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Carolina Tire to Cater to South Charlotte Women
South Charlotte's Carolina Tire redesigns marketing and building to cater directly to women.
PINEVILLE, NC, May 22, 2009 /Industrial PR News/ -- Want some lipstick with that lube job? Maybe a manicure with those Michelins? How about a Mona Vie tasting and a brake job?
That's the future that Carolina Tire & Service Center, (www.Carolina-Tire.com) sees for the automobile repair industry. After all, women are more likely than men to be the ones who bring the family car to the company's shop.
The South Charlotte company plans to open 9 stores during the next nine years, bringing its total to 10 locations, all catering to mainly women drivers. All ten of those stores will be in metro South Charlotte. The first one opened November 2008 in Pineville. Company officials are now scouting for new locations.
Designed by XL Tire, Inc., the same company that designed online companies www.BadBoyTires.com and www.JimmysVacations.com, a Carolina Tire repair shop more resembles a department store or salon more than a car service center.
The shops have soft colors and lighting, music plays in the background, tires are kept in simple displays instead of stacked on the floor and large glass doorway provides a view of the mechanics working on the cars. The waiting room has a large couch and lather chairs instead of metal chairs, free gourmet coffee, magazines such as "O" and "Red Book," an interactive computer to see how the family car will look with different tires and a playroom for the kids.
"There's nothing else like it in the United States," said Jim Seidel, president and CEO for Carolina Tire. "We aren't just marketing to their cars but to their hearts and minds."
Marketing plans include forming partnerships with department stores to promote cosmetics and local beauty shops to provide manicures, Seidel said. Their largest marketing event will being giving away Free TomTom GPS's during this June & July with the purchase of 4 Continental tires. The store also will provide seminars to teach women how to care for their cars, he said.
Carolina Tire, which was originally Pineville Tire was purchased by XL Tire, Inc., which in run by Jim Seidel, an executive in the tire & automotive industry who has traveled all over the globe within the business.
Recently, the company noticed that the majority of their customers were women. By January of this year, they had redesigned the store to accommodate women. The woman's bathroom is stocked with wipes, diapers, hand sanitizer and hand lotions. Their children's playroom is a Disney's Finding Nemo themed room with clean kid friendly toys and games that are sanitized on a daily basis. Their best addition is hiring a woman for the sales counter to better help customers. Stephanie Mackin, a recent graduate from the NASCAR Technical Institute was hired in January 2009. "Stephanie has a unique perspective and background that enables her to better translate automotive repair issues to both men and woman," Seidel added.
Expansion
Last October, the company worked with local banker BB & T to take the concept to Pineville. Carolina Tire is focusing its efforts in the suburbs of fast-growing South Charlotte and Northern South Carolina.
Industry observers like Carolina Tire's strategy.
A recent survey by the American Woman Road & Travel magazine showed that women are the fastest-growing segment of consumers for car repair shops. Sixty-five percent (65%) of women take their own vehicles to a repair shop for service. Some repair industry experts estimate that the average may actually be closer to 80%, according to the magazine's survey.
"The shops who don't find a way to cater to women will have trouble staying in business," said Courtney Caldwell, publisher and editor in chief of the Internet-based magazine. "It's like having a relationship and women are very relationship-oriented."
Most car manufacturers and dealerships have committees that look for ways to better accommodate women, Caldwell said. Now the trend is reaching the independent repair shops, she said.
"Women aren't looking for special treatment, just respectful treatment," she said. "It's the best advertising a shop can do. Each woman will tell 20 friends."
Built for Women
Traditionally, women have been uncomfortable dealing with mechanics because of their lack of automotive knowledge and the stereotype that mechanics will take advantage of them, Caldwell said.
Repair shop owners have begun accommodating women in the past several years by providing cleaner facilities and eliminating the calendars with pictures of scantily clad women that once were a hallmark of shops, said Trish Serratore, vice president of industry relations for the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, a nonprofit organization that trains and certifies car mechanics.
"Repair shops are recognizing the fact that women are the ones bringing in the cars," Serratore said. "They are updating their facilities."
About XL Tire, Inc.
The XL Tire, Inc. group of companies consists of the parent company, XL Tire, Inc., with headquarters located in Indian Land, SC and a facility in Pineville, NC now called Carolina Tire & Service Center at www.Carolina-Tire.com and www.BadBoyTires.com , www.OffTheRoadTires.com and www.JimmysVacations.com
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Press Release Contact Information:
James Seidel
XL Tire, Inc.
President & CEO
10822 Pineville Rd
Pineville, NC
USA 28134
Voice: 704-553-9800
Fax: 704-553-9801
Website: Visit Our Website |
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