NASHVILLE — Bridgestone Americas Inc. has upgraded its TireConnect inventory-monitoring platform to allow smaller dealers to tap into the platform's auto-replenishment feature, whereby orders are automatically fulfilled when a trigger threshold is reached.
Bridgestone will debut and demonstrate the upgraded platform at the upcoming SEMA Show in Las Vegas at the TireConnect booth (No. 41161) in the Lower South Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
This new solution will streamline an otherwise manual process for the dealer, Bridgestone said, while helping ensure a constant supply of the retailer's highest-demand products.
"TireConnect's new inventory auto-replenishment solution is an industry-first for small and medium tire retailers as this feature was historically only accessible for large-scale tire dealers," George Silagadze, vice president, TireConnect, Bridgestone Americas, said.
"This new solution now allows our TireConnect-enabled dealers to utilize efficient inventory management processes that large-scale dealers employ to both empower and boost their businesses."
Auto-replenishment through TireConnect will also help ensure downstream sales and a more accurate forecast of inventory for the retailer's tire wholesalers, Bridgestone said. TireConnect will work with most tire retailers' preferred wholesalers and is compatible with the majority of retail point-of-sale and inventory management systems.
TireConnect also now supports wheels, Bridgestone said, allowing tire and wheel dealers to display wheels on their websites. Customers will be able to create wheel and tire packages based on live inventory to visualize what they would look like on their vehicle and even purchase them online.
Bridgestone acquired TireConnect in 2015 to provide an online tire-buying solution for its dealer network to empower tire retailers to succeed in a rapidly changing marketplace.