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Wholesaling and Retailing In a Difficult Market

Magowan Tyres is a family-owned and run retail and wholesale tyre business, based in Belfast. The founder, Darryl Magowan, has been in the tyre industry for more than three decades and is still in charge of the overall direction of the company.
His son, also called Darryl, is managing director of the company and his speciality is purchasing. With the Northern Ireland market being, in his phrase, “exceptionally price conscious”, it is a distinct advantage if you can buy cleverly. Magowan is very active on the parallel market, importing around eight containers a month from Europe and the USA.

For almost 20 years, Magowan Tyres was purely a retail business, moving into wholesaling only three years ago. I put it to Darryl Magowan (Jr.) that this was an odd time to enter the wholesale sector, with rising transportation and associated costs. His response was that the company had examined the situation carefully and weighed up the pros and cons. The main reason was that there was a growing demand in the Irish market for ultra high performance tyres and a lack of wholesale supply.

The main market for Magowan Tyres is Northern Ireland, especially Belfast, where the company offers deliveries up to five or six times a day, if required. The service in the Irish Republic is less frequent, but a next-day delivery is standard. Because of the low density of population, which, apart from the major towns and cities, is very spread out, running a wholesale operation efficiently and profitably means keeping a close eye on day to day running.

5th January 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Deldo’s Count-Tronic

In a slight diversification from its core wholesale business, Deldo is promoting its new “Count-Tronic” system. During the last year the company says it has been testing different tyre counting systems in cooperation with an external development company. According to the Belgian wholesaler, the results were clear and Deldo chose to use and license the Count-Tronic system.

The Count-Tronic is designed to count every load with an electronic eye, which is subsequently followed up with a computer. This data is then saved making it possible to produce a print-out for each load.

Deldo believes that this technological development means it can provide an improved service and that the chances of incorrectly counting loads is now “non-existent.” Deldo’s Phillip Delcroix told Tyres & Accessories that the counting system works “very well” and that as a result the company sees itself as “the benchmark in accurate loadings.” The company also reports that many of it clients and suppliers have become familiar with the system and are now also interested in buying it.

12th November 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Wholesalers

Wholesalers are an integral part of the tyre industry’s supply chain, but which companies are the most influential and why? The next edition of Tyres & Accessories will take a look at the business of tyre wholesaling, covering the latest news and featuring the key players and their private brands.

3rd November 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

BMTR Group Make New Board Appointments

Birmingham based tyre wholesaler and distributor BMTR Group has announced the appointment of Gary Hickman as director and general manager. Mr Hickman will be based at the group’s Perry Barr site.

28th October 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

WDS Portfolio Grows

Wholesale warehouse distributor, WDS, has added XL and Kilen to its portfolio of aftermarket brands. The trading division of FPS was launched just over a year ago to support FPS’ same-day distress purchase delivery service by offering an overnight stock order service to independent motor factors.

15th October 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Wholesale in the 21st Century

Wholesalers across the world have noted that the face of tyre wholesaling is changing. “The tyre world is getting smaller everyday,” says one company, “there is a lot consolidation going on,” adds another. Yet despite the spiraling costs of raw material and fuel, a number of wholesalers are claiming that business is better than ever. In a new ‘Question of the month’ Tyres & Accessories invites national and international wholesalers to give their comments on the state of wholesaling asking the question: Which factors are the greatest threats to the wholesaling business?

To add your answer to the current question of the month, and to participate in the discussion please click here

13th October 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Expansion in Ireland’s Mid-Range Tyre Market

Following a £5 million investment in its Belfast location, Magowan Tyres is set to benefit from a huge expansion in the mid-range tyre market. A member of Group Tyre UK, the company will now distribute the Italian Stunner brand selling its Scudo and Torneo tread patterns.

Darryl Magowan Jr commented: “We have never had a mid market tyre range before and Stunner is an innovative quality brand – it is great news and there is enormous potential in Ireland.”

Magowan’s claims to be one of the biggest tyre retailers in Northern Ireland. Its Newton Abbey site has a 25,000 sq ft retail depot, 40,000 sq ft wholesale depot and 22 retail and commercial fitting bays. The company explains that its 100,000 sq ft storage space ensures that large stocks are held of all the major brands.

The company is the sole Irish distributor for Federal, Maxxis and Trayal and specialises in UHP, 4×4, SUV, agriculture and truck tyres in addition to mainstream volume tyres.

“One of the strengths of our operation is the Group multi brand tyre policy of carrying all lines and giving a prompt same day delivery service throughout Northern Ireland. We will also be extending our sales operation in the south and are currently finalising our plans for this,” explained Mr Magowan.

Group Tyre UK chairman John Church added: “We are delighted that Magowans has already made such an impact as a Group Tyre member. They have brought new standards of service to the franchised garage trade, retail businesses, fast-fit outlets and the independent sector and the addition of Stunner to the portfolio is going to hugely expand the middle market.”

14th September 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Profit to Rise

Bridgestone Corporation is set to make a nine per cent gain in net profit to $891.6 million (£490.3 million) by the end of this fiscal year, according to a Japanese newspaper report.

2nd July 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

The NTDA Approves the Aftermarket Show 2005

The National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) has confirmed its support of the 2005 Aftermarket show.

Director Richard Edy commented: “We are constantly searching for high profile opportunities to meet with members, as well as those businesses and organisations that play a major part in our industry. Our first experience of the Aftermarket Show proved it was an event that was capable of meeting our needs. With the show planning an even greater focus on the issues and opportunities that matter to the tyre industry, we’ll return next January confident of building on that success.”

Next year’s show will concentrate on core business issues, such as mobile fitting and service, tyres and the environment, developments in tyre technology and the delivery stream of wholesale supply to the UK market.

The Aftermarket show will be held at the NEC from 13-16 January, 2005, and will once again be staged alongside the Autosport International show.

28th June 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Danish wholesaler expands in Germany

Danish wholesaler, NDI is proving popular in Germany having opened its second retail outlet in five months. Founded by Benny Kristensen, the company now has stores in Dortmund and on the outskirts of Hamburg. Managing Director, Michael Andre claims the company´s success will be based on meeting NDI´s next day delivery service. The Danish firm has also enlisted the services of Hamburg-based off-road expert, Viggo Meyer-Bernitt, as the firm continues to develop its share of the off-road tyre market.

21st April 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Tire to Launch Avon Tyres in the U.S. & Canada

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company plans to launch AVON Tyres USA, a new collection of performance passenger, light truck, sport truck and motorsport tyres. Completely new to the U.S. and Canadian markets, the AVON Tyres USA line is the first ever to have been designed and engineered from consumer feedback data. All data was collected and analyzed by The Tire Rack, the country’s largest independent tyre tester, through its web site, www.tirerack.com.

17th March 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin to import truck tyres to India

The Indian Government is to permit Michelin to import bus and truck radial tyres for wholesale trading on cash and carry basis until its joint venture with Apollo Tyres becomes operational. Michelin Apollo, 51 per cent owned by the French firm and 49 per cent by Apollo Tyres, will take about 20 months to begin production.

20th February 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Peter Gaster takes on the Chair of the NTDA WTG

The new Chairman of the NTDA Tyre Wholealers’ Group, Peter Gaster took to the floor at the NTDA TWG luncheon to offer one or two points for the trade to consider. Gaster opened by highlighting the fact that whilst he was looking at things from a wholesale point of view, it was worth remembering that many at the event had a foot in both retail and wholesale camps.

He outlined the importance of the role of the wholesaler, comparing the ability of the multi-brand wholesaler to that of the tyre manufacturer and how the result was benefiting the tyre trade as a whole. “The true wholesaler performs a vital and necessary function in the UK distribution market in providing a variety of products and deliveries to all retail sectors in the industry and it is here that the wholesaler performs the most vital function which is service. We are all aware of the cost of distribution and I’ve always felt that manufacturers have at the best misunderstood and at the worst miscalculated the cost of distribution and the reality of the logistics and practicality of delivering one tyre to one customer on a daily basis.

28th January 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

Axle Group; turned around and heading on a new course

To Continental, National Tyres and Autocare and Viking International and associated trimmings were a collective albatross around the neck of the UK division. After years of loss-making Conti made the decision to cut its losses.

The company and its assets were bought from Continental for a figure that, depending upon how the numbers are crunched, is either 15 million, or 24 million pounds. Some would say that was a lot of money for a business on its last legs. The long and the short of it was though that National came into the ownership of the Axle Group, a parent company formed during the management buy out of National, where most of the management team had built careers out of the fast fit trade – almost all having been employed on the shop floor at retail level at some point in their career. Alan Revie had been manager at Smiley’s Langside outlet and had taken on John Caldwell as a fitter – now Revie heads the Axle Group and Cauldwell heads the wholesale operation. The people at the helm of National were thoroughbred fast fit experts who knew the business inside out.

The fiscal arrangements of the business have been, by now, well documented but the purchase price of the business was met largely through the revaluation and sale of properties no longer required by the Axle Group. The outcome is that the Group has no debts and is currently in a very strong position, and Alan Revie makes a point in talking to T&A of emphasising that fact.

28th January 2004/by Tyrepress Editors

New Bridgestone CEO Eyes Profit-Making

Mark Emkes says his top priority as the new chief executive of Bridgestone Americas Holding Inc. is to make the division he headed the past year turn a profit. As the Nashville-based business continues its turnaround from a devastating tyre recall in 2000, three units are making money. Not Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, which includes tyre manufacturing and sales of wholesale and original equipment. “We’ve made nice progress over the last 12 months, but the goal for 2004-2005 is to make that business profitable,” said Emkes, who will continue heading that division even as he takes over the entire company after John Lampe retires on March 31st.

12th January 2004/by Tyrepress Editors