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American Tire Distributors sells tires to mom-and-pop tire shops across the country. But with more shoppers researching and buying products online, those stores risked being left in the dust, digitally speaking - without the resources to launch their own comprehensive e-commerce sites.
So last month, Huntersville-based ATD launched a Web site to help connect Internet-savvy buyers with the local, independent dealers that ATD serves. At TireBuyer.com, shoppers can search for tires by vehicle model, buy them and have them shipped to a local dealer, which will install them.
ATD hopes the site will give smaller dealers new customers at a time when people are deferring car maintenance and being more selective about spending. More sales at those shops means more sales for ATD.
"It enables our dealers to compete," said Ron Sinclair, senior vice president of marketing at the firm, which employs 2,200 nationwide, including more than 300 locally, and describes itself as the country's largest independent tire distributor. Privately held, it had 2008 revenues of $1.96 billion.
He declined to project '09 figures, but noted the replacement tire market is expected to be down about 11 percent this year, largely due to the economy. ATD hasn't been immune from that decline and is hoping the Web site will help.
The company estimates that consumers bought about 7 million tires online last year. That represents about 3 percent of all replacement tires sold. But that's projected to grow to 6 percent in the next five years, Sinclair said, providing room for growth in an otherwise mature market.
ATD will soon begin a marketing blitz for the site to build awareness and traffic. Despite a low-key launch, the site is already bringing business to some dealers.
Griffin Brothers, a family-owned tire and repair shop with seven stores in the region, has so far made six sales through TireBuyer, all to new customers. GM Russ Carter said he hopes they'll return, not just for tires, but possibly for other services.
"The person on the Internet buying tires may not be a customer that would generally walk through our doors," he said. "(The site) is a huge value for us, especially with the state of the economy, and there being so many choices for consumers."
