With tire distribution in the U.S. undergoing what may be a paradigm shift in the way wholesalers and retailers will do business together in the future, the largest of them all says its business is strong. And it is sharing key financial information to prove it.
In a letter obtained by Modern Tire Dealer, Stuart Schuette, CEO and president of American Tire Distributors Inc. (ATD), reassured his ATD and NTD (National Tire Distributors) families of ATD’s continued strength. Here is the base of the letter in its entirety.
It has been a busy past few weeks for ATD and I want to let you know how much I appreciate your hard work. We are competing, we are growing, we are continuing on our innovation and transformation journey and our performance is outpacing the market.
As an industry leader, it’s not uncommon for ATD to attract attention from the media and analysts during times of change. Unfortunately, there have recently been some negative and/or speculative stories written about us – many of which haven’t been based on factual information.
I want to make sure that you have the facts about ATD. I also want you to have confidence about what you are doing and the impact we are making by working as one team to succeed.
* Speculation about our business performance and financial health:
Fact: Our business is growing and we are financially strong and generating the cash required to fuel our transformation.
* Implications of Amazon’s recent agreement with Sears:
Fact: ATD has been in the online channel for almost 10 years and this announcement has little impact on our business.
Fact: We’ve had our best period of sales performance in 2018 since recent announcements, and we remain the largest supplier of tires to the replacement tire market!
I’d like to share some more facts with you about our sales -- a true measure of how your hard work and dedication is keeping our business strong.
* We achieved $1.2 billion in net sales in the first quarter – a 3% increase over 2017.
* We drove a 3.6% increase in net sales in April, and we’re on pace to exceed that in May.
The fact is, We are outperforming the industry, which was down in the first four months of 2018. I couldn’t possibly be prouder of what our teams are accomplishing every day to lead our industry. I’ll let some more facts and figures speak for themselves.
* Our Sales and Customer Service teams recently transitioned ATD Online to the best-in-class Hybris 2.0 platform providing our customers an industry leading digital experience with new tools to better service the end consumer.
* Our team of 2,500+ Supply Chain associates operate a fleet of 1,500 trucks across 146 North American locations, making more than 18,000 deliveries to our customers daily across North America.
* Our Supply Chain teams work seven days a week, offering more SKU’s with same day and next day delivery options than any other wholesaler.
* Our Supply Chain leaders are 100% SEAL Certified for operational excellence across all of our locations.
* Our Sales and Customer Service teams support more than 80,000 accounts and manage the largest portfolio of products, programs and promotions in the industry.
* Our Sales and Customer Service teams have led the market with strong performance in Q1 and double-digit net sales growth so far in May of 2018.
* Our Field Support teams are implementing new tools, programs and innovation to make our job easier each day and to make sure we are positioned to deliver an excellent customer experience.
Keep delivering the excellence our customers have come to expect. When you are speaking with customers or working with our vendors, here are three things you can share with them.
1. We have decades of experience leading through change and we are dedicated to supporting them in ways nobody else can as the industry continues to evolve.
2. We are keeping the power of choice alive for our customers and our partners.
3. We are looking after our customers’ interests by providing even more value to their business through enhanced customer support programs, technology, advanced analytics and insights so they can drive into the future with a competitive advantage.
Thank you for everything you do for ATD. Let’s keep helping our customers stay ahead of the curve. Keep up the great work!
