From Internet Pioneer to Europe's Largest Online Tire Retailer

Delticom was founded on July 2, 1999, by tire experts Andreas Prüfer, Philip von Grolman, and Rainer Binder, along with internet specialist Timon Samusch. After six months, Delticom closed its first (half) fiscal year in December 1999 with a turnover of almost 1 million euros. At that time, the company employed the four founders.

The online pioneers rapidly advanced the development of the e-commerce business: On January 15, 2000, the first German internet shop for car tires went online – today’s flagship store ReifenDirekt.de. The company also further developed the digital B2B business: In May 2000, the first business customer online shop Autoreifenonline.de followed.

Starting in Germany, the company quickly expanded internationally: In August 2001, Delticom founded its first subsidiary, Delticom Ltd, and opened the first online tire shop in a non-German-speaking country: www.mytyres.co.uk. In November of the same year, the new shop www.motorradreifendirekt.de brought affordable tires to motorcycle enthusiasts.

In the following years, shops for private and commercial customers were established in almost all European countries (overview Shops). To name a few examples: In March 2001, we started in Switzerland with www.reifendirekt.ch, a year later in March 2002 in Sweden with www.dackonline.net. In October 2002, www.123pneus.fr followed for our French customers, in January 2003 www.daekonline.dk for Danish tire buyers. In May 2004, www.gommadiretto.it went live in Italy, and in Norway, the end-customer shop www.dekkonline.com.

In 2006, the online shop www.tires-easy.com went online for the US market. Until 2022, Delticom was very successful in the USA, with the online tire business being profitable with additional growth opportunities. This makes Delticom one of the few e-commerce companies that successfully made the leap from Europe to the USA and started an equally successful business there. In 2022, the US business was successfully sold.

Courage for new concepts shapes the development of Delticom. As early as October 2000, Delticom had the first car tire of its new, own private label manufactured. The name: “Star Performer.”

As a modern e-commerce company, Delticom and its employees have been committed to continuous growth in online trading and the digitization of the tire market since its founding. In April 2002, Delticom was nominated for the Top 3 in the “Rising Star” category for the German Founder Award. In 2003, the company won the German Internet Award and the World Summit Award. ReifenDirekt.de is a multiple test winner in the tire online shop category.

Reasons for buying tires online are obvious: Online tire buyers benefit from convenient product selection and low prices, as well as short delivery times. This can be either to their home or to one of 38,000 workshop partners worldwide, who professionally mount the tires on the rims. Delticom customers also regularly receive shopping advantages through promotional offers, competitions, or partner collaborations in all countries.

After just seven successful years, it was time: Delticom went public. On May 16, 2007, the company held its first annual general meeting. The Delticom AG share reached a closing price of 65.34 euros at the end of the meeting. Since October 2006, the shares of Delticom AG have been listed in the Prime Standard of the German Stock Exchange (ISIN DE0005146807). According to preliminary figures, Delticom AG achieved sales revenues of 177 million euros in the first six months of the 2010 fiscal year. 2010 was to become one of the record years for Delticom with almost 420 million euros in sales and a total of 4.4 million existing customers. Sales and customer numbers were later surpassed.

An increased trend towards digitization and the growing willingness to buy online accelerated the online market penetration in the replacement tire trade. The online trade with tires and wheels continued to increase in Europe and North America in the following years. In the 2010s, Delticom focused on new concepts in tire trading, optimizing logistical processes, and the targeted further development of customer acquisition and retention.

The collaboration with partners in stationary trade, in workshops or car dealerships, is also being expanded. Existing partnerships with assembly partners have been continuously revised since the beginning. The partnership with business customers and suppliers is highly prioritized. Specialized teams take care of the specific needs of our B2B customers.

Delticom connects online and offline: In 2021, Delticom launched its new workshop partner concept on the market. With its large online reach, Delticom supports local workshops free of charge in acquiring new customers who have purchased their tires online in one of the end-customer shops and need a professional workshop partner on-site (more see “Services”).

Worldwide logistics competence has always been part of our success secret. What sets us apart from online platforms or tire comparison portals is largely the fact that we purchase, store, and ship tires and wheels to customers worldwide ourselves. Complex logistics processes are therefore part of our daily bread. With the commissioning of the new warehouse in Ensisheim, France, in spring 2021 and the planning of a new warehouse in the heart of northern Germany (Sehnde-Ost), we are doing everything we can to meet all the requirements of our private and commercial customers in the long term.

Today, after over 20 years of Delticom, the company includes over 400 online shops worldwide with a comprehensive tire and complete wheel portfolio for private and commercial customers. We serve around 16 million customers worldwide.

Our employees are our success. Driven by high motivation, courage, and ingenuity, we stand out with know-how in the tire business, e-commerce, online marketing, and logistics. We are a member of the industry association BRV and maintain a good relationship with our stakeholders – whether customers, investors, business partners, suppliers, and tire manufacturers, as well as, of course, with our employees and applicants. We rely on international teams: Our colleagues are based in Germany, but also in Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Serbia, and other countries worldwide.

Flexible, courageous, and future-proof: In mid-2019, Delticom AG began a successful restructuring process and discontinued peripheral activities outside the core business by early 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic shook the world economy in 2020. The majority of colleagues have been working from home since March 2020 – and led Delticom to a financial turnaround six months ahead of schedule in March 2021 (more see “Investor Relations”).

As a modern employer, Delticom recognized and promoted the advantages of flexible working models early on. We offer our employees a workplace in the center of Hanover, northern Germany, and also support better reconciliation of work and private life or family with the possibility of mobile working from other locations or from home.

E-commerce in the replacement tire business: What does the future hold? In powerful teams, we work across departments on new concepts for digitization, on future mobility topics, and the continuous optimization of customer service and shopping experience. Success proves us right: Delticom ended the 2020 fiscal year with 540 million euros in sales. At the end of 2020, 180 employees were employed in the company.

We continue to evolve: In subsequent years, Delticom expanded its traditional shop business by adding a platform business and continued to focus on profitability: in 2024, gross merchandise volume rose to 597 million euros. In 2026, the Annual General Meeting approved a dividend of 0.12 euros per share; at the same time, Delticom is consistently focusing its further development on digital process automation and a service platform with greater AI support.