2017 marked ten years since David Myers and Jason Cunningham founded Encircle Marketing and started to supply the tyre market with their findings to the industry.
Last year, TTN spoke to them and asked them to reflect on the years past. When catching up with them again recently, they wanted to now focus on the years ahead, the plans they have for the business and the challenges for new entrants they now face.
Jason commented, “Our ten-year anniversary allowed us time to obviously celebrate our success to date. Crucially, it also meant we could restart the clock, reenergise ourselves and focus on where we wanted the Business to be in the next ten years.”
A mantra they regularly adhere to, is that, it never stays bad for long nor good forever. This gives much needed clarity for a business that seemingly never stops. They continuously conduct mystery shopping phone calls to collate their data as well as scrape over 14 Countries on a daily basis on over 2,000 unique tyre sizes.
“We haven’t always got it right but importantly we’ve got it right more than we’ve got it wrong!” says David. “This will continue to be the case and for the next 12 to 24 months we are looking at how we can improve the experience our Clients receive from using our data and how it can reflect the changing ways the market now sells tyres.”
They both stress that this will be an ever-evolving process with Clients asking for more data/ more frequently and new analytical tools from which to view the findings.
Added to this, new research provider entrants from both inside and outside the industry has meant that Encircle can’t just assume a clear path to success. For 2018, this is then a challenge that almost mirrors how they entered into the market themselves back in 2007.
David commented, “We are seeing or receiving information on more on more data providers, especially within the internet price sphere that are looking to enter the tyre market and utilise FMCG practices to collate data. In 2007, we were possibly seen as fresh faces with new ideas that challenged the norm. Now, we’ve lost that fresh look (personally) and our competitors can pitch with a similar USP’s. Therefore we can’t dismiss a lack of knowledge as to the tyre industry’s idiosyncrasies as a barrier to their success and instead ensure that we can offer at least the same, if not better, tools from which to make informed pricing strategy change.”
Jason pitched in, “Without being big headed, we believe our knowledge of the market does help shape our offer and our conversations to both the Client Base and potential Customers. This coupled with an ever-evolving Reporting Platform means that we always look to how we can improve and not sit still. This is especially the case for 2018.”
2017 saw a year of growth for Encircle and they are confident that with the development currently in the pipeline, this year can be the same.
