Bridgestone Americas, with 2,200-plus tire and automotive service centers in the U.S., has signed on as a charter data provider for GfK’s new point-of-sale tire panel. Bridgestone also will be among the first subscribers to GfK’s nationwide tire data, the company said.
“Throughout my career in consumer packaged goods, point-of-sale data and national trends information were essential drivers of our decision making for product development, marketing and promotion,” said TJ Higgins, president of the Integrated Consumer Tire Group at Bridgestone. “We see the GfK point-of-sale panel and database as game changers for the tire industry. We are excited to work with GfK on this project as they have a track record of building the highest quality panels and making marketplaces more efficient.”
Through the GfK panel, tire retailers and manufacturers will have access to information on sales and other key metrics from outlets throughout the country. Retailers can use this data to benchmark and optimize their performance, GfK said. Custom and syndicated reports from the tire panel database also will allow manufacturers to make decisions about product development, promotional support, inventory management and marketing, based on sell-through trends in the replacement tire channel.
“In the past 21 months, I have traveled to 39 states, meeting with tire dealers to help them understand the value GfK’s information will provide,” said Neil Portnoy, Managing Director of GfK’s POS Tracking businesses in North America. “This is a dynamic, complex industry full of smart people – but you can only be so efficient without clear data to guide you. I am confident that GfK’s panel will help retailers and manufacturers alike compete and win in today’s marketplace.”
In addition to the Bridgestone’s stores, GfK has recruited more than 1,000 independent tire stores to the panel, which will launch in early 2017.
GfK already operates POS tire retail panels in 29 countries globally, and will bring the same approaches to coding and tracking to the U.S. market, allowing direct comparison of global metrics.
