Leading tyre manufacturer, Bridgestone India has been growing steadily and showing improvements in demand both in the original equipment (OE) segment and the replacement market.
The company's sales and marketing section has showcased 70 percent growth, similar to what was seen last year -2019. One must remember the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has created a tough turf for sales and demand of products. However, Bridgestone India, has pushed itself to growth even during the harsh times.
According to Rajarshi Moitra, Executive Officer and Head- Consumer Business, Bridgestone India, the original equipment segment has witnessed a steady pick-up in demand in the months of July, August and September, brought in during the festive seasons. At the same time, the replacement market has been witnessing a traction coming in primarily from the Tier-II and Tier-III towns.
"On the OE side, the industry was facing headwinds since 2018. That business went into a complete shutdown when the lockdown was announced in March. However, over the last three months we have seen some demand revival in the OE business. On the replacement side, April, May, June and July are usually the peak months and the initial demand season got hit (due to the lockdown). But it started picking up slowly and gradually post May. The demand in rural parts started picking up faster than urban cities," Moitra mentioned.
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Towns in focus:
Bridgestone India which is popularly known for being an urban brand has been working on for the past 18-20 months to further improve its presence in the semi urban and rural markets s. The company has focused on increasing its distribution footprint in the Tier-II and Tier-III towns and also improving the quality of its retail outlets in these towns.
"We realised that while we are very strong on urban we needed to increase our strength and presence in the Tier II and III towns and this is not something that has happened during the pandemic but we have been working in a structured way through the last 18-20 months. We have increased our distribution presence in these towns and also have been improving the quality of retail outlets. So this (measures) prepared us when the pandemic hit and the rural markets opened up faster," he said.
Bridgestone India has over 3,000 outlets nationally and 50 per cent of its distribution is in Tier-II and Tier-III towns. The company stated that they are also focusing on growing its distribution in the semi urban and rural areas on a monthly basis.
Conclusion:
Rajarshi Moitra finally stated- "Post the pandemic, we are seeing higher mobility in Tier-II and Tier-III towns as they have opened up faster. Moreover, lack of public mobility infrastructure is driving more people to use their own vehicle"- which means, the sales of replacement sector will increase further.
