By every metric, 2015 was a big year for Big O Tires LLC franchisees. December marked the 19th straight month of same-store sales growth for the TBC Corp. subsidiary.
“That’s not just a good year, that’s a trend,” Kevin Kormondy, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Big O Tires, told store owners attending their 2016 annual convention in Phoenix, Ariz., April 25-28.
“The trend’s continuing. We’ve posted same-store sales growth every month in the first quarter of 2016. That puts our streak at 22 months and counting. That’s definitely cause for celebration.”
Eighty-seven percent of Big O Tires stores were represented among the 712 franchisees, their guests, and their suppliers at the convention. They had plenty to celebrate in terms of 2015’s sales and results:
* per store sales average was more than $1.8 million;
* retail sales were up 5.5%;
* same-store service sales were up more than 6%; and
* car count was up 3.1%.
“There was a lot of pessimism about 2015 in the industry,” Kormondy reminded franchisees. “The Rubber Manufacturers Association predicted flat sales for tire units. We turned that prediction on its head. We met and in some cases exceeded our goal of a 3% increase.”
Last year’s increase in service sales is proof that customers increasingly see Big O Tires stores as a one-stop shop for all their car care needs, according to Kormondy.
“Our corporate-wide service balance of sale is around 40%. So we’ll continue to see opportunities in this segment of our business as we focus more and more on alignment sales and we refine our skills on inspecting, estimating and selling service, not to mention our ever-present focus on tires. Because tire sales drive service sales.”
Big O Tires added 14 stores in 2015.
“This is an exciting time to be a part of Big O Tires. We enjoy a great reputation in the marketplace. We’re capitalizing on that and our other strengths to grow our family,” said Kormondy.
“As part of our growth strategy, we made significant headway in convincing people to convert to Big O tires last year. Five of the 14 stores we opened in the last fiscal year are owned by people who were previously independent operators. They saw the value of our program, and they converted their stores to Big O. Another five stores were taken over by existing Big O franchisees who took out a competitor and converted that location to a Big O store.”
Big O Tires’ initiatives in 2016 include additional focus and resources devoted to digital marketing to support its franchisees. “It is a brave new marketing world out there. It’s increasingly complex and sophisticated. But we now can leverage technology to target customers in ways we didn’t dream possible just two years ago,” Kormondy told dealers.
Brant Wilson, senior vice president franchise for TBC Corp., and Kim McBee, vice president of marketing and advertising for Big O Tires, shared their plans to help Big O Tires dealers compete in the digital world with MTD. Be sure to read our exclusive interview in the June issue of Modern Tire Dealer magazine.
For images from the convention, see our photo gallery.
Big O Tires has 390 franchisee-owned and two company-operated locations in 19 states. For more information, visit www.bigotires.com.
