pinerello have devalued their brand by selling through halfords - discuss

[alecstilleyedye]

as the title.

pinerello has had a lot of brand cache down the years, selling expensive bike to the knowledgeable down the years.

brands such as carrera and boardman have suffered from being halfords exclusives not because there's anything wrong with the bikes themselves, but because of snobbery about halfords or, more pointedly, at the inconstancy of service provided, as even a good bike, set up poorly, is no fun to ride.

it does seem to be that all brands are now competing at the sub £1000 pricepoint; have pinerello pulled a masterstroke at a time when cycling has never been as popular, or have they put damaged their brand by being seen to be no more the choice of the connoisseur?

by way of an example of how a brand can evolve; claud butler was the pinerello of its day in the 1950s, was still a good brand when bankrupcy saw it acquired by holdsworth in '57, but synonymous with pretty rubbish bikes by the 1980s (the Claud Butler brand got sold on and on). it's recovered these days to be a name on decent, if uninspiring, entry level bikes.

 

[Dave 123]

Probably.
Ferrari were said to be producing less cars because of this reason, brand devaluation.

It's a funny thing though branding, it keeps the riffraff out. But I would love to see the likes of "sir" Alan Sugar and his Pinarello get his arse kicked by a council house kid on a Raliegh Chopper!

 

[Dogtrousers]

brands such as carrera and boardman have suffered from being halfords exclusives

Have they really? (genuine question)

How has this suffering manifested itself? I suppose we can't know how many more units (if any) they would have shifted if they had not had this tie-in.

As to Pinarello I imagine that loads of telly coverage of them being ridden by the likes of Wiggins and Froome would go some way to counterbalance any perceived brand damage due to being sold at Halfords.

 

[ianrauk]

Disagree that Boardman have suffered because of Halfords.
On my London commute I see plenty of Boardmans. And I doubt Halfords would have forked out all that spondooly to buy the brand off of Boardman if it wasn't profitable.

 

[Deleted member 35268]

Oooh I dunno. They are still expensive bikes wherever you choose to get them. If anything, it boosts the value of Halfrauds.

I still consider Pinarellos to be one of the premium bike brands, even after Halfrauds starting selling them.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

If anything, it boosts the value of Halfrauds.

good point. with the team sky connection they'll doubtless flow out the door and halfords will make a tidy sum from them. halfords have the opportunity to increase their brand's standing amongst cyclists, but they'll need to make sure their mechanics are up to the job. good job (although sad) that all the pinerellos in halfords are shimano, not campag...

 

[nickyboy]

All Pinarello want to do is maximise the long term sales of their bikes. They could continue with their previous business model but they took a look at Halfords. Now, for sure, some people who may have bought a Pinarello will now not do so due to the Halfords connection. But Pinarello will also sell bikes through Halfords they would not have previously sold.

So they've worked out the likelihood is that the lost sales are outweighed by the extra sales. Halfords will also have had to make some volume commitments to get the distribution rights which will have made the decision easier for Pinarello.

The key for Pinarello in the future is not to allow the Halfords association to devalue its brand to the extent they start to suffer a net loss in sales. Key to this is range management (Halfords will love the idea of a cheap Pinarello but Pinarello won't), quality of the sales staff and maintenance (correct me if I'm wrong but these are only sold via a small number of Halfords outlets?)

 

[phil_hg_uk]

[QUOTE 3167430, member: 45"]Let's hope that the contract included clauses on levels of customer service and servicing standards.[/QUOTE]

Lets hope they get the forks on the right way round

 

[MontyVeda]

It's like Ferrero Rocher... once only available at some ambassador's party, then Kwik Save started stocking them and no ambassador would be seen dead serving 'chav chocs' to their guests. Yet another example of Europe going to the dogs!

 

[ColinJ]

Lets hope they get the forks on the right way round

I think a lot of Pinarellos will end up in a Halfords clearance sale once staff discover that forks have melted in sunny store windows ...

 

[DooDah]

Probably.
Ferrari were said to be producing less cars because of this reason, brand devaluation.
!

Halfords are now selling Ferrraris?

 

[nickyboy]

[QUOTE 3167430, member: 45"]Let's hope that the contract included clauses on levels of customer service and servicing standards.[/QUOTE]

That would be normal in my experience

 

[sidevalve]

Would a ming vase be worth less if it had been found at a car boot sale ? If anybody is put off buying just because of the store then fine - it just leaves more decent bikes for those of us who want to ride the things.

 

[ColinJ]

Would a ming vase be worth less if it had been found at a car boot sale ?

Maybe not, but if I dropped a ming vase, I wouldn't give it to Halfords to superglue back together!

 

[downfader]

Whilst true some of their depots need to work on their bike servicing skills I think many of the bikes are good products. I've seen a hell of a lot of Carreras and Boardmans down here in recent years, and more recently the Virtuosos and TDF bikes too.