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 j ...