Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/762675
61 www.moderntiredealer.com 25% from 2012-2016, with familiarity increasing 117% to about 25%. e Firestone brand grew 2% in unaided awareness among consumers to 47%. Its familiarity rating grew 107% to about 31%. e company showcased its Tire Navigator, which it says brings new insights and data regarding inventory manage- ment to dealers that is not available elsewhere. e program is designed to increase a dealer's inventory turns and overall sales by finding gaps in product assortments within specific trade areas. Tire Connect is another tool Bridgestone showed to dealers. e company says its research shows 83% of consumers go online before they buy, with 1.2 billion searches each year. Bridgestone told dealers 9% of consumers buy tires online, and it believes that number will grow: 56% of the consumers surveyed by Bridgestone said they may buy online in the future. Tire Connect is designed to drive consumers to retail dealers. Michael Fluck, BATO's senior director of digital marketing and strategy, emphasized dealers would "get full credit" for the sale. e company also announced its Side-by-Side point-of-sale kiosk that eliminates the counter from the selling process. e computer screen is designed to allow the salesperson to show the consumer tire comparisons and prices along with selling features. Steve Charles, vice president of product development for Bridgestone Americas Inc., took a look at what may lay ahead for the industry in terms of products and product development cycles. He said Bridgestone is striving to reduce its current development cycle by 50%. e rationale is there are so many additional SKUs in the market today, and with new fitments coming, the company has to be able to move more rapidly. Charles also told dealers the company believes tires in the future will weigh half as much as they do now, with ever increasing reductions in rolling resistance. He said tires will be taller and narrower with an increasing emphasis on sustain- ability. Bridgestone will continue to emphasize improvements in tread wear and ride with its run-flat tires. New products e company announced it would be launching four Fire- stone tire lines during 2017. Erik Seidel, vice president of consumer sales in the U.S. and Canada for the Consumer Tire Sales Division of BATO, said the company was delivering on its promise from last year that it would upgrade 100% of its Firestone line in three years. e four new lines represent 56% of that total in just the first year. 1. e Firestone All-Season tire will launch in March in select passenger sizes, with additional sizes coming on-stream in August. Baraa said the tire is "the lowest priced Firestone tire and will compete in the 'good' category." e company calls the tire "a quality tire at a great value." It will have a 65,000-mile limited tread wear warranty for all sizes except for CUV sizes, which will carry a 55,000-mile warranty. It will come in 49 sizes (32 passenger and 17 CUV) ranging from 185/65R14 to P255/55R20. Quik-Link: 800-687-1557 ext. 23123