Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

Project

Marketing

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company began in 1898. It was first purchased by Frank Sieberling with a down payment of $3,500. The history of this company was very interesting. Mr. Sieberling had actually borrowed this money from his brother-in-law. Another fact that I had not before known, is that the man this company was named after, Mr. Charles Goodyear, had died penniless 30 years earlier, even after he had discovered, “vulcanization”, which is a term used to describe the hardening process of rubber for tires.

I would definitely classify tires as a shopping product. Tires are expected to last a fairly long time and would be a less frequent purchase than a convenience product. They are an item for which a buyer would use some time and effort in making such a purchase. Although, tires are also one item that sometimes can be categorized as an unexpected or �unsought’ purchase. As in the case of a sudden flat tire, one would have to make an emergency purchase. In this case a customer would expect a product like Goodyear to repair or replace a tire of theirs. This depends, of course, on how many miles a tire had on it before it went flat, and any unusual damage to the tire itself.

The website for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was, I believe, extremely impressive. The website has an opening page with the, “Goodyear Blimp” as its central focus. At the top of the page there are three different links. One is for USA, another for Worldwide, and a third link that tells about the Goodyear Company itself. When I clicked on USA, there was a dropdown menu showing all the different types of tires that Goodyear provides. Not just those for the individual consumer, but also tires for the Government, Commercial vehicles, ATV’s, and Industrial vehicles.

As an individual consumer I chose the link for Car, Van, SUV and Truck. This was an area that I found most interesting. Goodyear has a video of some of the commercials that they have shown on television right there on the website. There is also a video that informs a consumer of the innermost parts of the tire and how it is made. They show 4 of their newest tires, each with their own separate website with another presentation. At the top of the webpage there are several tabs to click on. Each of these tabs also has dropdown menus to choose from. I tried out the catalog search link which took me to a page where a customer can choose what type of vehicle they are needing tires for, whether it be a car/minivan, a sporty performance vehicle, or an SUV/Truck. You can input your vehicle year, make, and model. It even has a category for “winter” driving. Tires that are especially made for winter! I had no idea there was such a thing. They have one area that I thought was also very interesting. Under the section heading, “About Goodyear Tires”, there in the dropdown menu is a section that you can click on to check out the testing of the tires and the specifications.

They demonstrate product and design features very well indeed. On the main page under the same heading, “About Goodyear Tires”, there is a section labeled, “Manufacturing and Innovations”. They actually describe how their tires are built in a step-by-step process. They also have a special section where