You understand half what they say and they don't understand what I am trying to say it's the same in a lot of places ,things are made complicated unessery ,the saying that gets me is do you know that you can do this online we will be going to try toilet on line soon.
Halfords
- Thread starter Biker man
- Start date
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ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
I have been into 2 bike shops in teh last year or so
Halfords had lots of bikes on show - mostly low end but included mountain bikes, hybrids, road and ebikes
and a few proper road bike with Boardman on them - although whether or not he had anything to do wit them is up to you
but a load of bikes - not full up but close
The local bike shop is the other one
I have been in there a lot - when I walk he I normally get greeted with "what have you broken this time"
dunno why
anyway
at the start of the pandemic his shop window was full of 'affordable bikes' with some higher quality
OK - not much room - but more inside
PLUS - a much bigger showroom witha wide range upstairs
at the start of the pandemic he basically sold EVERYTHING
restocked - then sold everything again
then again - the owner was apparently well pleased
but then it became impossible to get any more
especially ebikes
He commented that he couldn't get a Raleigh anything for love nor money - he had a Motus (like mine) in his shop but was refusing to sell it because with it there he could place orders for more if people could see a real one
He was also inundated with repairs of old bikes from sheds!
I have noticed that he has had to replace the normal shop front of Raleigh and some Haibike - with mostly Haibike plus some high end road bikes
the upstaits showromm is still empty - just some old wrecks waiting fixing and piles of helmets in boxes
he just can;t get the popular big make bikes to sell!
funny that Halfords can - wonder how that works
Halfords had lots of bikes on show - mostly low end but included mountain bikes, hybrids, road and ebikes
and a few proper road bike with Boardman on them - although whether or not he had anything to do wit them is up to you
but a load of bikes - not full up but close
The local bike shop is the other one
I have been in there a lot - when I walk he I normally get greeted with "what have you broken this time"
dunno why
anyway
at the start of the pandemic his shop window was full of 'affordable bikes' with some higher quality
OK - not much room - but more inside
PLUS - a much bigger showroom witha wide range upstairs
at the start of the pandemic he basically sold EVERYTHING
restocked - then sold everything again
then again - the owner was apparently well pleased
but then it became impossible to get any more
especially ebikes
He commented that he couldn't get a Raleigh anything for love nor money - he had a Motus (like mine) in his shop but was refusing to sell it because with it there he could place orders for more if people could see a real one
He was also inundated with repairs of old bikes from sheds!
I have noticed that he has had to replace the normal shop front of Raleigh and some Haibike - with mostly Haibike plus some high end road bikes
the upstaits showromm is still empty - just some old wrecks waiting fixing and piles of helmets in boxes
he just can;t get the popular big make bikes to sell!
funny that Halfords can - wonder how that works
You have lost me
classic33
Leg End Member
Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
No, Halfords can't either.
Pretty well all they have in stock are Carrera, Boardman, Apollo, or VooDoo. None of the big name bikes.
ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
Yes - but how do those 'makes' get the parts and stuff when Raleigh etc can't
and they did used to have differnt makes - now just their own makes
but if you want a bike for a reasonable price - they are the only ones round here that have them
Rusty Nails
We remember
- Location
- Living in the slow lane
A manager in Halfords has a lot more on his plate, and is paid a lot of money to do work done more efficiently by a call centre.
One of the points advocated in Halfords favour in this thread is the lower prices. How do you think they get those?
Your point could equally (not really) apply to any retail store, or bank, or building society that has a call centre.
These things are not going to change.
P.s. Local bike shops don't have call centres, and managers will check supply information for you.
Brandane
Legendary Member
- Location
- Costa Clyde
I guess it's a matter of expectations. Expecting lowest prices combined with the highest level of service is unrealistic.
Lozz360
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
It’s possible, but Halfords did recently announce they would be using a call centre in South Africa.
bonzobanana
Guru
I have been into 2 bike shops in teh last year or so
Halfords had lots of bikes on show - mostly low end but included mountain bikes, hybrids, road and ebikes
and a few proper road bike with Boardman on them - although whether or not he had anything to do wit them is up to you
but a load of bikes - not full up but close
The local bike shop is the other one
I have been in there a lot - when I walk he I normally get greeted with "what have you broken this time"
dunno why
anyway
at the start of the pandemic his shop window was full of 'affordable bikes' with some higher quality
OK - not much room - but more inside
PLUS - a much bigger showroom witha wide range upstairs
at the start of the pandemic he basically sold EVERYTHING
restocked - then sold everything again
then again - the owner was apparently well pleased
but then it became impossible to get any more
especially ebikes
He commented that he couldn't get a Raleigh anything for love nor money - he had a Motus (like mine) in his shop but was refusing to sell it because with it there he could place orders for more if people could see a real one
He was also inundated with repairs of old bikes from sheds!
I have noticed that he has had to replace the normal shop front of Raleigh and some Haibike - with mostly Haibike plus some high end road bikes
the upstaits showromm is still empty - just some old wrecks waiting fixing and piles of helmets in boxes
he just can;t get the popular big make bikes to sell!
funny that Halfords can - wonder how that works
When I spoke to a Halford's manager sometime last year they stated they were getting back to back orders at the factories, i.e. the factory would just keep making more of the Halford's brand bikes rather than shift over to making other importers orders this saves times and money at the factory but of course puts the orders from smaller importers on the back burner. Despite Halfords being only a UK and Ireland retailer they sell more bikes than many big international brands and I'm guessing some of those orders would be smaller because of local variations for each product. So Halfords are a huge importer with significant buying power. I don't know which factory he was referring to but at the time I could see many bikes where coming from Insera Sena in Indonesia. This is also where many Calibre bikes came from including the Boss Nut and I've seen that some Kona and Scott models were manufactured by them. Insera Sena also have their own brands Polygon and the Marin brand that they acquired a few years ago. I'm fairly sure some recent Saracen bikes were manufactured by Insera Sena too. I think Insera Sena are pretty decent quality probably mid-level in the market.
It's important to remember almost all the big US and European brands do not manufacture anything themselves but import from Asian factories and while some do have assembly plants often again its frames and forks etc imported from Asia.
As for the Raleigh brand it is treated quite badly by the Accell group using very low end factories for their entry level models and despite costing significantly more I would say often comparable to many of the Apollo models at Halfords. When I spoke to a independent bike shop manager he said they spent significantly more time sorting the low end bikes they sell before they could be collected compared to their high end models which often come in needing light assembly only. I noticed lowest price brand that shop sold was Raleigh but they had similar bikes to what would be sold with the Apollo brand for almost twice as much. They looked exceptionally poor value to me but I realise for those who want local support and perhaps like the Raleigh brand for nostalgia reasons then so be it. However they were at a price point of the Carrera bikes in Halfords where you could get a significantly superior bike based on much better components.
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
I think you got it right halfords have a lot of buying power due to their size and have the cash flow to order more in advance, the average LBS i doubt has the credit to sit on such stock levels
Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
That's absolutely right. So the LBS majors on the things that it can beat the big boys on, service and expertise. Like I said you pays your money and takes your chance.
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ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
I suspect they also cannot compete with Halfords on the lower priced bikes
They can sell the more expensive bikes because people are more likely to trust an LBS if they are paying a lot of money and can also talk to an expert who can recommend upgrades and all sorts.
And, of course, the markup of expensive bikes can be quite a bit higher which is what they need to survive