Hornby set their sights on new outlets

[Phil Parker]

I dropped in to see the Hornby stand at the IndependantToy and Gift show on Tuesday. 

 

https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/brm/reviews/hornby/news-hornby-set-their-sights-on-new-retail-outlets

[Legend]

Good news . I always thought “The Works” would be an ideal candidate to have Hornby items . It has quite a large art section. I suppose it all depends what margin they can make on it. Good to see Hornby progressing though. 

[Hroth]

I wonder if there's going to be a big push to get a representative selection back into the Argos catalogue for the Autumn/Winter 2019 "issue"?  At present whats on offer is pretty dire!

 

[Phil Parker]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

I wonder if there's going to be a big push to get a representative selection back into the Argos catalogue for the Autumn/Winter 2019 "issue"?  At present whats on offer is pretty dire!

 

 

I believe, from past discussions, that it is on the radar. Getting there takes years of work though.

[Ian Morgan]

Hopefully Hornby will be more prepared for the 'GMRC Effect' when the second series is aired on the TV later this year. Last year they could not supply enough train sets to the shops before Christmas.

[KDG]

Our local Hobbycraft used to have a reasonable selection of Hornby railroad type items, often at very good prices.  Great stock of Airfix and Humbrol too.  Sadly only meagre Airfix pickings now.   Could this too be reversed?

[Caledonian]

Sounds good, but they need to get their act together. Once upon a time there was quite a successful Hornby concession in a corner of the toy department in Fenwick's department store in Newcastle. Then Hornby pulled out, in favour of direct sales using that internet thingey. Fenwicks. however decided to go it alone, bought some stock from Hornby/Airfix and bought a lot of other stuff as well so that they now have Bachmann, Oxford and Tamiya and all sorts of goodies. Not so great as a proper model shop but I aint complaining, except that...

 

In comes the new management down Margate way and they want a concession arrangement. Fair enough, but because Hornby are moving back in Fenwicks aren't buying new stock from them as that would genuinely complicate things enormously, but Hornby can't get their act together and can't even supply the necessary bar codes. This has literally been going on for months and currently the Hornby stock on the shelves comprises a number of locomotives - over £100 a pop, a few coaches and just three [3] wagons - they had four wagons three weeks ago but I bought one of them. Oh and Oxford has disappeared - a couple of those southern tank engines [in Newcastle!] and no wagons at all.

 

The strategy sounds good, but they need to actually roll it out with real models 

[David C]

Hornby should sort out deliveries to their existing suppliers before potentially making things worse with a lot of new ones. I wanted a couple of the new Collett compartment coaches for "Woodstowe" and popped into my local shop (Orwell Model Railways in Ipswich). The proprietor advised me they hadn't received any and he didn't know when the next delivery was. He also said that he always knew when any orders from Bachmann  would arrive. I picked up one of the coaches at Ally Pally (from Cheltenham) but decided to get the other one I wanted from Orwell on the grounds that I should support my local - and very good - store. I go in moderately frequently to get all the usual bits and bobs needed when building a new layout and on which they will never make very much of a profit. Without easy access to such bits and bobs, life for us modellers would be a lot more difficult.

 

The last time I asked, I was told that they had had a delivery from Hornby, but it was from an order they had submitted in August. Hornby has apparently outsourced their deliveries and consequently. they have no control of who gets what when. 

 

Its noticeable that the "big boys" like Hattons, Cheltenham etc had stock very quickly after the Colletts were released, but I wonder how many of the smaller outlets are in the same situation as Orwell. Whatever, it does not bode well for their survival - and these are the shops that provide a really valuable service for us modellers by stocking all those unprofitable bits and bobs we all need.

 

David C

 

 

 

 

[Caledonian]

I'd also add to my whinge above that not one item from the 2019 catalogue [and precious little of 2018 before that] has ever been seen as a result of Hornby's failure to get their act together and actually deliver some stock and that's really frustrating because we're not talking about the old moan about the length of time between announcement and delivery. These are models which Hornby has successfully produced, has received by the pallet-load from China and has had enthusiastically reviewed. They just can't get them on to the shelves

[Mike Storey]

It is useful to contrast this with Hornby International. Many new, or re-released models in new versions/liveries, have been announced in the French and Italian MR press, over the last six months. Most have been reviewed, and announcements made about the reviews to follow. Despite the relocation of Hornby International sales and distribution operations back to the UK, we are not seeing the same complaints about availability, or delay from announcement to shelves.

 

This may be unrepresentative of matters on the ground, but it is very noticeable that announcements by Piko, in particular, ( and REE and Roco in a few others) have been followed up by news of delays, but not for Jouef, Lima, Rivarossi or Electrotren.

 

[robmcg]

Very interesting Mike.

 

I am greatly impressed by the quality of the International brand models, with Hornby Rivarossi and Jouef models being ones I own.

 

Not sure about such as Ree and other of the more expensive models where sometimes there is more metal in the model design, but all credit to Hornby for their international models....  I should add I only know about their steam models, which are only a small part of it all. I'm pleased that I can buy cheaper non-sound versions too.