Southern Tire Mart

3x increase in quote requests from website redesign

THE ASK

Consolidated, high performing website

Since 1973, Southern Tire Mart has provided families and businesses with the best passenger and commercial tires on the market. The organization goes beyond tires to deliver the latest in parts and products at the best prices with unparalleled service. As the #1 commercial tire dealer in North America, STM offers best in-class service across a variety of tire brands and vehicles. Between their commercial and retail locations, and their partnership with Pilot at Flying J, Southern Tire Mart locations can be found across the country.

In early 2021, Southern Tire Mart began an RFP process to update their website and LimeLight was selected among hundreds of responses. The goal was simple: deliver a website that merged found separated and discounted websites into a unified brand experience, bringing the tire brand behemoth into the modern digital era. The delivery was to include strategy, content creation, design, development, and complex integrations.

THE PROBLEM

Four disjointed websites

Southern Tire Mart needed to solve a complex business challenge. They had four separate and disjointed websites that each served a different target audience. Content management, fragmented systems and inconsistent brand experiences were a growing problem. Southern Tire Mart needed a high-performing website to support rapid growth of the brand and position them for ecommerce expansion.

THE SOLUTION

A single unified website

We combined the four websites into one site that delivers a cohesive user experience and serves unique content to each of their audience groups.

We created a sitemap interactive wireframes including tire lookups, location finders, and careers functionality. This strategic framework ensured a smooth content migration and user experience.

Custom integrations optimize the shopping experience to select the right tires for your vehicle. We also provided technical consultation to optimize user flow, and SEO services to enable the website to rank i search engines and deliver fast page load speed.

Southern Tire Mart has two audiences, retail and commercial consumers. We conducted user testing to validate the site served each audience well. This insight guided us to make important modifications early in the project.

THE WORK

Brand Voice

Through initial discovery, LimeLight identified an opportunity to establish a brand voice for Southern Tire Mart. Through collaborative workshops, we established brand foundations that guided the design and content throughout the project and later benefited other marketing and sales channels.

Photography and design

The brand voice for Southern Tire Mart conveys hospitality, and the friendly, caring staff. To accomplish this, we captured photographs of Southern Tire Mart staff from locations across the country to convey a warm, personable experience, differentiating Southern Tire Mart’s site from competitor sites that are heavily product focused.

Integrations

Tire Catalog:
A key requirement for the consolidated Southern Tire Mart website was the ability to host a product catalog of tires, along with robust search capabilities for retail and commercial users. We created technical specifications for this integration and assisted through the vetting process for several tire data providers before selecting an integration partner.

Yext:
Because Southern Tire Mart is a tangible experience, driving users to locations is imperative for increased foot traffic. We integrated with Yext and Google My Business APIs to create a location search and selection function on the site.

THE RESULTS

Southern Tire Mart’s website has empowered them to support the brand’s growth across digital and retail channels. Increased quote requests and improved search engine ranking is fueling growth for the future.