The corporate philosophy at Jack Williams Tire Co. Inc. is to provide the best customer experience possible. It should be no surprise, then, that the focus of the company’s newly launched myTireShop Certified Shop program group, designed for its wholesale customers, is ultimately on the consumer. There are many advantages for the participating retail dealers, too.
According to Scott Williams, president of Jack Williams Tire, the goal of myTireShop is to deliver retail tire sales opportunities to its member dealers while respecting them as tire and service shops, not as installation centers. To be eligible, dealers must be independent, but also progressive. “We’re looking for dealers who compete with online retailers but don’t have the best online presence or the ability to do marketing online. Dealers know that they’re behind the eight ball when it comes to competing on the Internet.”
The strategy for the myTire-Shop program was based on research that shows true e-commerce tire purchases account for 10% or less of the total retail tire market, yet almost 60% of tire buyers research online.
Williams says myTireShop converts the online tire research population into purchasers by eliminating online “anxiety points” such as credit card information, return policy, shipping cost, shipping time and servicing the tires. Consumers pay the dealer directly.
What myTireShop offers consumers is a nationwide service warranty, roadside assistance, a nationwide road hazard warranty and extended financing. It also keeps consumers engaged with the personalized myTireMaintenanceLog and the myWheelAlignmentInspectionLog.
The Lifetime Tire Care Package is included with new tire purchases. Customers are treated to courtesy tire rotations every 6,000 miles, lug nuts hand-torqued to specification, and tires adjusted to recommended pressures.
The Nationwide Repair Warranty & Roadside Assistance Plan is also part of the package. It features three-year road hazard damage protection; 12-month free replacement for non-repairable damage; three years of free tire repairs; and services that include towing, lock-out service and jump-start service.
Jack Williams Tire is backing the program with the www.myTireShop.com website, where consumers can go to tire shop online, and the myTireShop call center, where agents connect consumers with dealers.
“What we bring is the convenience of buying online combined with the convenience of same-day local installation,” says Williams.
“What we didn’t like about some of the other programs we saw out there was that if the consumer buys online, the local dealer gets to install the tires — but doesn’t necessarily collect the money. What we’re trying to do is deliver a new customer to the independent dealer.”
Williams says there are 35 dealers signed up for myTireShop so far. The company is looking at rural territories where dealers are at least 30 miles apart. The program’s reach is eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and southern New York.
“We’re going to require them to use the Tire Industry Association (TIA) tools, which would be the TPMS training module and the TIA Automotive Service Professional training,” says Mike Finley, wholesale marketing manager at Jack Williams Tire.
“It’s all about training them on tires and focusing on providing a good customer experience. That really was what started all this because we found that a lot of customers were not aware the independent tire dealer was providing all this extra value, and the dealers weren’t doing a good job talking it up. The focus is on talking value and less on talking price.”
Williams likes to describe the program as “Main Street USA meets online.”
“The dealers are proprietors, the guys behind the counter, the ones who put tires on your wife’s minivan. They’re the ones you trust. That’s the type of dealer we’re trying to recruit and sign on to the program.”
Want more? Read the entire May 2014 issue of Modern Tire Dealer by clicking on our digital version here.
