A tale of tired tires
Occasionally I'd like to tell a "tale" of my own experiences as a consumer, especially when it intersects with my professional and personal interests in e-business and Internet Marketing. This tale is about my search for the "perfect" third generation replacement tire and is probably representative of consumer behavior while shopping for a higher price item.
My 2G tires have reached the 50,000+ tread wear date and with a Wisconsin winter on the horizon, I decided it was time to buy new ones. Not knowing much about tires, I started on my quest for information on which ones I should buy. My key purchasing criteria was at least a rating of "good" in the snow or on ice traction at a good price.
I had been happy with my Dunlop's, so considered simply replacing them with new ones. My first thought was let's see what the tire reviewers have to say about these and other tires. I went to Tire Rack and 1010Tires to find information on consumer reviews of the tires available in my size.
Offline & Back Online for Research
Frustrated and uncertain, I decided to stick with my Dunlop's and use the same local dealer, Holmes Auto & Tire, I had used for the original purchase of the tires. They told me that the factory was on backorder for at least 8 weeks on this particular tire and that they weren't sure when they'd be available or what the final price would be. The dealer suggested an alternative in my size, the Yokohama Avid 4HS and suggested that I do some research on the tire. Back I went to the previously mentioned review and/or retail sites to see what they had to say. It didn't sound bad and was better on some criteria then my current tire, so I was set to purchase and willing to pay a premium to support my local dealer rather than purchasing over the Internet and using a local installer. The very day I had made up my mind, the November issue of Consumer Reports arrived in my mailbox with their review of performance all season tires. "Ah Good" another unbiased review source on potential tires, I said. Looking down the list, I found that Yokohama's were rated 8th overall, but were rated a "Poor" on ice braking and snow traction, two of the criteria I found most critical in my purchase decision. "Dang" I said. It was back to the drawing board. The top 3 tires were a Dunlop SP Sport 5000, Michelin Pilot Exalto and Falken Ziex ZE 512.
Sears Experience
Meanwhile the Sunday newspaper arrived with an ad from Sears among many others. Perusing the Sears ad, I see that they are having a tire sale. Hmmm, I thought, would they have a high rated tire in my size? The ad referenced the Falken Ziex ZE 512 (# 3 according to Consumer Reports), so I thought sounds good, let me see if my size is made and what the prices for my size are. I went to the Falken web site and found that my size was one that was made. I called one of our two local Sears stores and got through to the Auto Center. The phone was picked up and I was told "I'll be right with you". Minutes later no action, I hung up. Mmm what next? How about Sears.com, supposedly rated one of the best according to the Customer Respect Group's Customer Respect Index. On my shopping search I went to Sears.com. Did a search using their site search engine, found Falken tires and my size very easily. Found that the price was $69.34 per tire, sounded good, but what was the installed price?
The web site had a statement "this item is available for store pickup and installation at your local Sears Auto Center with no shipping charges. Click the button below to speak with a customer care advisor to place your order" (see screen shot). I decided to test it out. I clicked the button and a dialogue box appeared that included my phone number that they'd use to call me or asked me if I wanted to talk to a representative online. My phone number? Where 
did they get that I thought? I had never purchased anything from Sears.com, I was on a high speed cable connection not a dial-up one or one using DSL. This triggered some privacy concerns. The talking to a representative using VOIP sounded worth trying, so I clicked that option.
A nice representative, we'll call her L came on the phone,
L - Can I help you?
Paul - Yes I want to find out about pricing and availability on tires.
L - What is the Sears item #
P- (Gave her the Sears item #)
L - These are $69.34 each.
Paul - What is the final installed price?
L - I can't tell you that because the installation prices vary from $30 - $70 across the country.
Paul - So why would I order through you, when I don't know the final price?
L - We have different prices then the stores do
Paul - Sorry it seems like I'd be better off going directly to the store for availability, pricing and to schedule installation.
L - We're working on getting our systems better.
Paul - Thanks for your help, I'm going to call the store.
I called the store and found that they were quoting $74.09 a tire, but they did tell me what the final installed price would be....
Moral of the Story
Given the length of this posting, I thought it would be worth sharing what I think this means for an e-business today.
- Think about how your consumers shop
- Evaluate what type of searching behavior they are undertaking
- Consider what product reviews they are looking at
- Integrate your offline and online channels to simplify the purchasing process
- Consider a web site audit that looks at the user interface
- Continue to experiment with new technologies like VOIP customer service or live chat
- Facilitate your consumer's shopping experience with product visualization techniques like product zoom or product rotate
Needless to say, I still haven't made my appointment for my new tires, but suspect that it will be through the bricks rather than clicks channel at Sears Auto Centers.
UPDATE - 10.25.06
Having made up my mind to go with the Falken's, I called Sears Auto Center at West Towne, here in Madison, WI USA. The man I talked to told me that while Consumer Reports might rate them highly, that they had quite a few complaints from customers about their performance in the snow! Given that this was one of my chief criteria, I decided to believe him. I asked him what he would recommend. He told me a Goodyear (don't remember the model though). I hadn't seen any research leading me toward a Goodyear, although I'd like to support an American manufacturer, so I asked him how about the Bridgestone Potenza G0009, another tire I had researched and been considering. He grudgingly said that was a pretty good tire. I asked for the price and he told me $447.07 installed. I told him I was going to do some research. Needless to say I already had a price quote from Comstock Tire here in Madison of $99 per tire or $396, so thought I'd go there. I went to their website to get the phone number again and was nosing around and found a coupon for $20 off 4 new tires, so was even happier with my decision.
Today I took the plunge, had the Potenza's installed, an oil change and my brakes checked at Comstock.
So the new tires are finally on!
