Point S USA dealers celebrated a big highlight reel from 2024 during the group’s annual members meeting. The cooperative added another record number of stores — 83 — during the year. And, those stores helped the group increase overall tire unit sales by 23% in 2024.
Over a five-year period, Point S USA unit sales have increased by 44%.
But last year’s increase wasn’t driven only by new storefronts. Same-store unit sales were up 7% for the year.
“Our unit growth was fantastic. Dollar growth — a little softer,” said Point S USA CEO Walter Lybeck. “Shift to pricepoint is real for us, for sure.”
That shift is what drove sales for the first nine months of 2024. It was clear consumers were seeking budget-friendly tires. But Point S made an aggressive move with its marketing promotions to steer consumers back toward higher-tiered tires, and specifically tires from its four “platinum” vendors and brands: Falken, Nokian, Hankook and Nexen. (For 2025, Toyo has joined this group as the fifth platinum brand for Point S dealers.)
Instead of each of those brands having its own promotion at a single point during the year, Point S USA convinced all four brands to combine their promotions. That meant each quarter, instead of one brand offering a rebate, discounted price or some other kind of bonus, all four brands offered the same promotion at the same time. Additionally, Point S also offered its first multi-day Black Friday promotion.
(These were passenger and light truck tire promotions. Those units account for about 65% of all units sold by Point S dealers in the U.S.)
“We can’t be good partners if we’re just moving units from one vendor to another,” Lybeck said. “We are better partners for our vendors if we can grow units together.”
The efforts worked. By the end of the year, unit sales of those platinum brand partners increased 8%.
Joe Moore, vice president of purchasing for Point S, said, “In a year that was tough for tier-one (and) tier-two manufacturers, where tier-three was what was growing, we feel very good about what we did with our partners. We think we did a good job growing with them.”
Moore says all 405 Point S stores sell and focus their efforts around at least one of those platinum brands. That means each promotion was relevant to every dealer, whereas in the past if one brand offered a special but it wasn’t a brand that a particular dealer included in his or her product screen, both the dealer and tire manufacturer missed out on sales opportunities.
Lybeck said these multiple-brand promotions could even open the door to a dealer selling a few tires from a brand outside of his or her normal lineup — and perhaps having success with it.
Clint Young, president and chief operations officer for Point S USA, says the joint promotional work “makes it an even playing field.”
400+ and Counting
The success in units and sales came as Point S USA crossed a major threshold in its ongoing work to grow into a national retail player in the U.S. market. With the addition of 83 stores — notably including the 50-store addition of Peerless Tyres by Gills Point S — the cooperative crossed the 400-store threshold in 2024.
And, the group is ahead of schedule to reach its goal of 500 stores by 2028. When it set that goal, the cooperative knew it needed to add 40 stores a year.
Lybeck said, “So 405 stores is — wow. When we put the (goal of ) 500 (stores) out there, we didn’t know about Gills’ ambition and where they were going to be. We just put it out there because we needed to grow. It wasn’t ‘hey let’s do this because it’s ambitious,’ it was ‘we need to be more relevant in this industry.’”
The group still has work to do to plant a flag in all 50 states, though it did add locations in three new states last year.
Award-Winning Makeovers
A year ago Point S USA unveiled updated brand standards for both store interiors and exteriors, and as a way to encourage dealers to invest in fresh paint, lighting and the new look, the cooperative invited owners to compete for more than $50,000 in prize money for the top makeovers.
Twenty-two Point S tire dealers competed for the prizes by submitting videos of their store transformations and Point S selected the top three interior and exterior renovations. Winners were announced on opening night of this year’s annual meeting.
Top Three Interior Renovations
- Rolling Rubber Point S, Glendive, Mont. $10,000
- Forrest Tire Point S, Johnston, S.C. $5,000
- Triple T Point S, Ripley, Tenn. $2,500
Top Three Exterior Renovations
- Wasatch Point S, West Jordan, Utah $20,000
- Forrest Tire Point S, Johnston, S.C. $10,000
- Point S Creswell, Ore. $5,000
Brandon and Diana Haltiwanger are the owners of Forrest Tire Point S, and the lone double winners in this year’s renovation contest. The Haltiwangers are the second-generation owners of their family’s tire store, and joined Point S two years ago as a way to improve their buying power.
The Haltiwangers admit they had been dragging their feet a bit on starting the physical transformation to the Point S brand, and said the contest spurred them to take action. Altogether, Brandon Haltiwanger said they invested $75,000 in improvements, which went far beyond the basics of paint and new furnishings.
“It’s a 60-year-old building. We didn’t have air conditioning.”
For a while during the interior updates, the Haltiwangers used a tent to shelter their front sales counter, and when it was time to process a customer’s credit card, Diana Haltiwanger said the team would run around the exterior of the building to access the card machine that had to be plugged in elsewhere.
The project included an extensive update both inside and outside. The six-bay store remained open throughout construction, and even though it was a bit difficult at times, the Haltwangers say it was worth it. They know other tire dealers might be in their same shoes — avoiding physical improvements they know need to be done because they also know it will be messy and inconvenient in the midst of everyday business.
Brandon Haltwenger has a word of advice. “Do it sooner than later.”
Diana Haltwenger said “the impression it makes on the customers is worth it.” She and her husband are proud of it, and as the business has been part of the Johnston, S.C., community for 49 years, she said, “I think the community is proud of it.”
Point S USA plans to repeat the revitalization awards program for dealers again in 2025, and thanks to an investment from the international Point S organization, dealers will be eligible for $80,000 in prizes for their store improvements.
Investing in Training
In addition to the focus on the look of its stores, in 2025 Point S USA will focus on new training initiatives. For the first time the cooperative has a certified Tire Industry Association (TIA) trainer on staff, and will offer TIA Automotive Tire Service (ATS) training as part of its new Point S Training Academy. The trainings will also include lessons from NAPA Brakes and NAPA Service Advisor, plus counter and phone sales education from Point S Master Shop trainer Tony O’Billovich.
Members will save money on the sessions compared to buying them on their own directly from the source. The group will offer sessions at training centers in its Portland, Ore., Memphis, Tenn., and Salt Lake City, Utah, warehouses.
