The Wheel Specialist – Annual Conference Report
The Wheel Specialist’s 2017 annual conference got underway this February with figures showing the ever-growing rise in demand for alloy wheel refurbishment and yet another year of huge success for the UK’s only national alloy wheel refurbishment and customisation Franchise, refurbishing almost 106,000 wheels throughout 2016.
Diamond Cut wheel refurbishment saw massive increase across The Wheel Specialist Franchise Network, up 37.5% last year compared to 2015. More manufacturers than ever are now rolling out new vehicles with Diamond Cut wheels for all ends of the market, the refurbishment of such wheels requires specialist CNC lathes which can be found in-house at branches of The Wheel Specialist nationwide.
With brand new fully-equipped locations launched in Kingston & Teesside in 2016, the Franchise announced further new branches in Leicester and Northampton scheduled to open their doors over the coming months in 2017. The company reported a 23% increase in turnover for 2015 / 2016, almost doubling the 12% increase seen in 2014/2015. BMW once again topped the list for the most popular car seen at The Wheel Specialist for an alloy overhaul with Audi and Mercedes once again coming in a close second and third.
Awards at the conference saw Nottingham take home ‘Best Overall Performing Franchise’ as a stand-out location. Fareham took a clean sweep picking up awards for ‘Highest Refurb Sales’, ‘Highest Product Sales’ and ‘Best Sales & Marketing’ reflective of the branches strong Marketing efforts and well-deserved results.
After launching a new mobile version of their website in 2016, The Wheel Specialist reported that mobile visitors were up three-fold on the previous year and that the amount of new enquiries coming into the business was up 35%.
Ginny Murphy (Director of Operations) said “It’s been another phenomenal year for TWS, far exceeding our already high expectations and I would like to thank the whole team and network for making it possible. Our growth continues to be exponential with new Franchisees seeing the great success of others and wanting to reap the benefits of such and in-demand service themselves. We are already planning more branch openings for 2017 / 2018 that will offer our full range of alloy wheel refurbishment services including Diamond Cutting.”
