Michael Welch, managing director, said: "Like every business, particularly those using technology as a major part of the business function, we’ve had to work extremely hard in our formative years. The deal with Shell pluspoints is a great endorsement of the quality of business we are growing.

"We’ve invested heavily to put the right systems in place and develop the right relationships and partners outside the business so it’s exciting to see a lot of that hard work beginning to bear fruit."

Amie Barnes, Shell pluspoints loyalty card co-ordinator said: "It is important for pluspoints to offer its customers the best in a wide range of products and services and the link with Black Circles.com adds to that. Our pluspoint customers are, by default, motoring buyers and because tyres are one of the most consumable of motoring products, Black Circles.com and the simplicity of its service is an exciting addition to our list of offers."

Black Circles has 800 tyre-fitting centres across the UK, and says it has a fitting centre within 11 minutes of 94 per cent of the UK’s population.

http://business.scotsman.com/ebusiness.cfm?id=1265262004

Black Circles in link-up deal with motoring website
BLACK Circles, the Peebles-based internet tyre retailer, has agreed a link-up deal with Europe’s most popular motoring website, Auto Trader online.

The move gives the award-winning company direct links to the site’s visitors, close to 2.5 million people every month, and means it has the biggest internet presence of any tyre retailer in UK. The company was formed in 2001, and recently appointed former Kwik-Fit group finance director Graeme Bissett as chairman. It has 800 approved tyre fitting outlets across the UK and around 20,000 registered customers across the country.

Mike Welch, managing director of Black Circles, said the new deal would greatly benefit both parties.

"The link gives the Auto Trader customer direct access to the most advanced online purchasing and largest fitting network in the UK," he said.

The company does not stock tyres, but instead sources the cheapest location to buy customers’ required tyres in any given area.

Customers simply turn up to have their tyres fitted, eliminating the need to queue at a fitting depot and ensuring that the type of tyre needed is never out of stock.

The savings to customer can be as much as 60 per cent of normal tyre prices.

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=563012004

Livewire makes it a double whammy
LIVERPOOL-BORN entrepreneur Michael Welch has picked up another top business award.

Mr Welch, 25, owns and runs Black Circles, a tyre retail business which turns over more than £3m.

In June 2003 he was named hell Livewire Young Entrepreneur of the Year, beating off a strong field of more than 1,200 entrants.

Now he has picked up the E-Strategy Business of the Year accolade in the National Business Awards for Scotland.

Mr Welch, who began his first business in Garston, moved to Scotland in 2000 and it is there he created Black Circles which dispatches tyres to customers via a national franchise network of 700 depots.

He said: "I'm made up with this award. We've worked really hard to create a business that can compete with major tyre retailers across the UK."

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200businessnews/page.cfm?objectid=14643575&method=full&siteid=50061

Deals: Black Circles forms alliance with autotrader.co.uk
UK tyre retailer Black Circles has formed an alliance with autotrader.co.uk in an ongoing deal that will continue for at least a year. The tyre retailer will have direct links from autotrader.co.uk to blackcircles.com and will pay Autotrader according to the level of traffic it receives.

http://www.revolutionmagazine.com/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=ViewNewsArticle&ID=212507

Black Circles wins W@W Awards 2003
Cutting the cost of new car tyres has won a Selkirk based garage services company, Black Circles, the £10,000 top prize in Scotland’s premier Internet competition. Blackcircles.com has was picked as this year’s Overall Winner of W@W for revolutionising the way high performance and specialist tyres are bought. The company scours Europe via the web for the best prices then customers can choose to have their tyres fitted at home, their work or at one of 600 franchised fitting centres -  offering savings of up to 60% over their competitors. Run by former Kwik-Fit Executive Michael Welch the company now does 70% of its business via the web and has a projected second year turnover of more than £3 million. The company’s franchised fitting model means Black Circles now has more outlets countrywide than either Kwik-Fit or ATS, all in less than eight months of starting up.
2003

Burning rubber on the internet

A Scottish-based company is aiming to race away from its competitors by selling tyres over the internet.
Black Circles said it had struck a deal with Auto Trader which meant that the company's customers would be offered a wider range of products.

Company managing director Mike Welch, 24, said motorists were fed up with waiting in queues.

Customers order tyres on the internet and get them fitted the following day at the nearest affiliated garage.
The stock is sent to the garages from the company's stores.

"The old way of doing it is a huge waste of time and effort "

Mike Welch
Black Circles

Black Circles was formed in 2001 and boasts a 20,000-strong customer base.
Last year Mr Welch won the Shell Livewire Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

He said more motorists were willing to go online to ensure they received the most efficient service.

"Black Circles customers are given a clear and full price from a wide range of tyres before they buy, the customer picks a suitable time and place of their choice to have the tyre fitted and that's it, it's as simple as that," he said.

The old way of doing it, which involves travelling to and waiting in a queue at a tyre fitting centre only to find out that very often the tyre you need is not in stock, is a huge waste of time and effort."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3723103.stm

Keeping business on track
The unglamorous world of tyre selling is unlikely to be many school-leavers idea of a dream job.
But for one young businessman the move set him on the fast-track to becoming his own boss.

Despite being only 24, former Kwik-Fit employee Michael Welch set up his own internet-based tyre-fitting company 18 months ago after a number of years in the tyre business.

Michael's firm now supplies more than 650 independent garages and has a turnover of £700,000.

And this week his company's rapid progress was recognised when he won the Shell Livewire 'Young Entrepreneur of the Year' award.

Early start
After leaving school at the age of 16, Michael started work as a tyre fitter.

"Six years in the industry gave me credibility with the bank and it's a lot easier when you know what you're talking about to convince people of the cause"
Michael Welch 

But his entrepreneurial instincts were soon apparent when at the age of 18 he set up his first firm selling performance tyres after he spotted a gap in the market.

The success of this business caught the eye of High Street chain Kwik-Fit who offered him a job.

After gaining valuable experience at Kwik-Fit he decided to strike out by himself eighteen months ago.

Credibility
His company - Black Circles - allows customers to order tyres on the internet and get them fitted the following day at the nearest affiliated garage.

All the work we've put in could be lost very, very quickly by bad service

The stock is sent to the garages from the company's stores, and he says the centralised buying approach allows the company to sell tyres at a substantial discount to High Street prices.

He admits his youth was a problem when he came to starting up the firm, but says the experience gained from his first business and his time at Kwik-Fit was invaluable.

"Six years in the industry gave me credibility with the bank and it's a lot easier when you know what you're talking about to convince people of the cause."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3003036.stm

Michael’s a star in the top ten
Michael receiving his award from Alan Keir, General Manager, Commercial Banking, HSBC Bank plc at the Savoy Hotel in London.
A PEEBLES-BASED company selling quality tyres at discount over the internet is celebrating being named one of the UK’s top 10 start-up businesses in a national search for top entrepreneurs.
Now in its third year, the 2003 HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards were launched in March this year in recognition of the UK’s best new businesses and to inspire and encourage others thinking about going it alone.
More than 5000 new businesses where entered the competition and Michael Welch, managing director of Black Circles Limited in the town, accepted his trophy in front of 250 leading businessmen and women at London’s Savoy Hotel.
The company also received £4,000 worth of consultancy services.
Michael left school at 15 and took a job fitting plugs to tyre machines.
Whilst working at Kwik-Fit as head of e-commerce, he identified a gap in the market for a specialist tyre retail operation in the high performance sports car market, which he knew were paying over the odds for their tyres.
By cutting out the middleman, Michael realised he could provide fully-fitted tyres direct from the manufacturer for up to 50 per cent less than high street rivals.
Black Circles began trading in June 2001 and Michael’s pioneering business allows customers to buy their tyres over the internet or phone and their order is dealt with by the company’s call centre in Peebles.
They then have the choice of either having the tyres fitted at home, at work or at one of Black Circle’s 735 centres around the UK.
Today Black Circles is the third-largest tyre retailer in the UK and has seen its monthly turnover increase by a staggering 200 per cent.
John Rendall, head of HSBC Business Banking said: “This year’s awards have been the hardest to judge so far. The breadth and quality of applications really highlights the imagination, flair and sound business skills of entrepreneurs in Britain.
“Black Circles should be justly proud of reaching the Top 10.”
October 2003