for his knowledge of marketing rather than his in-depth understanding of sizes and fitments. Likewise the appointments of Kenji Murai as CEO and Taro Ikeba as chief financial officer – both moving from previous roles with the Itochu Corporation – also signals how the Stapletons’ Japanese backer is stepping up its involvement in the company. The fact that Mr Murai’s previous role saw him direct formation of Pit100, Itochu’s Japanese tyre retailer, is particularly telling.

However, according to Stapletons executives, Alan Denton’s recent departure had nothing to do with the ongoing plans.

For Stapletons, it’s a question of first things first. And at the moment that means overseeing the closure of the Dereham TDC. One might think that the closure of a distribution centre might make distribution more difficult, but according to Stapletons it has actually been more a question of increasing efficiency. In the future customers that were previous served by the Dereham TDC will now be served by the company’s Letchworth hub.

Confused? You have to understand Kaizen philosophy – the principle of perpetual improvement, Mr Murai explains. For Stapletons, one example of this is reducing the number of stock keeping units (SKUs) the company holds from 3500 to 2500 in order to move with more agility in an oversupplied market. Consequently less physical space is needed. This move will be coupled with “a smarter form of distribution” at the Bristol, Coatbridge and Warrington TDCs.

According to company representatives, all of Stapletons’ retail outlets will continue to operate independently of any changes to the wholesaler operations.

4th November 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre World: Sourcing in the Far East

For Tyre World this year’s Tyrexpo Asia demonstrated just how important the “rendezvous” side of tyre exhibitions can be. Burkhard Fuhrmann, managing director of the German wholesaler, says that it was much, much easier to get into contact with potential Asian business partners at Tyrexpo compared with the Essen Reifen show.

2nd November 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

US Car Sales Disappoint

October car sales of 14.7 million were the lowest since August 1998, Deutsche Bank analysts have reported. “GM’s retail sales declined 30 per cent year-on-year; Ford’s retail sales declined 31 per cent; We estimate Chrysler’s retail sales fell 24 per cent. This was weaker than expected, and it represents much more of a decline than can be explained by pull forward,” they explained.

2nd November 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Lombard to Use Fit4Fleet

Lombard Vehicle Management is taking a different approach to fleet tyre provision, which it says will give customers a marked improvement in the service they experience. The company has separated the tyre authorisation function from the actual fitting process. The authorisation and invoice auditing is being carried out remotely by tyre experts Fit4Fleet. Fit4Fleet is not a tyre supplier to Lombard Vehicle Management, so for the first time the service is being controlled by an independent expert.

1st November 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Double Michelin Award for Kerr’s Tyres, Antrim

Tyre distributor Kerr’s of Antrim has become the first dealer in the UK to be accredited under the new Michelin MAP scheme for both passenger car and truck tyre service quality.

This double award for Kerr’s Tyres in Northern Ireland reflects the commitment to customer service lead by the firm’s founder Norman Kerr and delivered by his loyal, 11 strong full time staff. It also rewards the substantial investment in facilities that make his customer’s buying experience a positive and enjoyable experience.

1st November 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Lexus Club Line Up in Watford

The grounds of STS Watford were graced with a line-up of high performance Lexus cars when it recently hosted a free tyre health check event with the expertise of it’s resident doctor, Tony ‘Dr’ Bones. STS Stapletons Tyres and Exhaust Centre, based on Lower High Street, Watford hosted a unique Geometry and Wheel Alignment Health Check Day for the Lexus Owners Club, where top geometry wheel alignment expert, Dr Bones performed stringent tyre safety checks on over 30 Lexus cars.

27th October 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear to Invest $18 Million on Expansion in India

(Akron/Tire Review) Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co said it will invest $18 million in the company’s Indian operations next year. The investment, according to Goodyear, will be used to upgrade technology and increase production capacity for passenger tyres.

25th October 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Group Tyre to Exclusively Distribute Marangoni

Group Tyre (UK) Ltd is to exclusively distribute Marangoni passenger car and light truck tyres in the UK mainland. The move will allow Group Tyre to offer the independent sector a European manufactured product with premium brand quality but offering better value for money, the wholesale operation said in an official statement.

“The addition of the Marangoni brand to our portfolio illustrates our commitment to offer our customers a full range of quality brands. We believe that we can develop Marangoni in the UK market to emulate the success it has achieved in the rest of Europe, and that Marangoni will contribute to our continued success in the independent sector,” commented Group Tyre chairman, John Church.

24th October 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Tire Pros to Acquire St Louis-Based Autotire

(Akron/Tire Review) Tire Pros/Am-Pac Tire Distributors Inc has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Latham Tire Co and its Autotire Car Care Centers business for an undisclosed amount. The agreement, expected to close shortly, brings the number of Tire Pros’ national retail stores to 300.

19th October 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Increases Number of Retail Outlets in China

(Akron/Tire Review) A report by the Shanghai Daily says that Bridgestone Corp. will add 750 retail tyre outlets to its distribution in China by 2010, with some 400 of them being “high-end branded stores.”
Already, Bridgestone has 4,850 sales outlets in China, and will boost that total to 5,600 within five years. Among those are 100 Car Wings company-owned outlets, which Bridgestone says it will increase to 500 stores. Car Wings outlets sell tyres, wheels, stereo equipment and accessories.

17th October 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Europe’s Best Kept Secret?

The tyre retail system in countries like Norway, Sweden and Finland presents a fairly unique brand of independent tyre retailing. Perhaps the best demonstration of this can be found in the example of Nordic retail group, Dekk Partner. Tyres & Accessories met the group’s managing director, Leif Kristiansen, and asked what other national markets can learn from the tyre trade in the north of Europe.

The success of the Dekk Partner retail group is quite possibly the European tyre industry’s best-kept secret. Think this is an exaggeration? Just look at the numbers. The group’s collective turnover is expected to reach up to 300 million euros in 2005. In recent years the Nordic tyre retail group has seen its geographical spread, number of branches and, consequently, its turnover grow dramatically.

14th October 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Wholesale Changes at Stapletons

For the last 18 months Stapletons has kept pretty quiet about its plans for the UK market and consequently rumours have abounded about the strength of the company’s position. Now, chief executive officer, Kenji Murai has broken silence, announcing efficiency cuts and $25 million of investment designed to set “Stapletons apart from its competitors…into 2006 and beyond.”

On the 11 October Stapletons announced that it plans to close its Dereham tyre distribution centre (TDC), cut around 50 jobs and introduce new stock distribution methods at its Bristol, Coatbridge and Warrington TDCs. Delving deeper, Tyres & Accessories learnt that the cutbacks are the first step in programme that will see the company’s Japanese backers invest a minimum of $25 million over the next three to five years.

14th October 2005/by Tyrepress Editors