Christophe Tesseraud, Founder and Managing Director In the automotive sector, COVID-19 and the push for digitalization have forced many independent garages, engineering centres, and specialized dealers to grapple with a fragmented digital ecosystem containing an increasing number of touchpoints.
At this juncture, it is interesting to note that the COVID-19 pandemic has not only created critical hurdles for businesses but has also shed light on many existing solutions to these crises. An example in this context is YepGarage. com—a simple, scalable, affordable SaaS-based e-commerce solution. Developed by Tyredating, YepGarage e-commerce solution was launched in 2017 to help independent garages and auto centres set up their own ROPO (research online, purchase offline) site online in a few clicks. And now, the solution is serving as the foundation to creating seamless online-to-offline experiences through consistent store integration. “We are offering vertical e-retail solutions dedicated to garages, specialized dealers, and automotive centres to capture Internet traffic and turn it into in-store and online sales,” notes Christophe Tesseraud, founder and managing director of Tyredating.
When tyre meets digital…
Tyredating was founded in 2008 as first e-shops selling tires in Spain and France under the brand name: POPGOM. Its immediate success eventually led POPGOM to emerge as a leader in the field of pure tire players and related services, representing 14 countries with a turnover of €25 million.
Fast forward to 2014; Tyredating extended its tire e-retail expertise at the service of international brands and developed first ROPO sites for Euromaster Switzerland and Taquipneu in France. The success of these endeavours led Tyredating to become a 100 per cent Michelin (the French multinational tyre manufacturing company)-owned subsidiary.
Moving ahead on this positive trajectory, Tyredating launched the first market place dedicated to the Vianeumaticos tire in 2015. At the same time, Tyredating started working on a multitude of new projects, such as the Pilot Sport 4 pop-up store for Michelin, Tyreplus in Thailand, the BFGoodrich e-shop in the United States, the Swiss Tire Group market place, and then the online shop Michelin USA.
We are offering vertical e-retail solutions dedicated to garages, specialized dealers, and automotive centres to capture Internet traffic and turn it into in-store and online sales
These noteworthy experiences in the automotive industry, today, enable Tyredating to offer a unique combination of digital and tyre industry expertise. “As an e-retail company, we also provide many other services to help our customers accelerate e-retail initiatives through performance monitoring, data analytics, agency steering, and more,” highlights Tesseraud. “And being the e-retail factory of the Michelin group, we can measure the effectiveness of our solutions at the global scale,” the founder adds further.
Notably, Tyredating has already set up web-to-store solutions to the Tyreplus franchise in Thailand, Malaysia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi-Arabia, Australia, and South Africa during the period of global lockdowns through the YepGarage solution. This effort has helped the dealers generate valuable and measurable leads through quote requests, appointments, e-reservations, and calls. “We have also enabled them to enhance their visibility on all the digital touchpoints through our service data Store Discovery Optimization (SDO) program,” states Tesseraud.
In the days ahead, Tyredating is poised to deploy innovative and contemporary services through APIs. The company is particularly looking at more real-time website optimization that would inform a visitor about the garage slot availability and other necessary details to make the online experience more seamless. Simultaneously, Tyredating is also planning to add new features such as social media segmentation and targeted marketing to help the garage and automotive dealers even further. And as these efforts take shape, Tyredating is perfectly positioned to drive the automotive e-businesses to a more digitally-connected tomorrow.
