Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/114173
Your marketplace with more inventory than they needed. Specifcally, 40% of passenger tire dealers believed inventories were too high (vs. 53% in December), while approximately 50% believed inventory levels were just right (47% last month). Te other 10% believed inventory levels were too low. Meanwhile, less than 12% of the truck tire dealers we surveyed indicated that inventories were too high (vs. 38% last month), while 78% thought they were just right (vs. 62% in November). Te other 10% believed levels were too low. While dealers worked down their inventory somewhat from December, we were surprised to still see so many dealers note that they had too much product for demand as we thought the sales lif at the beginning of the month would have allowed them to clean up their inventory levels. Service revenues: service work also sof Many passenger tire dealers fnished January with more tires in inventory than they needed. A majority of truck tire dealers thought inventories were just right. passed on to consumers as the selling price of passenger tire prices has not afected the most popular selling tires. In fact, prices on both premium and value brand tires were essentially unchanged from December. Inventories: dealers work down some inventory Despite a snow-related sales pick-up at the end of December and the beginning of January, many dealers fnished the month 18 Service work slowed in January as dealers noted that service work, which accounted for roughly 31% of the total revenues of the respondents in our study, was fat year-over-year. While this represents a very modest slowdown from the 0.6% increase that was reported during December, it is a sharp deceleration from the 5% increase reported in November. In our view, the sof service results refect a cash-strapped consumer that is unwilling or unable to allocate funds for any nonessential vehicle expenses. ■ John Healy and Nick Mitchell are research analysts with Northcoast Research Holdings LLC based in Cleveland, Ohio. Healy and Mitchell cover a variety of subsectors of the automotive industry. Quik-Link: 800-687-1557 ext. 13109 Quik-Link: 800-687-1557 ext. 13110