Halfords Business Model

[abo]

Yeah, decathlon ARE better. But unfortunately the public walk in the direction the T.V tells them to. I think that a stiff tv ad campaign by decathlon could really hurt halfords...

That would depend on how many bikes Halfords sell on the web/mail order vs. how many are bought by people who wander into their local store and choose something there. Halfords have a massive advantage in the latter area simply due to their (sometimes multiple) presence in every major town in the UK...

 

[cycleGeoff]

That would depend on how many bikes Halfords sell on the web/mail order vs. how many are bought by people who wander into their local store and choose something there. Halfords have a massive advantage in the latter area simply due to their (sometimes multiple) presence in every major town in the UK...

yes, that's very true. I think that we could expect decathlon to also slip up in some areas if they grew to that size... it happens to everyone.

 

[cycleGeoff]

[QUOTE 1422932"]
That's the point though. Decathlon is way bigger than Halfords.
[/quote]

perhaps financially, But not same same spread in the amount of stores available to the country. Thats what I meant by size.

 

[Klaus]

I don't know the T&C's for the Bike Care Plan but I expect it's underwritten by an insurance company.
The price for a year is quite attractive at £20 purchased with a bike. As with electrical products, bicycles are relatively reliable, even Halfords' ones.
So the probability of Halfords having to shell out serious money on bike repairs should be remote. There would be some sort of commission income from the insurer arising from this which can be recognised as profit straight away (on short-term contracts) - I am a bit rusty on the accounting principles for this.

It's just a fact of life that most people don't know much about bicycles and will stick with a familiar name.

 

[Chris.IOW]

perhaps financially, But not same same spread in the amount of stores available to the country. Thats what I meant by size.

But they are that size on the continent I believe, therefore they should be able to continue to expand in the UK without experiencing growing pains.

I imagine halfords and a few other retailers are wary of the growth of Decathlon.

 

[Chris.IOW]

So the probability of Halfords having to shell out serious money on bike repairs should be remote.

Especially as a lot of people will just live with small issues on their bikes rather than getting them fixed or forget they took out the policy in the first place.

 

[Bicycle]

I can't get too excited about Halfords being the Big Meanies of bicycle retail.

I sometimes find myself wondering (when listening to an anti-Halfords rant) whether there isn't some sort of bike snobbery going on, disguised as something else.

There is room for everyone in an almost infinitely diverse marketplace.

I use Halfords only for motor oil, car bulbs and the like. I once tried to buy a roofbox there, but the assistant was almost incapable of completing a sentence and hadn't got a clue about the product. No need to get excited; I went online and bought there instead. But I still get my bulbs at Halfords...

Most of the children of most of my friends ride Halfords bicycles. Yes, they are mostly poo and some are set up slightly eccentrically - but they are bicycles and they are being ridden. I recoil in pain at the sound of another full-suss child's Apollo MTB groaning at both ends from dry bearings and clacking down the road on a dry chain and half-inflated tyres... but ask the riders and their parents: "Great bike, loads of features, cheaper than anywhere else!"

I buy most of my groceries at Tesco, which lacks the quality of product and the service of my local specialist deli... but I'm not Michel Roux. I just want food. A lot of people just want bicycles.

Because I have a strange fascination for bicycles, I look around online and also buy a lot of stuff from my (highly expert) LBS. But... I have no problem with Halfords. It's not some great, dark conspiracy. It's a chain of shops making money by having the answer to questions a lot of people are asking.

 

[Arch]

I heard the CEO or whoever on Breakfast this morning. He was saying the high end bikes are selling because people are doing plenty of research online.

I'd have thought anyone doing lots of research online would have come up time after time with "ARGH! Halfords!".

I suspect he meant just doing price comparisons or something.

I recoil in pain at the sound of another full-suss child's Apollo MTB groaning at both ends from dry bearings and clacking down the road on a dry chain and half-inflated tyres... but ask the riders and their parents: "Great bike, loads of features, cheaper than anywhere else!

Those things, the dry chain, the flat tyres, are nothing to do with Halfords though are they? Those are down to ignorant or lazy owners. Any bike can be reduced to that.

The problem with Halfords isn't so much what they sell (they are just supplying the folk who think a bike must be cheap, with goods that match quality and price), but the service, or lack of. Ads claim every bike is checked over and 'expertly' assembled, but in practice, it's often done by an less than expert monkey...

I use Halfords for odds and ends, but we don't have a Decathlon.

 

[Hip Priest]

I got offered the bike care plan, but turned it down. One of my aims as a new cyclist is to learn how to maintain a bike, so I prefer to do things myself. I do think a lot of the ire directed at Halford's on cycling forums is a little OTT. As Bicycle says above, they provide a service that suits most people. I used to cycle everywhere as a kid, and the bikes I had where always cheapo things from Toys 'r' Us and the like. Never saw a bit of oil or a spanner in their lifetimes, but did the job for a year or two. People need to get over the idea that a Halford's bike is going to crumble to ash after two miles of riding.

 

[marinyork]

The future of cycling is with so called POBs riding so called BSOs. That's why they stay in business for several reasons along these lines, some of which already mentioned in this thread. Halfords are also much better at dealing with customers to this target audience than most proper bikes shops, that are unpleasant and snobby to this target audience as are sadly some cycling charities.

Halfords has, many, many faults, but it is easy to see why people turn up to buy apollos.

 

[dellzeqq]

(Assuming that was rhetorical)

Because they're trying to build some credibility?
Because half decent road-bikes are the growing market with better margins?
Because they want to retain brand identity/differentiation from the rest of the market and wish to segment their offerings; (Value/Mid-price/Finest) = Apollo ---> Carerra ----> Boardman
Also it increases traffic/footfall, some of their own-brand clothing's good value too.

but their business model is founded on tat. They spend a lot of money promoting the (not far off) top end, and provide a service that is simply not worthy of the bikes.

I can say this, by the way, because I've Doctor Bike'd bicycles straight out of Halfords. And they were shockers. As in brakes not working and spokes flapping in the breeze.

Decathlon turn out bikes which are well put together. Halfords could learn from them.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

I can't get too excited about Halfords being the Big Meanies of bicycle retail.

I sometimes find myself wondering (when listening to an anti-Halfords rant) whether there isn't some sort of bike snobbery going on, disguised as something else.

There is room for everyone in an almost infinitely diverse marketplace.

I use Halfords only for motor oil, car bulbs and the like. I once tried to buy a roofbox there, but the assistant was almost incapable of completing a sentence and hadn't got a clue about the product. No need to get excited; I went online and bought there instead. But I still get my bulbs at Halfords...

Most of the children of most of my friends ride Halfords bicycles. Yes, they are mostly poo and some are set up slightly eccentrically - but they are bicycles and they are being ridden. I recoil in pain at the sound of another full-suss child's Apollo MTB groaning at both ends from dry bearings and clacking down the road on a dry chain and half-inflated tyres... but ask the riders and their parents: "Great bike, loads of features, cheaper than anywhere else!"

I buy most of my groceries at Tesco, which lacks the quality of product and the service of my local specialist deli... but I'm not Michel Roux. I just want food. A lot of people just want bicycles.

Because I have a strange fascination for bicycles, I look around online and also buy a lot of stuff from my (highly expert) LBS. But... I have no problem with Halfords. It's not some great, dark conspiracy. It's a chain of shops making money by having the answer to questions a lot of people are asking.

I am unsure if Tesco is the correct analogy - in that bicycles are road going vehicles and one that is poorly set up can be a major safety hazard to the owner as well as to other road users, especially when owners can't be expected to have the experience or expertise to spot such hazards. The analogous question therefore is whether we believe there should be room in the marketplace for dealers of cars that have questionable brakes, or supermarkets that sell fish that are potentially deadly poisonous.

I have always believed cheap is a virtue, as long as it is safe.

 

[marinyork]

I am unsure if Tesco is the correct analogy - in that bicycles are road going vehicles and one that is poorly set up can be a major safety hazard to the owner as well as to other road users, especially when owners can't be expected to have the experience or expertise to spot such hazards. The analogous question therefore is whether we believe there should be room in the marketplace for dealers of cars that have questionable brakes, or supermarkets that sell fish that are potentially deadly poisonous.

I have always believed cheap is a virtue, as long as it is safe.

I have a ninja colleague who destroys bikes. I also know others who are great at breaking them. Although I'd really rather they didn't do it, it's nowhere near as dangerous as the people who get hysterical about the matter think, nor does there seem any obvious solution to sorting the 'problem' out. The comparison with car I see as trivially silly for a number of extremely obvious reasons as was said in the other thread. Although the idea of a minimum standard may have some merit, who is to say that the people doing the inspecting would be any more competent than halfrauds or tescos?

The problem being with these threads that people read "I'd really rather they didn't" as condoning whatever they get up to.

 

[marinyork]

Decathlon turn out bikes which are well put together. Halfords could learn from them.

I suspect if Decathlon had more stores say 40 or 50, rather than ridiculously small number it is in the UK (something like eight or nine thesedays?) then they'd be challenging a lot of halfords. It is always a surprise to me that so many people round here haven't heard of Decathlon even though there's a store on their doorstep.

 

[Peter91]

They're not all bad.
I had my new bike sorted out for £10 cheaper there and every other bike shop I rang, and £30 cheaper than at Mercian cycles!