Goodyear broadens mix at company-owned stores with Cooper tires

AKRON—Goodyear has begun offering Cooper-brand tires through its company-owned retail and commercial outlets as part of a plan to broaden the mix of products offered through those channel.

To effect this change, Goodyear's TireHub L.L.C. joint venture with Bridgestone Americas has begun stocking Cooper-brand products at its 70-plus warehouses across the country, Goodyear Chairman, President and CEO Richard Kramer said during company's first-quarter earnings conference call.

The distribution strategy started in early April, Kramer said.

"We've started the process of distributing Cooper through TireHub and getting it out to our different retail points," he said. "This expands our portfolio of product offerings greatly, just as we intended."

Goodyear operates 575-plus retail outlets under the Goodyear Auto Centers and Just Tires brands and roughly 220 Goodyear Commercial Tire & Service Centers throughout the U.S.

On the commercial side of the ledger, Kramer said adding the Cooper brand allows Goodyear to "better meet the needs of existing fleet customers and access new ones with the Cooper commercial truck tire line-up.

"These moves give our distribution points and enriched product line-up that not only meets the needs of our premium buyers, but also those looking for additional offerings in the mid-tier and economy segments."

Kramer stressed, though, that Goodyear is "being really thoughtful with how we roll that out in the market," considering that the Cooper brand serves a different market segment.

Kramer did not say during the call with the financial community whether his comments refer to just the Cooper brand, or to the extended portfolio of Cooper brands—Mastercraft, Roadmaster, Starfire, Mickey Thompson, etc. — or state whether TireHub eventually will distribute Cooper products to Goodyear's customers.

Prior to Goodyear's buying Cooper Tire last June, American Tire Distributors Inc. (ATD) had been Cooper Tire's primary distributor. ATD did not respond to Tire Business queries for comment on this latest development.