Although online tyre sales are not expected to be the norm in Malaysia in the near future, many tyre players have invested in the e-commerce platform.
Malaysian Tyre Distributors & Dealers Invest in Various Digital Platforms
With more and more industries migrating from brick and mortar to online stores, the tyre industry has been stuck in the slow lane. Traditionally, the tyre industry has been dealer and distributor oriented with focus on personal touch, store location, servicing and repairs. Selling tyres online is far more complicated than selling groceries, apparel and even furniture online. It involves technical knowledge, skills, logistics as well as fitting, and consumers expect a seamless, end-to-end process, covering tyre selection, fitting, balancing and even alignment.
There are various digital marketing platforms, B2B (business to business), B2C (business to consumer) and O2O (online to offline), which aptly describe the online tyre selling business. O2O offers consumers a seamless end-to-end process for online tyre purchase.
Although online tyre sales are not expected to be the norm in the near future, especially in Malaysia, many tyre distributors and dealers have followed the footsteps of multiple tyre manufacturers that have taken the lead on the e-commerce platform. While some have already developed a footing in digital platforms, others are still at the initial stage of development. Even these sales channels might have powered the growth of some of the largest companies in other industries, but for the local tyre market, there is still a long way to go.
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轮胎业仰赖数字平台保持相关性与竞争能力
随着越来越多的行业从实体店转移成在线商店，轮胎行业却被卡在慢车道上。传统上，轮胎业是个个性化色彩浓厚、重视商店地点、服务及修理，以代理和经销商为中心的行业。因此，线上销售轮胎远比销售食品杂货、服装，甚至家具更为复杂。它包含技术知识、技巧、物流及安装，而且消费者要求一个无缝的端到端过程，从轮胎选择、安装、平衡，甚至四轮定位服务。
目前市场上有各种各样的数字营销平台，B2B（企业对企业）、B2C（企业对消费者）以及最适切形容线上轮胎销售业务的O2O（线上到线下）平台。O2O为消费者提供一个无缝的端到端线上购买轮胎过程。
虽然线上销售轮胎不会在不远的将来成为常态，特别是在马来西亚，然而许多轮胎经销商和代理却已迫不及待地跟随多家引领电子商务平台的轮胎制造公司的步伐。在他们当中有些已在数字平台发展上站稳了脚跟，有些则才刚起步。 尽管这些销售渠道或许推动了其他行业一些大公司的增长，但对本地轮胎行业来说，仍然还有一段很长的路要走……
