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Getting the tyre of your car changed may now just be a call away with JK Tyre & Industries Ltd looking to reinstate its ‘dial-a-tyre’ service soon.
According to Srinivasu Allaphan, Director - Sales & Marketing, JK Tyre, the project is in a concept stage and a clear picture is likely to emerge in one or two months. While consumers can purchase tyres online, they usually have to go to a service centre for fitment as it involves a lot of technical factors including wheel balancing and alignment among others.
“We are still in the concept stage and we are doing some work on this. The idea is to get closer to customers with full service package. So it is not just about selling the tyre but also the fitment which requires a number of high end gadgets,” Allaphan told BusinessLine.
Incidentally, CEAT — the RPG Group flagship — had recently announced its decision to sell tyres through kirana stores and small puncture repair shops as they are closest to the end consumers.
JK Tyre’s dial a tyre service would not only sell but also ensure the fitment is done at the preferred location of the customer.
“This model is adopted by some of the battery makers who ensure that the battery is delivered, installed and serviced at the customer’s location. However, in case of battery they do not require any complex gadgets but for fitting a tyre you need high-end gadgets. Putting all these machines in a van could be a little challenging. So we are trying to figure out,” he said.
The project may be a little capital-intensive as it would require good logistics to ensure that it is done on a timely manner and all the high-end equipments are carried safely. So the company may have to decide on pricing of the service before firming up its plans.
Capacity enhancement
JK Tyre has close to 15 per cent market share in the passenger car radial (PCR) segment. The company has the capacity to manufacture close to 90 lakh tyres. It had recently completed the debottlenecking programme to unleash PCR capacities at Banmore and Chennai and is also planning to ramp up capacity at an estimated investment of ₹530 crore.
Once the expansion is complete, its PCR capacity will become 123 lakh tyres in India, the company said in a recent investor call post announcing its first quarter results.
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