The tyre market in France is a textbook example for understanding the car-buying journey. You can spend an hour comparing tyres online, reading reviews, poring over dimensions and load indices, and still end up buying from your local tyre dealer. That’s almost always how it goes: tyres don’t fit themselves. This disconnect between the research – which is very much digital – and the purchase – which is almost always in-store – speaks volumes about a wider trend in the automotive sector: product data matters less for direct sales than for effectively guiding customers to the right place.
The key takeaway
The French tyre market is worth 7.5 billion euros. Purely online sales are declining year on year, as motorists prefer retail outlets that also offer fitting services. For a tyre brand, the challenge is no longer to sell directly but to effectively direct customer searches towards its network of distributors.
The tyre market in France: stable in terms of volume, undergoing a major restructuring in terms of value
According to Xerfi, turnover for tyre manufacturers and retreaders in France reached 7.5 billion euros in 2023. The French Tyre Trade Association estimates that around 25 million passenger car tyres are sold each year, two-thirds of which are replacement tyres. Volumes show little change from one year to the next: they are driven by the size of the vehicle fleet and the number of kilometres travelled, two figures that change only slowly.
What is changing, however, is the way motorists shop. The average age of vehicles has risen to 11.6 years, whilst the average annual mileage has fallen by 9.6 per cent since 2016. As a result, people are changing their tyres less often, and when they do, they are paying closer attention to price. The ‘budget’ segment has doubled in size over the last ten years and now accounts for 21 per cent of the market. Meanwhile, all-season tyres are growing by more than 10 per cent a year, driven by drivers who simply want less hassle.
Why the all-online model isn’t catching on in this market
Pure players saw their sales fall by 8.7 per cent in 2023, whilst specialist tyre retailers maintained their market share, which remained stable at around 25 per cent. It is not a question of price or the convenience of online shopping. The fact is that tyres, unlike many other products, require a service to go with them: fitting, balancing and, sometimes, wheel alignment. An e-commerce site can sell the product, but it doesn’t fit the wheel.
Globally, over 31 per cent of shoppers start their search online, but only 13 to 20 per cent actually make a purchase via a digital channel. This gap is a classic example of ‘webrooming’: people research thoroughly online, then visit a specialist retailer to complete the purchase. There are no precise equivalent figures for France, but the underlying trend (a decline in pure e-commerce, a stable share for tyre retailers) clearly points in the same direction.
What this means for a tyre brand
The key question is no longer ‘how to sell online’, but ‘how to redirect effectively’. Three things naturally follow from this.
Firstly, product details (dimensions, compatibility, price) must be consistent across the board, at all retailers and tyre specialists within the network: a discrepancy between what is shown on the brand’s website and what is actually available in-store undermines trust at the worst possible moment. Secondly, simply redirecting a visitor to the right retail outlet is not enough if they cannot book a fitting slot there straight away. And finally, it must be possible to track this search even when the sale is completed elsewhere; otherwise, you never really know which campaigns have brought customers to the workshop.
This is the role of the Click2Buy ‘Where to Buy’ feature: to link a product listing or a campaign to the right retailer, without leaving the motorist to search for a suitable sales outlet on their own. In a market where online product availability varies greatly from one retailer to another, this is often what makes the difference between a successful purchase and a abandoned transaction.
In summary
Tyres clearly illustrate a principle that extends beyond this market alone: the more a product requires a service to be fitted, the wider the gap between online research and the final purchase becomes. The performance of a tyre brand is no longer measured solely by traffic to its website, but by its ability to direct the right people to the right place, where the right product is available.
Why is online tyre sales declining in France?
Because tyres need to be fitted by a professional. Motorists are increasingly favouring retailers that can handle both the sale and the fitting, rather than buying online and then having to find a fitter separately.
How big is the French tyre market?
According to Xerfi, turnover for tyre manufacturing and retreading companies in France stood at 7.5 billion euros in 2023. Around 25 million passenger car tyres are placed on the market each year.
How can a tyre brand better convert online searches into sales?
By directing visitors straight to the most relevant distributors and tyre specialists, with reliable stock availability information, rather than leaving them to search on their own for a retailer that stocks the specific product they are looking for.
Hugo, Marketing at Click2Buy
“Tyres clearly illustrate the limitations of an all-e-commerce model: you can sell a product online which, ultimately, is still purchased from a specialist retailer.”
