Know Your Customer : Classic Tyre Company

1. Know Your Customer
CLASSIC TYRE COMPANY
Disha Ghoshal FT201032
Aparna Mahesh FT202015

2. Case:
 Classic Tyre Company (CTC) is a large MNC and is a global leader in tyre
manufacturing. In India they have a premium positioning and are focused
more on replacement market. The products are sold through a multi-tier
distribution channel. CTC wishes to have accurate information about its
customers. It wishes to engage directly with its customers (who may be
buying just one tyre at a time). However due to its multi-tier distribution
network CTC is finding it difficult to do so as there are multiple degrees of
separation between CTC marketing team and the end customer.

3. Why is it necessary for CTC to know its
customers better?
 Word of mouth and one to one publicity has been the traditional but also the
most successful method of marketing
 The tyre industry is niche and has very few prominent players in the market.
 In order to stand out, strengthening the customer base is the key
 Sum of individual customer behavior leads to the actual effect on the entire
customer response
 Knowing their customers will help them get more business and generate new
leads to expand their sales
 Though it is a global leader, in India they want to establish themselves in the
replacement market, so a deep market research is pertinent.
 Understanding what customers want is very important if the company wants to
provide them with good services

4. How can CTC get to know its
customers better?
 Building strong customer relations and new sales analysis is important if you
want to identify their choices and purchase patterns
 Once the preferences are identified the company can anticipate customer
needs and supply tyres as per requirement.
 The long-term goal for CTC is the growth of sales, but the short-term is to
build a customer base and adhere to their purchasing options.
 By creating more robust buyer personas instead of using generic
demographics like age and income to develop their buyer persona
 Replacement tyre users will mostly be mid income people who own either
hatchbacks or low range simple sedans, so the segmentation must be done
appropriately.
 Incentivizing helps a lot, so they can also conduct surveys seeking customer
opinions in return of some nominal incentive
 They can tie up with various stores and shops that sell CTC to engage with
customers and do a f2f feedback

5. What can CTC do after getting to know
more about its customers?
 Since it’s a new market, they have to identify the right partners.
 They must cash in on their multi-tiered distribution networks.
 The company can sell their tyres to a distributor, who then sells it to a local automotive
shops, so building relations with every point of distribution will play a role in product
distribution.
 To maintain the successful flow in the multi-channel distribution program, each node in
the loop must benefit from the relationship.
 This requires CTC to chalk out an intensive market strategy asking businesses to detail
the benefits for each store and distributor
 Since the end line shops will deal directly with customers, their MR can practically be
applied to them
 They can enforce this with marketing additional accessories like tubes and bound
rubber that add value to the partnership, or informational content that helps a partner
convince their partner to continue to support the tyre distribution like an agency
 Some partner marketing materials even include training for mechanics to help them
inform potential customers and pitch CTC tyres

6. What role can technology play here?
 Generate data by documenting all the information collected from each
touch point of sale and delivery and then apply customer analytics
 Use predictive modeling software to mine existing customer data and
identify patterns and trends that can facilitate decision making.
 Use Social Media customer engagement tools to record feedback and to
popularize the tyres employ free sources like Facebook, Instagram to reach
out to the masses.
 Maintain a robust CRM database to test use and behavioural patterns of
customers and reach and expansion of the tyres across business regions.