GoGulong: Leading the innovation of the Philippine tire industry – BusinessWorld Online
If you’re a car owner or a tire seller/buyer, you probably have heard about GoGulong. Back then, buying car tires painstakingly involved going to several shops to canvass for a set best suited to your needs. Thankfully now, GoGulong makes tire shopping easy as they have partnered with different tire brands and installation sites nationwide!
How It All Started
GoGulong was founded by Jay Antonio and Christine Torres back in 2019. Christine’s family has been in the Philippine tire industry for almost half a century while Jay has been in software development for more than two decades. The vision is simple: To improve the Philippine tire industry using technology.
The vision came to light in late 2019 when they noticed that the customer experience of a tire buyer needs to be improved. These 4 questions came to mind:
● How to make customers happy?● How to simplify the canvassing process?● How to reduce customers’ waiting time?● How to ensure value for money?
The pandemic set in—the country went into a series of lockdowns and the industry was not spared. Tire shops were all closed and business came to a depressing halt. In spite of this, Christine made sure that all her staff would still have a job. The couple took this opportunity to make GoGulong’s plan to fruition. They scrambled their team to complete the site, restructured inventory control and partnered with tire shops and installation sites. Finally, the website was launched in May 2020.
The first months were close to desperate—no sales, no traction, and with millions of logistical problems to sort out. The team just persisted in solving one problem after another, capitalizing on opportunities as they came and learning from mistakes.
How Is It Going?
The team followed the natural growth of the business with a central focus on making the customers happy. ‘Satisfy your customers, and the rest follows’ holds true for them. Averaging a perfect 5 out of 5 stars on both Facebook and Google reviews, it is evident that the team focuses on making the customers happy.
GoGulong has also partnered up with banks, fintech, and e-wallets. Other than the convenience of having multiple payment options, tire buyers also enjoy exclusive deals by using specific payment options with their partners.
GoGulong E-Commerce: Tire Shopping Made Easy
Two years later, GoGulong has more than 20 tire brand partners, over 100 installation sites across the country, and a fleet account solution.
GoGulong’s plan is to lead the digitization of the tire industry in the Philippines.
Tire Shop Solutions: Tire Selling Made Easy
GoGulong has also developed a cutting-edge solution to make tire selling easier! Tire sellers can now subscribe to the cloud-based GoGulong software to increase their sales while also reducing costs.
The software includes the following:
● Sales Solution● Inventory Solution● Purchasing Solution● Fleet account management Solution● Customer management Solution
The people who have tried this software have high praises regarding its convenience and accessibility. It is easy to use and has saved them a lot of time.
What’s Next For GoGulong
In five years’ time, the team plans to expand operations overseas starting with South East Asia. In addition, they also plan to be one of the few Philippine-owned companies to lead the digitization of an entire multi-billion industry.
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