“With the thousands of to-do lists when starting our Go Tire business, we knew the importance of a business plan but we did not have the expertise to craft it to the level of professionalism that our new brand deserved, nor did we have the time. We looked into other providers but decided on Business Plans Canada and we could not be happier. Their research was thorough, and they spent time to really understand the details of the business and our goals. They were excellent at ensuring we met our guidelines and the process was simple but engaging. I would recommend Business Plans Canada to other companies, and we do recommend them to our franchisees.”
Craig Howes and Heather Murphy
ABOUT GO TIRE INC.
Website: http://www.gotire.com/
Business Description
Life just got easier for Central Alberta car and light truck owners. Located in Red Deer, Go Tire of Central Alberta is a mobile tire and windshield service that brings tire sales, repair, and change services to customers whether they are at home, in the work place, at shopping malls or stuck on the road side. The company also offers windshield replacement and treatment services.
Go Tire of Central Alberta is designed as a model for a national franchise operation—Go Tire Inc. The owners are running this business as a hands-on pilot project to test out services, products, procedures and marketing tools.
Ownership and Management
Go Tire of Central Alberta is jointly owned by Mr. Craig Howes and Ms. Heather Murphy. Mr. Howes and Ms. Murphy have demonstrated previous success in franchise operations; within one year of buying a Budget Blinds franchise they had established a model for Canadian operations and were the top sellers out of over 1,000 franchisees across North America. They also developed and sold four franchise territories in Central, Southern and Northern Alberta.
Key Initiatives and Objectives
The key objectives of this plan are to establish a profitable operation and to demonstrate the validity of this concept as a franchise.
Market Opportunities
The primary target market for Go Tire of Central Alberta is medium to higher income families, and mid-sized businesses with 3 to 20 vehicles. The key advantage for these customers is convenience. Go Tire will go to the customer wherever they are. The ease of booking full-scale mobile services to meet the hectic demands of family schedules is the primary selling feature.
In 2010, the population of Red Deer was 90,084. Two-parent families have incomes of $99,237 annually (2006 Census), and more than half of the 18,515 two-parent families had children at home. Over the past year automotive parts and accessories sales, which includes tires, showed an astonishing 6% growth rate in Alberta, ahead of all retail sectors and significantly ahead of the rest of Canada.
Albertans have the highest number of vehicles per household in Canada. There were nearly three million road vehicles registered in Alberta in 2010 according to Statistics Canada; of those, 2.6 million were cars or light trucks weighing less than 4,500 kg. More than four million passenger vehicle tires were recycled in Alberta in the first 11 months of 2009 (Tire Recycling Alberta). Thirty-one percent of Albertans use snow tires. (Rubber Association of Canada) According to a 2007 Statistics Canada report on transportation in Calgary, households spent about 12% of their income on transportation, of which 90% was spent on automobiles. It can be assumed that the patterns are the same, if not higher, in Red Deer.
Although the initial focus of this business is passenger cars for families, there is strong potential for expansion into corporate fleets, as well as commercial, industrial and agricultural services.
Competitive Advantages
This is an excellent opportunity to respond to an unmet consumer need. Several Alberta tire companies offer call-out mobile service, and there are three dedicated mobile tire service companies (in Calgary, Peace River and Markerville), but Go Tire of Central Alberta is the first company to offer dedicated mobile service for everything from full replacement of all tires to seasonal changeovers and repair services, as well as windshield replacement services.
Marketing Strategy
Go Tire of Central Alberta has a fully developed branding and marketing strategy which includes media advertising, materials such as door hangers, flyers and information booklets on tires, and attendance at trade shows.
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