TrucktireXchange.com launched to bring tire-buying online

NORTHBROOK, Ill. (May 1, 2000) — The first business-to-business, e-commerce site hoping to tap into the $9 billion US North American truck tire market is now online. TrucktireXchange.com is designed to help the estimated 4500 independent tire dealers (ITDs) and more than 75 distributors in the United States and Canada streamline the process of locating, purchasing, and selling new and retread truck tires.

“Currently dealers, distributors and users make multiple calls to locate the tires they need, haggle over price and coordinate special runs to acquire them; in all, the annual average cost of this process is $14,700 to each business,” said Marc Imyak, president and co-founder of TrucktireXchange.com. “We offer an innovative approach to the dealers and distributors that will minimize the time, labor and shipping costs of acquiring a tire, thereby maximizing the profitability of their businesses. Our service replaces the exhausting hours on the phone with the speed of a simple ‘point and click.'”

In addition to housing available inventory data and existing inventory requests, TrucktireXchange.com also provides market reports on topics such as pricing, market forecasting, product movement and unfilled inventory.

Members are able to access available inventory, post their own available inventory, post tires wanted, track the market and oversee their own purchases via the Internet. Purchases are made via a straight sale or auction, ensuring the market determines the lowest cost. Membership to TrucktireXchange.com is free and can be obtained by logging onto the site to fill-out profile information. The seller pays only a 3 percent fee per transaction.

Real time visibility of inventory lets manufacturers, dealers and distributors align on hand tire inventories with the demands of their customers. Members can purchase frequently needed products and fulfill specialized customer requests using a just-in-time method while minimizing the floor space allocated for inventory.

Postings are anonymous until the purchase has been made. Individual parties are then revealed to one another so that payment, delivery or pickup may be coordinated.

The “Bud-e Net,” a special community tailored by the individual TrucktireXchange.com member, permits dealers and distributors to specify the participants with whom they have already established business relationships and search for product within that designated network first.