Lv Huizhong: Selling Tires with Ctrip

Instead of millions of jobs, he resolutely chose to sell tires online and build a new assembly platform by integrating brands with physical retailers. The total investment of less than 10 million yuan, only two short years of on-line, has developed into Asia's first tire retail portal.

As a populous country, China’s automobile sales have been increasing year by year, and the sales of tires corresponding to automobiles have naturally not lagged behind, which has followed an increase in car sales.

The seemingly normative tire retail market is not really a norm. Prices, channels, markets, etc. are relatively opaque. In particular, there are no uniform pricing standards for prices. Even the prices in the same city are very different. In the absence of information disclosure, the average consumer is in a vulnerable position where information is not transparent. At the same time, consumers can only drive their car to the 4S shop, tire supermarkets to change, with their own experience and dealers talk about the price.

But now it's different. Just enter the brand, model, and year of the car on the Tyrepac website, it will show all the tire brands and models that are suitable for the car, click the mouse to make an online payment, set the replacement time and closer tire assembly. Point, you can quickly get. Tire passenger network is an absolute tire supermarket.

Tyrepac also cooperates with retail stores as a designated fitting point. After the consumer selects the tire, he can unload it to the nearest point of installation. The unloading fee is paid by the fetal passenger to the retail store. At present, Tyrepac has more than 130 designated assembly stores in Guangdong Province and more than 100 designated assembly stores in Fujian Province, Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu Province, Beijing Municipality and Shanghai Municipality, with a total of more than 1,400 retail stores in total. There are 100 stores in South Korea, 80 in Malaysia and 20 in Hong Kong, China.

Blue ocean being ignored

The 39-year-old Lu Huizhong was the sales director of a well-known US tire manufacturer in the Asian region before the establishment of Tipaike. He has been engaged in the tire industry for 15 years, and his annual income is nearly 1 million yuan. However, he still chose to quit his job and founded Tire Retail, a tire retail website.

Talk about the concept of creating a fetal passenger three years ago. Lv Huizhong said: “I have been in the tire industry for nearly 15 years and have been exposed to various channels for the sale of tires. After I had acquainted with European and American tire online retailers, I realized that the Internet could become an emerging channel for retail tires. I was shocked by these companies. How fast is the growth rate.Europe's largest online retailer of tires has annual sales of nearly 2.8 billion yuan, and the largest online retailer in the United States has annual sales of nearly 5 billion yuan.The tire sales website is also quite mature, as long as it is in the website. Entering the vehicle model, the matching tires and their price will be listed, which is simple and quick. This way is similar to Ctrip's booking of hotel methods.”

Lv Huizhong analyzed with reporters that the current annual consumption of tires in the Chinese market is about 100 million. According to the calculation of RMB 400 each, it is a big market of RMB 40 billion. China's cars are now gradually entering the general consumer family, the entire society is at the critical point of the popularization of automobiles, and the tire market will continue to expand.

As a result, the various directors of the company gathered together with the online shopping habits and psychology. After a year of preparation, Lv Huizhong finally opened an Asian-style tire shopping website. In 2008, Tirekie was formally launched. With a total investment of less than RMB 10 million, it has developed into Asia's first tire retail portal.

Open price

Under the traditional model, the sales channels of tires are divided into three levels: brand owners, general agents, and retailers. The “rebate-point” incentives of the factory to the general agent led to large differences in the prices of tires of the same specifications. Even in the same city, the quotes from different channels will be different, and sometimes it will even be different for the owner.

And brand shops like Bridgestone's "Wings of the Car" and Michelin's "Chijia" can't offer a wide range of choices. Large-scale tire supermarkets are often concentrated in a certain area of ​​the city, and consumers usually have to open it. There are several shops in the car to find the right tires. On Tempex website, users can see all the tire models and prices that are suitable for their car, which is equivalent to a convenient comparison platform. In addition, fetal passengers mainly sell tires to private owners (especially women) after the 70s and 80s. After investigation, they found that more than 70% to 80% of consumers do not know how to choose the right tires, and female owners may even spend 20% more when they purchase tires. Online shopping systemization, customers do not have to worry about being "chopped", and can choose different brands of tires according to personal budget, such as the 2007 "ToyotaVios" original tire models have a total of 6 models to choose from, the price from 83.42 yuan to 124.52 yuan

Tyrepac's supply comes directly from brands such as Ma Brand, Pirelli, Michelin, Goodyear, Hankook, and Kumho. Tire offers are not much better than off-line channels. However, the price is open, Lv Huizhong said: "This is a great innovation in the industry."

mutually beneficial

Lv Huizhong succeeded in firing the first shot, but he and the industry wiped out the smell of gunpowder. Lv Huizhong revealed that it was mainly because of the issue of open prices. Local tire shops, regardless of the size of the company do not have the habit of price tag. The prices of all brands and models are now available on the Internet and are contrary to traditional business practices.

"At that time, I had difficulty finding wholesalers to get the goods. I was also worried about finding tire retailers to cooperate in unloading tyres," recalls Lv Huizhong.

Therefore, after trying to obtain supplies directly from foreign manufacturers, and gradually succeeding in persuading local wholesalers, the tire retailers originally thought that Lv Huizhong had come to “grab the business” and gradually found that the middle existence was actually a mutually beneficial relationship.

Lv Huizhong introduced customers to retail stores to change tires, paid for the replacement of tires at retail stores, and if necessary, technicians can also provide on-site services, but additional fees are required. During this time, the clerk can also introduce customers to other services and products in the store.

Today, Tycopak has cooperated with more than 1,400 retail stores in China. There are 100 in South Korea, 80 in Malaysia, and 20 in Hong Kong, China. Many of them actively apply for joining.

Let online shop passion

The “people-oriented” strength of traditional tire shops is something that cold websites cannot afford. Lv Huizhong also learned the importance of getting closer to customers, so he chose to use the "new style" style to make the site more popular.

He has set up an online exchange channel on the website. The service staff will be on-line during the working hours and customers are welcome to consult at any time. The service staff can also track which type of tire the customer is searching for, and if necessary, care whether the customer needs assistance.

After the customer orders tires online, the service staff will also call the customer to make a final confirmation to avoid the customer choosing inappropriate tires. If you do not know how to order on the Internet, you can also call the 24-hour hotline consultation. Lv Huizhong stated that service personnel will teach customers how to choose from tire specifications, speed grades, patterns, owners' habits, and needs.

Even if the sale fails, the customer can still absorb some professional knowledge. So far, "Tembag" has successfully accumulated about 15% of repeat customers, and customers have also expanded from the original network of regular users to women and senior citizens. Lv Huizhong bluntly stated that the profit of tires “engaging” on the Internet is low and difficult, and if he is not engaged in this line for many years, I am afraid he is not willing to “sink in muddy feet”.