Kenda Tire has debuted an online learning platform, called Kenda eUniversity, in which dealers and their staff can use to take a deep dive into learning about Kenda’s products and the company. The platform debuted this week, and Kenda staff says it will continually update content as new products are released.
Company executives gave a preview of the online university during an event celebrating Kenda’s 60th anniversary in late April at the Kenda American Technical Center in Canton, Ohio. During the event, Brandon Stotsenburg, vice president of automotive, said the platform will serve as a sales tool for dealers in all of its segments (automotive, bicycle, powersports, lawn and garden, golf cart, etc.) to learn about the company’s products to better provide expertise to its customers.
“This is a secure system that is moving us to the next generation,” said Brandon Stotsenburg, Kenda’s vice president of automotive. “This is moving us into the digital era and showcases how we’re expanding and what we’re doing with our brand. It will allow us to share what we’re doing with our products as well as how out products can be merchandised and sold in the market from a retailer’s perspective. It will show how we help bring [our slogan] ‘Designed for your Journey’ to life and how we can hopefully bring more margin to your points of sale.”
Kim Besst, marketing manager for Kenda’s ATW division who spearheaded the project, said dealers will be able to select different tracks depending on the Kenda segments they sell. Videos about the company and its North American Tech Center will give dealers an idea about the research and testing that goes into each of its tires.
Besst added that Kenda leaned into the trend of microlearning, with many of its videos being short and broken up so that a tire dealer and their staff can watch them during a quick break or at the beginning or end of the day.
“We all know it’s hard to sit and do training, but if a person’s lunch hour is almost over, it’s easier to say, here log in and take 10 minutes to learn something,” she said. “Since it’s all in the cloud and online, you can do it from your phone or wherever you’re at. We tried to set it up so that we make it flexible for dealers.”
