Kramer Says Dealers Are More Committed To Goodyear ‘Than Ever Before’

Feb. 11, 2016

With another session of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s annual dealer meeting in the books, Chairman and CEO Richard Kramer told investors during a recent earnings call that the company’s customers confirmed the tire maker is “clearly on the right path.”

Part of the positive feedback came from Goodyear’s 2015 roll out of its online tire sales platform at goodyear.com. Kramer said he’s “extremely pleased with our thoughtful roll out and our very, very positive results.

“We’re connecting online shoppers who come to us through goodyear.com to a preferred dealer who’s part of our installer program. Our early data indicates we’re driving new business to our network of aligned dealers. Nearly 70% of consumers who bought on goodyear.com were new to the installing dealer.

“At our recent annual North America dealer conference, our customers made it clear to us that online sales are a huge opportunity for our retailers to grow their businesses. Their positive comments about the platform, our products, and especially Goodyear’s total value proposition in consumer, and in commercial and off-the-road as well, energized our team in a way that we’ve never seen.”

Kramer added, “We believe that our customers left more aligned and more committed to Goodyear than ever before.”