According to a survey of tire dealerships conducted by Babcox Research, profitability ranks as the number-one business concern on tire dealers’ minds today. Ranking equally as important is customer retention. On a scale of one to three, one being most critical; three being least critical, survey respondents also ranked the cost of business insurance, getting/keeping employees and the cost of wages/benefits as a critical concerns (giving 1.5 to each).
Of the fifteen concerns listed (see breakdown below), ‘tire companies buying dealers’ was of least concern to those surveyed.
Ranking of Business Concerns:
(1=critical concern, 2=somewhat critical, 3=not very critical)
· Profitability 1.3
· Customer retention 1.3
· Cost of business insurance 1.5
· Getting/keeping employees 1.5
· Cost of wages/benefits 1.5
· Tire pricing from suppliers 1.6
· Tire supply/fill 1.9
· Availability of vehicle service info 1.9
· National/state legislation 1.9
· Price competition from dealers 2.0
· Health of tire companies 2.1
· SKU proliferation 2.1
· Competition from mass merchants 2.2
· Competition from auto dealers 2.3
· Tire companies buying dealers 2.4
These and other statistics can be found in the 2008 Tire Review Dealer Profile from Babcox Research. For more information about Babcox Research, go to: http://www.babcox.com/marketing_research.html.
