Halfords pricing....

[Old Steve]

I was after buying a handlebar bag for my MTB, so against my better judgement ( got my own reasons) I looked on the halfords website and found the one that I wanted priced at £37.99 and was in stock in my local store, so on my way out yesterday afternoon I thought I would pop in and purchase it.....Shock horror.... in store price £55.00 now I am not a tight arse but I don't like being taken advantage of, so I saw the sales assistant and showed him the price on the web..he said ok I will price match it, fine I said...but the bottom line is had I not questioned it I would have paid £55.00... £17.01 more expensive....

Beware.... check your prices first....

Edit. On the up side, the bag is a topeak tour guide and seems pretty well made, it fits in minutes and is detachable.. With a clear map holder that velcros to the top..loads of room for a pro compact camera, spare tubes,phone, keys, eppipen injectors and of course sweeties... Which leaves plenty of room for one of my slr cameras in my rear detachable bag..
Will give it a few hundred miles to see how well it stays together before saying any more.

 

[Nebulous]

There used to be shops. Then there were online shops and they were in a battle with the shops. Now a lot of big retailers are trying to compete both online and in stores, which may involve dual-pricing.

Halfords could not afford to give everybody the lower prices (£37.99) and keep their shops open. What you need to do is play them at their own game, do your research and work out the best deal. I've posted here about getting a bag priced at £68 on the shelf for £38.39.

If you reserve online for shop collection you get the online price. The British Cycling 10% discount is a cracking deal, but only applies in-store. So if you pick something up in-store you get 10% off the on-line price. I've just bought a bike for my wife from Halfords. It was priced at £899 and they were giving 20% off bikes. I've got it for £645 with BC discount and if Quidco tracks ok I'll get another 4% (£25) discount on that.

Halfords have been slated in the financial press because bike / bike equipment sales were down. They need to get turnover up to please their investors and when they are rushing to do that there will be deals to be had - but there certainly wont be for everybody!

 

[stearman65]

What a coincidence, I visited my local Halfords yesterday to check out their cycling stock. I'm recently back into cycling after 60 years. I'm partially disabled & have visited this shop to buy car related items. On entering I was disappointed to see the cycling stuff was on the first floor (I don't do stairs if I can help it), I asked an assistant if there was a lift, there wasn't, I left without making a purchase. This store has had a recent refit, Southport where I live has a large elderly population. So I put pen to paper & told them they were missing out on a lot of potential business by excluding the disabled. Incidentally, the glass screen in front of the doors was filthy, so I mentioned this also.

 

[Stevec047]

I recently purchased a garmin edge 25 after looking at the internet I found a company selling them based in the UK for £89 halfords on line had them for £105 and in store they were £130.

I took a screen print of the website in to store and immediately the guy said no worries and price matched it there and then.

You have to admire there willingness to do this but then you have to start asking the question about there mark ups on products. Eaither way I came home with a new toy.

 

[screenman]

Go Outdoors are much the same, we got an email telling us about a discount day so went in for a pair of £150 walking boots for the wife. When we went to pay for them there was at first no discount, seems you have to ask for it, those that do not ask do not get.

 

[screenman]

I recently purchased a garmin edge 25 after looking at the internet I found a company selling them based in the UK for £89 halfords on line had them for £105 and in store they were £130.

I took a screen print of the website in to store and immediately the guy said no worries and price matched it there and then.

You have to admire there willingness to do this but then you have to start asking the question about there mark ups on products. Eaither way I came home with a new toy.

Price matching is a pet hate of mine, they are killing off competition with it. If you are happy to shop where they try to rip you off with a variety of prices for the same product fine, I am out.

 

[Old Steve]

Price matching is a pet hate of mine, they are killing off competition with it. If you are happy to shop where they try to rip you off with a variety of prices for the same product fine, I am out.

Couldn't agree more, I love the Internet and digital age ( and wouldn't have made a fair deal of my money without it ) but I do disagree that if you don't ask you pay a premium price for things.. What happened to retailers just selling for the best price that they could.

 

[screenman]

Couldn't agree more, I love the Internet and digital age ( and wouldn't have made a fair deal of my money without it ) but I do disagree that if you don't ask you pay a premium price for things.. What happened to retailers just selling for the best price that they could.

Best price for them or you though?

 

[Old Steve]

Best price for them or you though?

Just a fair price.. Without the consumer doing the price checking, .. I can see that we might want to check prices between different companies to get the best price, but not having to check prices within the same company.. And if you don't ..you pay more..

 

[Nebulous]

Just a fair price.. Without the consumer doing the price checking, .. I can see that we might want to check prices between different companies to get the best price, but not having to check prices within the same company.. And if you don't you pay more..

I really don't see there is anything else they can do. Their options are:-

1. Close all their shops and go online only. This would lose all the people who like to browse or people with an urgent need for a bike chain, bulb or numberplate.
2. Concentrate on bricks and mortar with a minimal online offering and lose a lot of their trade to the big online companies like chain reaction or wiggle.
3. Try to compete in both channels, with different strategies for both, which will inevitably lead to differences in pricing.

3. Is the only viable option to survive as a big player. That option also allows a savvy customer to play those margins between the two channels to their own advantage. Very few people get the best price if such a thing exists. There is always a tale of someone getting a spectacular deal which you or I wont get. What you need to do is research deals to try and get as close to it as you can. Then pay with a cashback credit card and get another 0.5/1.0% discount from that.

 

[Stantheman]

Nothing wrong with price matching, Go outdoors will match any price plus an extra 10%. That's as long as you have a valid discount card at £5 a year.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Aside from retail ethics: Halfords do/did(?) tend to stock decent everyday luggage options, I have a couple of pannier briefcase bags and a couple of excellent but now discontinued small bar bags that have lasted lots of use, particularly the bar bags, in all weathers over many years and continue to be used.

Agree though when I go in my local one for a quick browse at the bags nowadays, I do have a bit of a 'really, that much?' moment at stuff that looks pretty standard fare.

 

[youngoldbloke]

It's often stated on CycleChat that you 'get what you pay for' - given the wide range of prices often quoted for exactly the same item how can this be true anymore? I never pay rrp for anything bike related.

 

[Goggs]

Edit. On the up side, the bag is a topeak tour guide and seems pretty well made, it fits in minutes and is detachable.. With a clear map holder that velcros to the top..loads of room for a pro compact camera, spare tubes,phone, keys, eppipen injectors and of course sweeties... Which leaves plenty of room for one of my slr cameras in my rear detachable bag..
Will give it a few hundred miles to see how well it stays together before saying any more.

I have the same Topeak bar bag & my Lumix FZ150 fits in nicely with room to spare but I'm struggling to find a solution for carrying my Nikon D200. Can I ask what rear bag you're using?

 

[fossyant]

If buying anything from Halfords, I usually make sure it's in stock, or order in, then 'reserve on line' and pay in store. Many stores have 'on-line' and in-store prices. PC World is typical of this - always check on-line first.