Grab a piece of a Billion Euros market. Opportunities to sell tyres online in Central and Eastern Europe
Roxana Ivan /
Would you like a piece of 2,9 Billion Euros? It’s about the electronic retailing (e-tail) tyre market from Europe. An industry with a huge potential as the reports estimate that it will nearly double to 5.47 Billion euros in 2021. We would like you to have a piece of it, so we’ve asked Delticom, Europe’s leading online tyre retailer, which are the opportunities to sell online tyres in more Central and Eastern Europe countries. What type of tyres do Europeans buy online? How can you earn as an affiliate from this industry? Let’s find out some amazing stuff.
Think about this potential: in 2013, in three of the leading countries from Europe regarding the automotive industry – Germany, Italy and France – there were registered over 113 million passenger cars. We speak only about passenger cars and only about 3 countries from the whole Europe. This is a huge earning potential.
The tyre market is one of the complementary industries that can generate revenues from the automotive market. Only in e-tail, the European tyre market managed to reach a peak of 2,9 Billion Euros in 2014, as a report published by Frost & Sullivan mentioned, that means about 8% of total European tyre aftermarket sales. Everybody speaks about the fact that this percent will grow in the next years.
To find out how much revenue can this market generate and what is the buying behaviour in this segment, we spoke with Traian Pop, Country Manager East Europe at Delticom OE SRL, Europe’s leading online tyre retailer.
Can you imagine that more and more women are buying online tyres? 20% of their online shoppers are the digital moms. That kind of info could be very valuable for the affiliate who want to earn a piece of the e-tail tyre market and to have a strong partner in Delticom. In 2Performant Delticom is currently running 8 affiliate programmes in countries like Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Croatia. We think you shouldn’t miss the opportunity to find out key data about the e-tail tyre market from Central and Eastern Europe.
What is the profile of an online tyre customer?
Traian Pop: The online page concept addresses all kinds of shoppers, but the general profile of an online tyre customer is: 18-34 male, owner of at least one car or motorcycle. Most shoppers know what they are looking for, and just want to make sure that they get the best deal for their money.
Recently, 20% of our shoppers are of a new category: “the digital moms”. If until now cars and tyres were an exclusively male domain, thanks to online shopping, women can now buy tyres just as easily. Without the physical limitations of having to lift a heavy tyre, the digital stay at home moms use their time for smart online shopping. Women are now able to take care of the safety of their family by making sure the family car has new season-appropriate tyres with good braking action.
What is the buying behavior of online customers ?
Traian Pop: Our customers buy different brands, having the possibility to choose from a wide range of products listed on our website. We have over 100 brands available in different sizes totaling over 25.000 tyres. Most customers inquire about the best brands and tyres suitable for their cars. But lately, they tend to buy budget products. Customers have the possibility to choose from our shop high quality tyres, budget tyres, and quality low price tyres.
We have two major shopping peaks during the year: the summer season, and the winter season. Normally, at the beginning of every season we have the peak months for buying tires. In our case these are March and November. Most of the customers buy a full set of tyres, or a spare. They prefer to buy four tyres, and not just two.
Did you notice differences in purchase behavior between Central and Eastern Europe countries?
Traian Pop: From what we have noticed, customers tend to prefer different brands in different countries, and they normally buy the same brands they have on the car or what the handbook of the car requires.
The main differences are the payment options. Central European countries are more comfortable with electronic payment (credit card, PayPal, direct debit), while Eastern European customers still prefer to pay mainly with cash on delivery.
What are the most popular types of tyres in your online shops?
Traian Pop: We offer a wide range of products for different types of cars. Most of the tyres listed are for passenger cars, off-road vehicles, motorcycle tires, and also truck tires. Our main products are passenger car tires. The most popular sizes differ by country, depending on the most popular car models driven. There is quite a rift between the richer cities where many SUVs are driven, and the countryside where smaller cars are the norm, with smaller tyre sizes.
Which is the criteria that influences the most the tyres buying decision: the price, the tyre brand, the promotions, the related services, the delivery options etc.?
Traian Pop: One of our main goals is to offer the best customer journey we possibly can, and improve it constantly. We have a lot of positive reviews from customers regarding the fact that we are offering the best prices, we have a very wide range of products, and we offer marketing promotions tailored to our customers. The most important is that we offer fast delivery at no extra fee.
If you do your best to offer, and maintain a high level of professional service, all of these criteria become a single one, and have the same level of importance. When every detail is right, the buying decision will certainly be an easy one.
What are the opportunities to sell online in more CE countries? What about the barriers?
Traian Pop: There certainly are countries in Europe in which online shopping is still in its early stages. There is still the need to gain some more momentum, and build trust in customers. The opportunity that the EU brought by creating a huge single market has created a lot of advantages, and has offered a large development for cross-border business in Europe.
The challenge is to be present also in non-EU countries, where various legal, and fiscal challenges need to be overcome.
According to a new report published by Frost & Sullivan, the tyre e-tail accounts for about 8% of total European aftermarket tyre sales. Is this figure representative for Delticom business?
Traian Pop: The numbers vary from country to country. In countries like Germany e-tail accounted for about 16% of total tyre sales back in 2014, according to a survey conducted by our German colleagues. Mid-term estimates are that the share will grow up to 20% until 2020. Based on all these statistics we try to constantly improve, and to offer our customers exactly what they need. This will help us achieve our targets until 2020.
What is the e-tail role in the Delticom business development?
Traian Pop: E-tail was and is our core business. Delticom started its first online tyre shop in Germany 17 years ago, long before e-tail started its explosive growth that we see today. Being in business for nearly 2 decades, we know our customers quite well. We are prepared to take on the challenges that come with fast growing e-tail all over Europe. Having a business centered on customers needs helps us a lot to maintain an excellent customer journey.
DELTICOM Affiliate Programs
What are the strengths of your affiliate program in attracting affiliates?
Traian Pop: Affiliate programs are an important part of our performance marketing scheme. Our affiliates will get attractive promotion instruments to achieve high conversion rates. On our side we are doing our best to assure high conversion rates, so the program will help them to earn more through our wide range of products, competitive prices, and ease of ordering.
What types of marketing do you recommend to your 2P affiliates in order to sell more in your affiliate programs?
Traian Pop: Depending on the type of page, 2Performant affiliates may choose between placing banners or individual products. So a classified ad page may prefer to use our product feed, and promote different products one by one rather than placing banners. A news oriented page or a blogger may want to consider using banners of different sizes. But no matter the choice, the conversion rates will be high, and worth their while.
Thank you very much for all these precious insights, Delticom. We would like very much if the affiliate will use those in their advantage.
