Protyre Taunton becomes UK’s first Bridgestone e-Centre
Protyre Autocare has become to first garage in the UK to adopt Bridgestone’s new ‘e-Centre’ concept, described as a significant evolution in the future of tyre retail.
Bridgestone revealed the concept last October, having partnered with accounting firm Ernst & Young to identify future Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) requirements for tyre retailers.
Using these requirements as a guide, Bridgestone evolved this to an assessment which includes 85 different criteria. Retailers will be assessed on these standards, to enable them to achieve Bridgestone e-Centre status.
Bridgestone plans to assess hundreds of tyre retailers across Europe over the next couple of years, with the intention of accrediting 150 as e-Centres in a £1 million investment.
Based in Taunton, Protyre Autocare has undergone the extensive assessment process, as it works to achieve Bridgestone ‘e-Centre status’ or ‘e-Centre Pioneer Status’ which Bridgestone intends to be the benchmark in retail & ESG excellence.
It is envisaged that Bridgestone e-Centre Pioneer depots will represent a massive departure from a conventional garage aesthetically, but importantly, they will also adhere to a number of best practices including solar panel installations, staff training on premium product performance and road safety initiatives and even hyper-local donation campaigns to support their local communities.
Stan Watson, retail director of Protyre Autocare said: “We are already implementing many of the initiatives identified in Bridgestone’s e-CENTRE assessment, including sustainably sourced materials for our workshops, an enhanced training program for our staff and road safety initiatives. The e-Centres accreditation for our Taunton centre will help us communicate these benefits to our customers.”
Bridgestone head of marketing UK and Ireland, and e-Centre project lead Andy Mathias added: “We developed the Bridgestone e-Centre concept on the back of an extensive study with Ernst & Young and additionally conducted our own research with motorists, which revealed that over a third of motorists value a garage which has responsible recycling practices.”
“We want to improve the buying experience as motorists enter each Bridgestone e-Centre accredited store, and the Protyre Taunton centre is already a great example of this as it already has a contemporary customer space and digital screens educating customers on vehicle related topics – as part of the national retailer’s rebrand rollout.”