Selling tires is becoming increasingly difficult with the increasing number of private label brands and tire sizes and the increased demand from B2B and B2C buyers for an omnichannel shopping experience.

As a leading tire supplier to independent tire manufacturers, dealers and retailers across Canada, Montreal-based distributor Groupe Touchette Inc. has relaunched its e-commerce platform to meet the demands of multiple B2B channels and individual consumers.

Denis Gallagher, Vice-President IT, Groupe Touchette Inc.

The company’s new e-commerce platform, powered by SAP Commerce technology from SAP SE, hosts several transactional commerce sites, including TireLink.ca for sales to automakers and their dealers; DTTire.ca for independent tire dealers and installers; and Tireland.ca, where consumers can purchase tires and arrange for professional installation.

Groupe Touchette says 94% of customer orders are now placed through the e-commerce site, compared to less than 80% on its previous site.

Operate online with greater agility

“The tire distribution industry has seen significant changes in recent years, including the emergence of private label tires and the advanced use of data, analytics and technology logistics,” said Denis Gallagher, vice – President of IT. “Since implementing the new omnichannel B2B platform, we have been able to respond to these requests with greater agility.”

As a result, he adds, “we are seeing an increase in customer loyalty, competitive advantage and market share, coupled with reduced calls and costs to our call centers.”

Groupe Touchette also operates more than 50 distribution centers across Canada, which puts it “able to offer delivery services in 90 of the 100 largest cities in the country in less than three hours,” says Gallagher.

However, the distributor’s overall sales and fulfillment operations require reliable connections to exchange customer and product data between its e-commerce platform and its backend commerce operations software.

Integrate e-commerce with ERP

Groupe Touchette worked with Toronto-based systems integrator, Pivotree, to deploy SAP Commerce and integrate it with the distributor’s SAP S/4HANA enterprise resource planning software, delivering an accurate online presentation of content such as such as customer contract pricing, order details and status, customer activity data. , and promotions.

Among other enhancements, the e-commerce platform also features improved site search and navigation, which translates to more repeat customers and fewer customer service calls, Gallagher says.

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