Along with the Roadhandler Touring, Sears plans to add the Roadhandler Sport ultra-high-performance tire line—which will be introduced by mid-2013 around one of the major holidays—and the Roadhandler LT light truck tire, which will be offered before year-end 2013. Sears would not confirm whether those tires would be made by Hankook.
Once the entire line is available, the Roadhandler brand will provide coverage for 80 percent of the tire market, Mr. Soule said.
The co-branding agreement with Hankook has been in the works for the past year and half, said Joe Finney, president of the Sears Automotive Group and senior vice president at Sears Holdings.
He and several other Sears executives visited Hankook Tire's plant in Geumsan, South Korea, a year ago in May, he said, and "after going and seeing the quality and talking about opportunities, we raised it as an idea and it quickly got legs, and we've been working on it ever since."
The program also is exciting for Hankook and is different than some other private brand programs in that the tire maker is going to market with Sears by offering "our best-in-segment, latest and greatest current products," said Courtland Michaels, director of corporate accounts for Hankook.
"What we are doing is putting our best-in-segment products and positioning them high up in the Sears product screen as a premium product line," he told Tire Business, "so we are very excited about that."
This is a significant program for Hankook, he said, to be working with a major retailer that has great presence when it comes to retailing and merchandising.
"For us, the combination of the Roadhandler name, the product warranties that they are attaching to it and then our brand name, we think is significant in our industry," Mr. Michaels said.
The Roadhandler Touring by Hankook comes with what Sears is calling a "best-in-class" 100,000-mile treadwear warranty. The tire features a reinforced upper sidewall through the use of belt edge tape around the steel belts, according to Hankook.
The tire has a UTQG rating of 700 AB and is designed for a quiet, comfortable ride. Its construction and tread pattern are comparable with what Hankook uses for its original equipment touring fitments.
Of the 25 sizes that will be offered when the line is fully available, 19 are T-speed rated, four H-rated and two V-rated. Sizes will range from 185/65R14 to 235/55R18.
Sears stopped offering the Roadhandler line at a time when its business was moving away from private label and co-branded tires, a company spokesman said, explaining: "We weren't able to continue to produce a product and offer it at a reasonable price for our customers."
Now, though, Sears sees an opportunity through Roadhandler as a differentiator in the market place.
"There's a lot of equity in Roadhandler," Mr. Finney said, adding it also makes sense.
"It is still something that resonates well with both our employees, which is important, and customers. Customers are still out there, they remember it. They are still looking for it."
Offering co-branded tires is nothing new for Sears or for the Roadhandler brand. Over the years the company has had similar arrangements with various tire makers, including Bridgestone Corp., Group Michelin, Pirelli Tyre S.p.A. and Goodyear.
"What Sears has always tried to do is try to find the best technology to represent that particular expectation for that brand," Mr. Finney said. "And it has always been a long-lasting, dependable, durable, trustworthy tire.
"And that kind of is really what Sears Automotive is all about: Something that's long-lasting, that's stood the test of time and that people can trust. That's why this name and the selection of the product that we've put together is so important."
Sears product lineup includes a number of co-branded and private brand products, including Guardsman Plus and Superguard GT, both made by Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., the Cooper Response Touring, Goodyear Weatherhandler Fuel Max and Bridgestone Weatherforce Plus lines. Sears is currently transitioning the sourcing of the Guardsman Plus to Omni United.
Roadhandler will be positioned as a tier one offering, Mr. Soule said. "We'll have Roadhandler across the top of our screen, and we also have our private brand Guardsman, which is going to be reinforced at our opening price point."
The addition of the Roadhandler also is part of an overall upgrading of the Sears Automotive Centers. Phase one of that effort involved improving the company's service capabilities by adding equipment and training "and improving our overall customer satisfaction, which we have made significant improvements in over the last two years," Mr. Finney said.
Phase two, which is under way and will continue through 2013, focuses on improving the customer experience. This includes adding digital menu boards, new signage and improving the consistency of the sales process.
"And Roadhandler also becomes part of it because it's adding the products that will resonate the most with the type of customers that come to Sears Automotive," Mr. Finney said. "So we kind of have the whole—all three of them tied together. We have been working over the last two years to get to the point where we are right now. So we're pretty excited about the future and the opportunities ahead of us."
To reach this reporter: [email protected]; 330-865-6131.
