Bridgestone India, part of leading rubber and tyre company Bridgestone Corp., has seen remarkable improvement and demand in the original equipment (OE) segment and the replacement market, which has settled to those before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rajarshi Moitra, Executive Officer and Head- Consumer Business, Bridgestone India, said the company’s sales and marketing section has charted 70% growth: business ceased in the OE segment immediately following the lockdown, but slowly picked up in demand in the months of July, August and September; while demand in there placement market is primarily coming in from the Tier-II and Tier-III towns, including crowded states like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, likely due to lack of public mobility infrastructure.
Bridgestone India is working to keep up with the recent growth and seeks to improve its retail presence by developing its distribution network(s) in the Tier-II and Tier-III towns and also improving the quality of its retail outlets in these towns; currently, Bridgestone India has 50% of its distribution is in Tier-II and Tier-III towns and over 3,000 outlets nationally.