Ozexpatriate Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 I think there are a lot of conspiracy theories flying around when to me it seems to be much more a case of bad communication and disjointed internal positions within Hornby than anything sinister. Inept perhaps but I do not see this as any kind of nefarious plot. Hanlon's Razor Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Hanlon's Razor may be a bit of an overstatement for Hornby, though lately they are pretty good at "own goals". I think Ian said it best. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 I think Gillette's Razor, at the company's jugular is more appropriate. Brit15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike at C&M Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 This was posted by "Bezzy Oppo" in the goodbye to Simon Kohler thread, but I feel it needs repeating here. "Just out of interest... http://www.matillion...sales-analysis/ Apologies in advance if this has already been flagged/discussed. I was inclined to add 'so is stating the obvious' to the first quote in the piece but resisted." If Hornby are to analyse sales only, as the linked article suggests, then what about all the demand that has been generated by many retailers that Hornby have been unable to supply. Of course your sales to retailers are going to be dropping if you cannot supply the goods, but it is very dangerous to assume. therefore, that simply because sales to us are dropping in monetary terms, that you should simply look at other avenues of supply. Satisfy the demand, and the drop in sales to retailers will be much reduced. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Cram Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 This was posted by "Bezzy Oppo" in the goodbye to Simon Kohler thread, but I feel it needs repeating here. "Just out of interest... http://www.matillion...sales-analysis/ Apologies in advance if this has already been flagged/discussed. I was inclined to add 'so is stating the obvious' to the first quote in the piece but resisted." If Hornby are to analyse sales only, as the linked article suggests, then what about all the demand that has been generated by many retailers that Hornby have been unable to supply. Of course your sales to retailers are going to be dropping if you cannot supply the goods, but it is very dangerous to assume. therefore, that simply because sales to us are dropping in monetary terms, that you should simply look at other avenues of supply. Satisfy the demand, and the drop in sales to retailers will be much reduced. It is not just sales that are of interest with this sort of information but cash flow and profitability. With limited supply it makes sense to use the avenue with the greatest profitability and cash flow. Regardless of what people think as a PLC their first duty is to maximise the returns for the owners i.e. the shareholders. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Legend Posted March 24, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 24, 2014 The surprise would be that they only just seemed to realise they need this! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theakerr Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Its the MBa approach, which i suspect may herald the end of western manufacturing when looked at from the long term. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
w124bob Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 As I have pointed out on the other Hornby thread after speaking to the manager of retail shop(the one connected to a publisher)today this appears to as much about bullying retailers how can a manufacturer tell the retailer not to sell to overseas customers(if you buy trade direct from Hornby) must be almost illegal? I can't remember now all the conditions that where mentioned but trade price/sticker price were not the only issue. Why not just be honest about what they want and sell direct via the web instead of trying to do it by threats. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mow Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 A customer focussed firm will survive, and at the moment Hornby are not doing enough to keep their customers on side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 This was posted by "Bezzy Oppo" in the goodbye to Simon Kohler thread, but I feel it needs repeating here. "Just out of interest... http://www.matillion.com/case-studies/Hornby-aligns-strategy-to-execution-using-matillion-bi-sales-analysis/ Apologies in advance if this has already been flagged/discussed. I was inclined to add 'so is stating the obvious' to the first quote in the piece but resisted." If Hornby are to analyse sales only, as the linked article suggests, then what about all the demand that has been generated by many retailers that Hornby have been unable to supply. Of course your sales to retailers are going to be dropping if you cannot supply the goods, but it is very dangerous to assume. therefore, that simply because sales to us are dropping in monetary terms, that you should simply look at other avenues of supply. Satisfy the demand, and the drop in sales to retailers will be much reduced. This isn't limited to just sales analysis. This is advertising for "Business Intelligence" software. I don't see why Hornby implementing better tools to get more visibility into their business can be anything but a bad good thing. If you look at the quotes at the bottom of the case study, the focus was "KPI" (key performance indicator) measurements. These are typically about much more than simply sales. Also remember this is sales collateral for the company selling the Business intelligence software. It is not just sales that are of interest with this sort of information but cash flow and profitability. With limited supply it makes sense to use the avenue with the greatest profitability and cash flow. Regardless of what people think as a PLC their first duty is to maximise the returns for the owners i.e. the shareholders. Agreed. Edited for clarity. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Budgie Posted March 29, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 29, 2014 how can a manufacturer tell the retailer not to sell to overseas customers(if you buy trade direct from Hornby) must be almost illegal? IIRC restraint of trade is definitely illegal, but IANAL. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSpencer Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 KPIs are set by departments to meet corporate objectives and department objectives. In my experience, if the corporate objectives are wrong, the KPIs will not show it. Likewise most KPIs are set based on historic data which means they are great for measuring the road you are on but useless for switching to another road. Being Stats they can also be twisted, meaning that even though all departments did very well, the company still performed badly. Business intelligence software is only useful if correctly designed. Sure you can by a package off the shelf bug it then needs to be customized for your business. The person writing the requirement for the customization MUST know everything about the business. Otherwise it becomes an exercise in spending a lot of money to get useless data that is either nit exploitable or worse, points you in the wrong direction. I speak from experience in successfully designing such platforms, and have seen others fail (almost always because they were too high level and therefore out of contact with the ground). If Hornby,s business intelligence software is like their Railmaster software, they are finished! (Yes I have it, when it works it is quite good but 80% of the time it's a temparamental thing). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adams442T Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Hornby has got a monopoly of high quality mass market products like the Maunsell coaches, T9s and M7s so it does not matter whether Hornby alienates their customers and traders because the customers will still buy the models and Hornby will survive. Have you tried buying Maunsell coaches, T9s and M7s recently? Customers cannot buy what isn't available and, as remarked on other threads, their peculiar actions over supplying traders is leading to many switching allegiance to Peco, Bachmann, et al. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Brasher Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Have you tried buying Maunsell coaches, T9s and M7s recently? Customers cannot buy what isn't available and, as remarked on other threads, their peculiar actions over supplying traders is leading to many switching allegiance to Peco, Bachmann, et al. There is no alternative but to wait for stocks of items that only Hornby produce. If Hornby makes products like track, semaphore signals and A4 Pacifics which are more expensive than their competitors, are in shorter supply or have flaws then people will buy Peco track, Dapol signals and Bachmann A4 Pacifics. Then Hornby will find it difficult to win back customers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted March 29, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 29, 2014 Hornby has got a monopoly of high quality mass market products like the Maunsell coaches, T9s and M7s so it does not matter whether Hornby alienates their customers and traders because the customers will still buy the models and Hornby will survive. The "survival" depends upon many other factors than what their market is prepared to digest,Do you have a crystal ball ? If so,take it out of its box and put it to work.....and post your results here ,please. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted March 29, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 29, 2014 Hornby has got a monopoly of high quality mass market products like the Maunsell coaches, T9s and M7s so it does not matter whether Hornby alienates their customers and traders because the customers will still buy the models and Hornby will survive. I have been stockpiling material ahead of retirement for the last couple of decades while I had the spare money to do so. I doubt I am alone in pursuing this course. If I am honest, I already have far more stock (including 3 x T9, 4 x M7, a couple of dozen Maunsells and nearly all the light pacifics) than I'll ever really 'need'. Lack of product has meant my annual expenditure on Hornby items has reduced by about 80% in the past three years. It would be worse than that but for Maunsell coaches and vans, a couple of Gresley BGs and eight Hawksworths. When I decided I wanted a fourth M7, there were no new ones available so I got a mint/boxed SH one for a couple of quid more than the original owner would have paid but (as it turned out) £40-odd less than Hornby wanted when they got their next one out. Collectors with deep pockets may keep on buying the stuff with the latest numbers (though even they must have their limits) but my priority for new purchases will be models I don't already have. For that reason, Hornby items currently represent only around 10% of the total value of models I have on pre-order. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hat Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Hornby has got a monopoly of high quality mass market products like the Maunsell coaches, T9s and M7s so it does not matter whether Hornby alienates their customers and traders because the customers will still buy the models and Hornby will survive. Since when has Hornby got a monopoly on high quality mass market products? And why would I want to buy a T9, M7 and Maunsell coaches just because Hornby makes them? What I wonder is will Hornby be around long enough to make that model of the K1? A model of a high quality engine for a high quality model... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Fobe2 Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Is the new Horrnby CEO a former grave digger because to many of us, that looks like the direction he his leading company! XF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronny Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Is the new Horrnby CEO a former grave digger because to many of us, that looks like the direction he his leading company! XF Give the poor guy a chance, he hasn't been in the job 5 mins yet!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sequen_ra Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Last week we got an e-mail from Hornby which stated: Please note, we have made several amendments to our pricing policies for 2014 in a bid to make it easier to understand. Therefore we strongly advise you review the pricing in detail prior to issuing any communication to your consumers. At around 10 a.m. this morning, our new release lists came through and the first thing to be noticed was that there was no recommended retail price on the lists, which definitely does not make it easier to understand. Time to look deeper..... The results should strike fear into any retailer who stocks Hornby, and those customers who look to get discount from their retailer, including the box shifters. IN MANY CASES, THE PROFIT MARGIN GIVEN TO ANY Hornby RETAILER WHO SELLS AT FULL RRP HAS BEEN HALVED! Therefore any one who discounts as a matter of course would have their margins reduced even further if they continue to sell at a discount. The squeeze on retailers has just been tightened at a time when many are already struggling and need to encourage as many customers to buy from them as possible by being competitive. As a business man, my aim has to be to make a profit, and it is my choice that I choose to do it be selling model railways. Is it time to re-assess that decision? Just more trade and money going into Bachmann's coffers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles73128 Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 Just more trade and money going into Bachmann's coffers. Until Bachmann do exactly the same - and there highly likely to. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Legend Posted April 5, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 5, 2014 Not necessarily. While undoubtably prices will go up,I doubt they will reach the stratospheric heights of Hornby Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmcg Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I must have missed something here. I am looking at a TMC weathered Duke of Gloucester which cost under £103 and is a stunningly good model, and a Hattons-delivered pristine Duchess of Abercorn which was £115 both cheap in my book for the quality and both were delivered in days by tracked airmail to NZ undamaged av cost well under £100 ea. AND STILL many are complaining. I think half the problem is that modern digital cameras take photos which show things barely visible.... and a culture of criticism has developed which has gone beyond fair comment. With Hornby having to start new factory suppliers and Bachmann having their own issues, I don't see the prices as being 'money in the bank' or unfair profiteering, on the contrary, we are lucky to have these models at all. Both run fine and look phenomenally good, and are even better after I add detail to photos to evoke my memories of the real thing... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted April 5, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 5, 2014 The quantity of speculation being given airing on this topic is sufficient to fuel several truckloads of Molotov cocktails.Is it possible to post evidence - based opinion rather than what seems in some cases to be pure flights of fancy ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bezzy Oppo Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 ' I must have missed something here. I am looking at a TMC weathered Duke of Gloucester which cost under £103 and is a stunningly good model, and a Hattons-delivered pristine Duchess of Abercorn which was £115 both cheap in my book for the quality and both were delivered in days by tracked airmail to NZ undamaged av cost well under £100 ea. AND STILL many are complaining. I think half the problem is that modern digital cameras take photos which show things barely visible.... and a culture of criticism has developed which has gone beyond fair comment. With Hornby having to start new factory suppliers and Bachmann having their own issues, I don't see the prices as being 'money in the bank' or unfair profiteering, on the contrary, we are lucky to have these models at all. Both run fine and look phenomenally good, and are even better after I add detail to photos to evoke my memories of the real thing...' I presume the prices you quote are sans VAT being in NZ? Apples and oranges and all that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmcg Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 The prices quoted are UK retail. I paid a lot less with VAT off and even with tracked airmail it was well under UK RRP. here are cropped but otherwise unmodified pics of the £103 Duke of Gloucester model, cost £80-something to me in NZ. Tracked Air freight is £8.50-£18 depending on vendor. The Duchess is illustrated in the 'where are the Hornby models' thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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