Big retailer back in BSO Hall of Shame this Christmas
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
Just days after announcing their cycle sales are growing Halfords have once again landed themselves a prime spot in our BSO Hall of Shame...
Halfords recently announced their half-year financial report boasting cycling revenues are up 14.2% like-for-like. Within the report, they stated that Cycle Repair was a key focus, with sales up 27.7% in the first half. "We helped profile our Cycle-Repair service by proudly partnering with Sky for their series of weekend Sky Rides around the country, providing assistance to thousands of participants. Our team of mechanics also attended other major Cycling events such as the Deloitte Ride Across Britain and many other local events".
With such a key focus on cycles on cycle maintenance, it's worrying to see a poorly assembled bike feature heavily on their latest Christmas advert. Spotted by eagle-eyed Bike Trade Buzz user, CycleGarage, the advert displays a range of bikes for ‘half price' - a great deal if you don't mind the forks fitted backwards.
Back in May, Halfords' new chief executive Matt Davies unveiled his three-year strategy to put Halfords on the road to recovery and make it a £1bn revenue business by 2016.
As part of this strategy Davies revealed plans to launch his ‘3-Gears' training and reward programme for employees.
All Halfords staff will receive Gear 1 training, providing product knowledge and customer service. Gear 2 will bring more specialist training in either auto and leisure or cycling. Gear 3 will create product experts qualified to train others.
Let's see if this new strategy pays off and helps Halfords to stay out of the Hall of Shame from now on...
It's not the first time retailers have made this mistake. Have a look at our BSO Hall of Shame for some more blunders.
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