e-commerce and online tyre business news
For the fourth year in a row, Michelin can be found at the top of Tyres & Accessories’ 2020 UK social media ranking. Indeed, such is Michelin’s dominance in the annual table, only Goodyear (in 2012) and Dunlop (in 2016) have done enough to overtake the UK arm of the French tyre brand since our research began in 2011. In both cases, Michelin still managed to take second place.
Andrew Rowson, co-founder and Head of Services at ecommotors is joining the panel at the next the Automotive Aftermarket Webinar Series, ‘Digitalisation; Accelerating the recovery of the aftermarket,’ which will take place on 29 September.
Goodyear has been marketing its passenger car tyres in Germany directly to end users for fitting by a listed partner for roughly six months. And for years before that there has been a noticeable trend towards online selling. Following on from our online preview article, Tyres & Accessories’ German group publication Neue Reifenzeitung interviewed David Anckaert, vice president Commercial Europe at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and began by asking: is it too early to draw initial conclusions? And where’s next?
On July 10, Linglong Tire signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Tencent Cloud and Huazhi. As a result, the three parties will cooperate on smart marketing and industrial digitalization based on “the world’s first industrial Internet platform for the tyre industry, aiming at helping Linglong realize the transformation from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing, while seizing the aftermarket and improving the overall digital marketing and service level.”
McConechys Tyre Service, which was bought by Halfords last year, is migrating its website to the Halfords.com portal. At the same time as making the website migration announcement, company representatives revealed: “All of the [49 form McConechy’s] garages have been trained to provide the same services that would be expected at a Halfords Autocentre, including both on demand and bookable services.
Goodyear has been marketing its passenger car tyres in Germany directly to end users for fitting by a listed partner for roughly six months. And for years before that there has been a noticeable trend towards online selling. With this in mind, Tyres & Accessories’ German group publication Neue Reifenzeitung interviewed David Anckaert, vice president Commercial Europe at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.
Bridgestone and ETB Autocentres have introduced the Mobox all-inclusive monthly tyre subscription service in the UK. First piloted in 25 First Stop stores across France in October 2017, Mobox has now been expanded to 30 Speedy shops in France and 20 First Stop stores in Spain since June 2018. The programme was rolled out in other European nations in 2019 and now makes its UK debut.
Launch UK is warning garages of the dangers of purchasing diagnostic equipment from internet sellers. The company reports that it has found at least 50 accounts claiming to be genuine diagnostic sellers on eBay alone. However, upon further inspection, these sellers are said to have listed “inaccurate company information such as a UK base and fraudulent VAT numbers”.
Ending lockdown has “unleashed a surge in demand for cars,” according to the online car supermarket BuyaCar.co.uk. While spectacular increases in every measure of consumer interest during June are somewhat tempered by equally spectacular declines in the preceding months, BuyaCar contends that enquiries from buyers are not simply bouncing back from the depths of the coronavirus crisis. They are already beginning to overtake pre-pandemic levels.
eBay France has partnered with the 350-branch strong Feu Vert garage network to fit tyres purchased online. The development was hinted at last year’s Equip Auto show when the head of spare parts and accessories for cars and motorcycles in the French, Spanish and Italian markets, Francesco Faà di Bruno, announced that negotiations were underway. Now, Ebay has confirmed, the agreement is final.
Delticom AG has appointed Alexander Eichler as the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) effective 1 June 2020. At the same time, Delitcom’s Susann Dörsel-Müller and the company’s Supervisory Board have agreed “by the best of mutual understanding” to terminate her current contract prematurely effective 30 June 2020.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is providing “on-demand and on-location professional vehicle services for Turo” a peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace via its AndGo platform. The AndGo by Goodyear offer for Turo hosts is currently available in Southern California, with more markets coming soon.
In addition to reporting strong first quarter 2020 sales growth, Tirescanner reports that it has added more locations, and has added three new senior figures to its ranks. Graeme Bissett, previously chairman at TireScanner founder Mike Welch’s previous tyre business Blackcircles.com for 12 years, will advise the board on governance, finance and strategic matters.
Tirescanner, the US-based tyre e-commerce, has announced sales and customer growth of 400 per cent in the quarter covering January, February and March 2020. April and May have continued the same trend with the company predicting another record quarter.
Photo Mix; Pixabay
GRI
Goodyear
Linglong
Halfords
Bridgestone
Launch Tech UK
PRNewsfoto/eBay Motors
Delticom AG
Turo