Record number of women driving Bridgestone Retail EMEA forward

Bridgestone Retail EMEA Network is celebrating International Women’s Day with its biggest female success story to date, after revealing a record number of female customers in their stores.

With the commemorative day on Friday March 8, the network is reporting over 55% increase in female motorists year on year. This figure is reinforced by statistics from the ETB Autocentres network, which has doubled its number of female customers over the past 12 months.

The Bridgestone retail network, with 16 retail brands to its name, credits the spike in business amongst female motorists to a continual investment into store environments along with a more seamless and jargon-free digital experience for customers.

President Retail EMEA and Business Leader Global Franchise Daniel Giroud said the figures mirrored a gender-shifting pattern across its network of over 3,400 stores, where the number of female staff – including technicians and managers – has duplicated in recent years. This evolution is one that is expected to grow significantly in future.

Daniel said: “We are seeing a growing trend and with it, a shift in perception across the industry as a whole, in what used to be a male dominated environment.”

“We are committed to making each and every store more inviting for females, with collaborative environments in place to ensure that their voices are heard and respected.”

“In general, we are finding female motorists to be more informed and knowledgeable about car maintenance than ever before, with the days of leaving automotive matters to their partners a thing of the past. More evidence of this can be seen in the number of women we now employ across the retail network, who are excelling in a variety of significant positions.”

To further underline Daniel’s efforts to empower women in the automotive industry, he is also proud to be the founder and creator of Bridgestone’s Women in Motion - Lead, Inspire, Connect programme.

Women in Motion selects colleagues into specially tailored categories, with a course then put in place to enhance their skills: Bespoke training is tailored to meet the needs of each individual, with the overarching aim of developing colleagues to become even more empowered, thanks to their enhanced abilities.

The success of Women in Motion - Lead, Inspire, Connect can already be seen in fact that 40% of all participants have gone on to gain a promotion.

For more information about the Bridgestone Retail EMEA Network’s activity to empower females in the automotive industry, visit Bridgestone’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Report here https://press.bridgestone-emea.com/download/76a1c3c8-c3c2-46d5-8a06-e6c51fc5e695/bridgestone-deampi-report.pdf