Tyreright is the largest independent tyre retailer in Australia, with more than 70 stores nationwide specialising in the sale and fitting of tyres for private, commercial and industrial use.
In 2011, Tyreright enlisted the help of Switch and launched its ecommerce website on Sitecore Commerce, becoming the first national retailer to sell tyres online.
Looking to continue its role as a technological innovator in the tyre industry, Tyreright and Switch went on to custom-build a white label platform on Sitecore, supporting multiple retail sites, in partnership with other organisations, such as motoring clubs, around the country. Part of the migration involved adding Zip – a buy now, pay later payment provider – to its payment options.
Dan Wright, Chief Digital Office of Tyreright, discusses the challenges and opportunities faced in being the first retailer in Australia to sell tyres online and Tyreright’s Digital Transformation journey.
Tyreright had already previously partnered with Zip across its retail stores to offer customers flexible payment plans but, further to the success of its ecommerce site, had realised a need to also offer the service online.
As Daniel Wright, Chief Digital Officer at Tyres4U (Tyreright’s parent company) explains: “In most cases, people are caught by surprise and haven’t budgeted to replace their tyres. For us, Zip is an important integration because it means people can purchase the right tyres for their vehicle, with extra payment options to buy them extra time, if they need it”
A point of pride for the Tyreright team was the simple and intuitive nature of its combined checkout and appointment booking process. In order to ensure that Zip integrated as seamlessly as possible, the team at Switch imported a ‘Pay with Zip’ tab to the Tyreright payment page, to handle the entry and validation of all secure payment details. On the backend, the team imported the Zip C# Software Development Kit (SDK) and then populated purchase order data for supporting the base transaction functions, registration and checkout. Checkout results were then integrated into Tyreright’s existing order confirmation and messages screens, as well as the backend of the Sitecore Commerce engine.
While the site is still several weeks away from launch, the Zip component of the project, from assessing the technical requirements to completion, took just seven days. “I’m happy to say that the Zip integration was one of the most smooth and seamless parts of this whole project”, enthuses Wright. “While we won’t be able to glean any real results until it’s live, we’ve already seen a huge demand for the service and lots of people creating Zip accounts, so we’re expecting it to be a big success”.
The great thing about working with these partners – Switch, Sitecore and Zip – is they’re innovators who are always thinking ahead and asking ‘So what are the implications of this? Where does it take us next, for helping the customer?’. They’re exactly the sort of partners you want to work with when you’re trying to innovate within your own industry.