Nitto Tire USA wants to change the way tire dealers work, and plans to demonstrate its new ideas at the upcoming SEMA Show.

The tiremaker said it “intends to digitally enable the tire retail industry by launching a Web site designed to help tire stores increase their profits and improve efficiency.”

Nitto said the new program, targeted to launch in the first quarter of 2010, will bring increased repeat business, lower marketing costs, help dealers gain access to online training, and create a community where dealers can seek answers from peers.  

These services will be provided by Nitto without charge for the first year, the company said.

A working prototype of the system will be on display at Nitto’s booth at the upcoming SEMA Show.

“We wanted to create something that would help the entire tire industry,” said marketing representative Stephen Leu. “All of the features are specifically designed to help tire stores using the latest electronic and mobile-based advertising.”

As part of the new product, Nitto created a service reminder system that automatically sends reminder emails or mobile text messages to consumers to notify them of upcoming services, such as tire rotations, oil changes and general maintenance. The system tracks the types of products each customer purchased to send highly targeted service messages, Nitto said, but sending the reminders electronically also lowers marketing costs by eliminating printing and postage costs.

Nitto said it would also provide dealers with the tools needed to build their own Web sites. “Since many consumers use online search engines to find a local tire store, dealers without Web sites are missing potential sales,” said Leu. “We are providing professional Web site designs that dealers can use to drive traffic to their doors.”

In addition, the new Nitto product includes discussion forums designed specifically for tire dealers to help them get answers to questions quickly and share their knowledge with other stores.

The new Nitto site also includes an interactive training module that consists of a series of short videos and quizzes, which allows dealers and their staffs to learn “on their own time and at their own pace.”