Black Marlin Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Some of that statement is quite amusing and leads to some further comments on their marketing - albeit not railway in this instance. They currently have in the Airfix line a Lancaster, retailing at c£25-26, they also have a special pack Lancaster for the Battle of Britain Memorial flight which comes with paints plus a Hurricane and a Spitfire retailing at c.£33-35, plus another option, again including paints, for which you get the Lancaster plus a choice of a separately packaged Spitfire or Me 109 (normal retail well in excess of £5) for c.£30. So who will buy a Lanc on its own for £25-26? Anyone who wants the new tooling of the Lanc, I imagine. The BBMF set contains the old model; the individual aircraft is the new one. Hence the price difference. Nothing strange or startling about it. I don't know how well Hornby's business model is working these days. I was the assistant manager of the Aberdeen Modelzone store and we had vast quantities of Hornby stock that we couldn't shift because it was all sitting at RRP with no possibility of a discount. When we closed we still had 8-coupled tanks, 2-BILs, Castles, A4s, A3s (including Coronach!) and other highly desirable items sitting waiting to be sold. I have to wonder how well Hornby's web sales are doing on the basis of my experience with RRP stock...! Regards, Gavin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSG Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I don't know how well Hornby's business model is working these days. I was the assistant manager of the Aberdeen Modelzone store and we had vast quantities of Hornby stock that we couldn't shift because it was all sitting at RRP with no possibility of a discount. When we closed we still had 8-coupled tanks, 2-BILs, Castles, A4s, A3s (including Coronach!) and other highly desirable items sitting waiting to be sold. I have to wonder how well Hornby's web sales are doing on the basis of my experience with RRP stock...! Hornby's web sales don't have to be doing very well, at least in terms of volume. Like all the manufacturers, the primary purpose of their website is to act as an online catalogue. The majority of their customers will buy from their local shops or online box shifters. And Hornby won't discount their own prices on their website, as they don't want to undercut their own retail distribution market. So the volume of sales via Hornby's website will, inevitably, be low. But that doesn't matter, for a number of reasons. The first is that any sales made via their own website are additional to those made via retail distribution channels. People will only buy direct if they can't find the same product elsewhere either more conveniently or more cheaply, so direct sales are not a replacement for retail sales. And, secondly, online sales are hugely more profitable for Hornby than they are for any other retailer, because the margin is based on Hornby's costs - that is, the manufacturing/importing cost - rather than the price they charge to retailers and wholesalers. When Hornby sells a model online for £100, they are getting all of the profit that would, in a normal retail sale, be split between them, the retailer and the wholesaler. And when you're making that kind of margin, you don't need very many sales for it to be worth it. Hornby's online shop can tick over on just a fraction of the sales of retailers, and yet still be a significant source of income. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Brasher Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Have the Hornby products that were due on or after Monday 24 February 2014 arrived? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Have the Hornby products that were due on or after Monday 24 February 2014 arrived? Don't know about other models in this slot, or other suppliers, but when enquiring about my pre-ordered NCB Sentinel, Hattons told me today that they expected a batch of Sentinels by the end of the week, deliveries to follow.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmcg Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Hattons had their standard range Duke of Gloucester expected 'on or after 24 Feb' but it's not there yet, but I bought one from Topslotsntrains ok yesterday, so some are about... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 2750 Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 I've a couple of Great Snipes on order. I think I read somewhere they have been pushed back to March. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 During the last month, a "new" Hornby open wagon arrived - the "Fleetwood" wagon. I purchased one, and yesterday put it away in store in my PO Wagons box, only to find I already had one!. Strange thing is, same livery, same running number, same wheelbase, but a shorter body on the new one. Ooer........ Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted February 26, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 26, 2014 During the last month, a "new" Hornby open wagon arrived - the "Fleetwood" wagon. I purchased one, and yesterday put it away in store in my PO Wagons box, only to find I already had one!. Strange thing is, same livery, same running number, same wheelbase, but a shorter body on the new one. Ooer........ Stewart Maybe down to the successful pursuit of miniaturisation in the Far East? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 2750 Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Going back to my Great Snipe comments, would anyone know anymore regarding a due date? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike at C&M Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Going back to my Great Snipe comments, would anyone know anymore regarding a due date? Hornby trade website currently showing it due into Margate week commencing 10th March Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 2750 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Many thanks 87029 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Brasher Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Hattons have just told me that R3187 N2 GNR 0-6-2T expected after Tuesday 8 April 2014 will now arrive on or after Monday 3 November 2014. R3204 M7 LSWR 245 expected after Friday 6 June 2014 will now arrive on or after Friday 3 October 2014. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Andy Hayter Posted March 20, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 20, 2014 Running neck and neck with Bachmann then. Wainwright C re-liveries have gone back 7 months in the last 7 months. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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