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RETREADING CONFERENCE
for sure a reality that the more information that you have the better your ability to make the right decisions in business. Now, back in the early days of fleet monitoring, everything was done on paper reports. This reporter can recall interviewing a fleet manager with a sheaf of tyre reports sitting on his desk. I asked him what he did with the material that had been
collected, he had a lot of information at his hands. He laughed and said, “Unless they tell me there is a problem, nothing.” He then picked the reports up and dumped them in the bin.
Today, the advent of digital technology and the universal presence of IT, has changed management attitudes to information. For the retreaders, it can be very useful to know what is really happening in the truck tyre sector.
Ivano Garavaglia, from GfK in Italy, gave an overview of the market in four European countries as generated from the data that his technology had acquired.
Going back to 209. GfK had been acquiring data on the sales of tyres and had been developing a series of detailed reports. GfK takes data from tyre specialists who cover all tyres imported and exported, so has an understanding of sell in and sell out levels. The estimate comes from a sample of shops which represents the tyre specialist channel, electronic data collection by single articles (SKU level) and from data coding, identification and extrapolation.
In 2018 France and Italy saw higher new and retread truck tyre sales than Germany, and the UK saw a marked drop in sales value, over 9%, according
to GfK.
The data can be broken down into rim sizes, perhaps a useful tool for retreaders making plans
for new tyre ranges.
Data also shows the variance in new and retread truck tyre sales, with the UK losing ground in both, whilst Germany loses 8% in retreads and gains 4% in new tyres. Italy and France both saw growth in both new and retread tyre markets.
Does the data show that Chinese tyre tariffs have had an impact? Apparently so, according to GfK, as prices of sell out tyres have increased. Who benefited? In general, Tier 2 brands won ground in most markets, as did retreads in France and Italy. It was the
Third-Tier brands who lost out on the tariffs as their prices rose above their price point in the market.
If you like seeing the data to prove what you think you know, then GfK is probably worth speaking to.