richarddavies

Really interesting to see the different views on here The proposal for a unilateral approach was Inspired by the new way that traditional rival supermarkets are operating in the UK i.e. sharing resources, making joint decisions and ensuring they can function in a way that best protects their teams and customers needs. I believed there was an opportunity for our industry to do likewise. I knew there would be three types of response from our competitors to my proposal - Yes, No & "This is a good idea, but..." so I am not surprised at the wide range of responses on here and I welcome them all, because this is a huge learning period for retail as a whole I felt it was better to do something, rather than sit and wait, and the calls I've instigated with others from the industry have been groundbreaking and actually quite enjoyable. I'm glad I tried, We suggested suspending shipping because: Government is covering the vast majority of wage & self-employed costs It keeps our teams safer We felt customers would understand our motivations were honest Stopping using couriers reduces the possibility of them transmitting the virus I wanted us to be an example to other industries - doing what we can for the situation This is a testing time for all of us Best wishes Richard Managing Director, Hatton's

Hi We hope to encourage the industry to "rise above" short term opportunities to capitalise on the situation The Government will support PAYE workers and self-employed too. We will help any model railway retailer who has short-term cash flow challenges, whilst the government rebate is pending Giving couriers parcels, means you are expecting them to employ people across their network, and therefore spreading it unnecessarily I understand that there are lots of viewpoints on this. I agree it's a risk to raise our head above the parapet - we have always been that kind of company to be honest Richard Hatton's MD

Hi I'm Managing Director of Hatton's We are very much operational. Todays communications have been the start of sending a signal that we are bracing ourselves to temporarily close the doors - if it comes to that point. Tonight's speech by the PM does still leave the door open to a "total" lockdown i.e. being told we have to totally shutdown operations at Montague Road I am aware that some have got the impression we are definitely temporarily closing the doors - will try and remedy this tomorrow. Apologies to those who got that impression Regards Richard Davies Hatton's

Hi I'm Managing Director and owner of Hatton's I apologise for the wording of the email When we closed the store, I instructed the manager responsible to leave the "Collect in hub" option open, and then offer postage to whichever ones arrived. I'm sorry that the "or cancelled for a refund" element has appeared - we can easily leave the order unpicked for the time being. We will be rewording that email accordingly. Sorry for the questions that arose because of this, and thank you for your custom Rich Hatton's

Thanks again for all the help. We have made a number of changes, based on your feedback and suggestions For anyone interested, the latest version is at https://staging.hattons.co.uk/collections/all/search/sources/New%2CPreowned Best Richard MD, Hatton's

Thanks for all the ideas and feedback. We are working on the search - definitely an improvement on the previous version, but always room for improvement! Rich

Thanks a lot for the feedback, which has led to some further improvements to help produce our latest version https://staging.hattons.co.uk/collections/all/search/sources/New%2CPreowned if that link doesn't work Many thanks Richard

Hi Thanks a lot for the feedback. We have spotted a few other areas we can improve too Will be in touch soon :-) Rich

Yes @Hattons Dave has a notepad next to his desk, with frequent notes being made to it, relative to this thread. Had a busy week, so maybe an update from him next week, is more likely. Richard MD, Hatton's

Thanks for the feedback Ian We will check it out on IE11. It was working during our last set of tests - but maybe one of our late tweaks has caused something to go awry I have deliberately made the filter font large - but maybe I've overdone it Thanks again

Hi Tomorrow at 11am we intend to email some of our most frequent customers, to officially launch a new product navigation system I thought I'd give RMweb a preview - really interested to see what you think It's at https://staging.hattons.co.uk/ and it's ready to accept orders, and do whatever you may currently do on our regular site A direct route into the new functionality is from https://staging.hattons.co.uk/landing.aspx or https://staging.hattons.co.uk/collections/all/search/sources/New%2CPreowned I'm really keen to hear any feedback you may have Hope this is of interest Richard Davies MD, Hatton's

Hi Disclaimer: I'm MD of Hatton's I am really enjoying this thread. I think the reaction has been incredibly positive. I had expected it to cause a bit of shock - we realise this project is not to everyone's usual taste Some absolutely brilliant feedback on the designs arriving - very proud of the way our team are responding to it too We are huge fans of the "Prototypically literate" term coined by (I think) @Edwardian Looking forward to talking about this with some of you at GETS this weekend - I will be on the stand Saturday & Sunday Thanks to everyone for all their views. I think it's been received rather well Richard

Some nice comments about us - thanks a lot for your feedback - was great to meet many of your at Great Electric Train Show this weekend gone 4 weeks ago we soft-launched a new version of our site - and having listened to your views, I was wondering if anyone would be able to tell me if the modifications we've made are helping take it in the right direction? https://hattonshobbies.com/ Looking forward to hearing any views - good or bad! Best Richard MD, Hatton's

Thank you Nick We will definitely be going through your points tomorrow - I really appreciate you taking the time to give us such clear feedback Best Rich

Thanks for reporting that - we will get onto that in the morning In the meantime DJ Models Class 58xx 5802 in GWR unlined green is still on www.hattons.co.uk Best Rich