In January 2019, Tire Review introduced the initial results of its 2018 Tier Study, intended to be a year-long conversation on the definition and value of tiers within the tire industry. This month we look at how product quality might influence tier decisioning, which may be helpful in any “good-better-best” scenario.
An overwhelming number of survey respondents (all owners or managers of independently owned tire businesses) indicated that “Quality, Engineering, Innovation and Performance” are most important as it relates to tire tiers. With that in mind, we now dig deeper into their opinions of tier rankings and how they see the landscape of brands through the lens of quality.
For those that view “Quality, Engineering/Innovation and Performance” as most important when it comes to tier rankings, what follows is how they would rank brands based on product quality, engineering, innovation and performance versus other factors considered.
Here is a link to a downloadable PDF of this view of the Tier Study results: https://www.tirereview.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tire-Review-Tier-Study-QUALITY.pdf.
The Tier Study was introduced in the January 2019 issue of Tire Review. You can access the initial article here: 2018 Tier Study.
Editor’s Note: All Tier Study outcomes are based on the opinions of 241 tire dealer respondents surveyed in Q3 2018. No effort was made to sort the respondents into groups of business specialization or expertise. If the person had no opinion or awareness of the brand or category being considered, they had the option to respond N/A and those N/A responses did not factor into the tier scoring. Scores for this view have been rounded with a small curve applied. (For instance, if a brand that received a 2.59 score, that brand would be grouped into Tier 2 instead of being rounded down into Tier 3.) Tier grouping are listed in alphabetical order. BFGoodrich and CEAT have been added to the results. We welcome your comments and questions.
