Blackcircles

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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (October 2007)

Blackcircles.com is a UK online tyre retailer.

It was founded by the Liverpool-born entrepreneur Mike Welch in 2002 and now has a turnover of approximately £10million (1).

Blackcircles.com is the first ever franchised tyre ordering service. Customers book and pay for their tyres online before having them fitted at one of 987 independent garages.

The company – based in the Scottish Border town of Peebles – launched Blackcircles franchises in 2006, to allow independent garages sign up to its stock-checking and ordering system.

It sells to around 100,000 customers in the UK – making it the biggest online tyre retailer in the country (2). In 2006, Welch launched Blackcircles franchises, where independent garages can sign up to gain access to the firm's stock-checking and ordering system. There are currently 300 garages (3) signed up.

Welch set up the website www.mechanic-torque.co.uk, in August 2007, which allows members of the public to ask fully-qualified mechanics for free advice about motoring problems.

The Chairman of Blackcircles.com is Graeme Bissett, former Group Finance Director of Kwik-Fit.

References

1&3- http://business.scotsman.com/retail.cfm?id=620372007 2 - www.hitwise.com

External links

www.blackcircles.com www.mechanic-torque.co.uk Automotive companies of the United Kingdom