NetDespatch ‘Revolutionises’ Bike Tyrestore Business

NetDespatch has supplied its Velocity Web-based shipping, tracking and systems integration services to provide a live system connecting Bike Tyrestore’s call centre, warehouse despatch operation and 3,000 plus customers nationwide, with their express delivery parcel carrier APC Overnight.

Bike Tyrestore says it selected APC Overnight because of the added traceability and service benefits made possible by the NetDespatch web services. As a result Bike Tyrestore claims to have been able to introduce significant improvements in its logistics, delivery and customer care operations.

Orders received at Bike Tyrestore’s central Birmingham call centre are booked by telesales staff into Cameo, a specially developed management system from Gloucestershire-based CAM Systems. The Cameo system prints picking notes and invoices in the Bike Tyrestore warehouse located several miles away. Cameo also shares this dispatch information with the NetDespatch Velocity Connector application, which immediately sends the booking via a secure Internet connection to the NetDespatch Web servers.

The NetDespatch Velocity enterprise labelling system prints APC Overnight bar-coded dispatch labels to a printer in the warehouse, to be collated with the Cameo paper-work, ready to be attached to the tyres. The tyres are then collected several times a day by Trax Express systems, the local APC Overnight depot.

Bike Tyrestore is part of BMTR, the motor tyre group formed in 1919 and today headed by Peter and Paul Smith, grandsons of founder J.J. Smith. The Bike Tyrestore brand was created in 1993 and has since grown by 500%. It is also the main outlet for Bridgestone motorbike tyres.

“If used well, technology can play a key role in achieving a market lead and that is certainly the case with the NetDespatch web services. It has been possible to make the switch to APC Overnight without interruption to our daily operations and the seamless flow of data from call centre to carrier has been a real revelation. It has opened up all sorts of opportunities for improving both our warehouse operations and our customer service which would not have been possible twelve months ago,” Peter Smith, joint managing director of Bike Tyrestore commented.

If you’re a shop looking to sell summer tires, it’s important to know that customers looking for these tires have very specific needs. Let’s talk about why, before recommending summer tires, you need to fully understand customer performance requirements.

Unlike all-season or all-terrain tires built for diverse driving conditions, UHP summer tires are designed with one priority: dry and wet traction for performance driving. Lateral and longitudinal grip in dry and wet conditions are also important, which is achieved through optimized contact patches, high silica tread compounds and circumferential grooves to channel water. Generally, UHP summer tire tread design features large blocks and fewer grooves for more road contact on dry surfaces. The grooves are designed to channel water away from the tire, reducing the risk of hydroplaning on wet roads.