Hattons cancelling pre-orders for Hornby 2021 range products?

[Peter C]

No - this wasn't intended as a clickbait title.
I've been surfing the interwebs tonight and it seems as though there's something going on at Hattons; people are saying they're cancelling peoples' pre-orders for Hornby 2021 range products, but I can't find anything to confirm or deny this. I should probably declare an interest (or lack of) here, as I've not actually bought or pre-ordered anything from the Hornby 2021 range, but there are several items I'm interested in and would like to buy from either Hattons or Kernow and so I'd be very appreciative if anyone could shed any light on the topic.
I thought this probably would warrant its own thread as we had a separate thread for Rails of Sheffield-Hornby issues a while ago, and this is in a similar vein I suppose?

Thanks,

-Peter

 

[matt]

Do you not have an alternative local model shop you could pre-order from. Most of them these days will match the prices of the "box shifters"?

 

[Peter C]

Do you not have an alternative local model shop you could pre-order from. Most of them these days will match the prices of the "box shifters"?

There are a couple of other places I could go to, but I'm not sure if they'll match prices as you describe it. My main point is Hattons have always been good when I've ordered in the past so I'd like to know if they're going to continue stocking the main reason I buy from them

-Peter

 

[TheEdge]

There are a couple of other places I could go to, but I'm not sure if they'll match prices as you describe it. My main point is Hattons have always been good when I've ordered in the past so I'd like to know if they're going to continue stocking the main reason I buy from them

-Peter

Many local shops will match Hatton's now, I know mine does. The owner of that shop reckons what's happened here is Hatton's have taken huge pre-orders, above and beyond the allocation they can expect from Hornby and are now cancelling the excess orders.

 

[Peter C]

Many local shops will match Hatton's now, I know mine does. The owner of that shop reckons what's happened here is Hatton's have taken huge pre-orders, above and beyond the allocation they can expect from Hornby and are now cancelling the excess orders.

I'd need to double-check with my local shop but from what I remember, they don't offer such a service. That's kind of what I think's happened here too - when I heard about it, I thought of a similar sort-of case with the Princess Royal (?) engines, where people had pre-orders cancelled because Hornby suddenly took allocations away from certain shops?

-Peter

 

[BRblue33]

The reason why Hattons will not take orders. Hornby have told them they will only get 29% of what they order. This as been posted on the RM web.

 

[raetiamann]

I think the issue is more around Hornby's strategy of trying to drive buyers towards direct purchases rather than through the dealership network.

 

[pdeaves]

I think the issue is more around Hornby's strategy of trying to drive buyers towards direct purchases rather than through the dealership network.

I thought they had gone back on that policy. Presumably not!

 

[Peter C]

The reason why Hattons will not take orders. Hornby have told them they will only get 29% of what they order. This as been posted on the RM web.

That's pretty poor if I've understood that correctly - so say Hattons get 100 orders for product xyz, they'll only get sent 29 to sell to customers? I've got no experience in this kind of area though.

I think the issue is more around Hornby's strategy of trying to drive buyers towards direct purchases rather than through the dealership network.

Personally, I've moved away from buying anything directly through Hornby. Their prices are amazingly high for some things which places like Hattons will sell for much less: take the EMT (ex-Central Trains) Class 153 (153379) they re-released in 2020. I think Hornby sold them for ~£100 (or slightly under) and Hattons sold them for just over £70.

-Peter

 

[BRblue33]

I've never used Hornby directly. Most of the time i use rails Sheffield or Hattons. Then most of my loco's are Bachmann/Heljan/Vitrains.

 

[Peter C]

I've never used Hornby directly. Most of the time i use rails Sheffield or Hattons. Then most of my loco's are Bachmann/Heljan/Vitrains.

I would use Rails a lot more if they still stocked new Hornby products, but that's a topic for another thread. I've got a mix of locos but I think most are Hornby.

-Peter

 

[DB]

Why would anyone buy direct from Hornby when it's consistently more expensive than from pretty much any model shop? If they want to make more direct sales that is the ost obvious issue to deal with.

I would use Rails a lot more if they still stocked new Hornby products, but that's a topic for another thread. I've got a mix of locos but I think most are Hornby.

-Peter

I thought they do still stock new Hornby products?

 

[Peter C]

Why would anyone buy direct from Hornby when it's consistently more expensive than from pretty much any model shop? If they want to make more direct sales that is the ost obvious issue to deal with.

That's my thinking too. They must know people think their models are stupidly priced for what a lot of them are but they refuse to do anything about it.

I thought they do still stock new Hornby products?

They don't anymore (since some time last year IIRC). No-one knows the specifics, as far as I know, bar those who need to know.

-Peter

 

[DB]

They don't anymore (since some time last year IIRC). No-one knows the specifics, as far as I know, bar those who need to know.

What a daft situation. Think the same might apply to Hattons and Bachmann still?

 

[Peter C]

What a daft situation. Think the same might apply to Hattons and Bachmann still?

I believe it may, but I'm not sure. This is probably worth its own thread!

-Peter

 

[BRblue33]

Hattons sale new Hornby models . Rails Sheffield sale new Bachmann models .Kernow sale both. You can get a bargain from them some times .

 

[TheEdge]

Does the Rail vs Hornby issue cover only Hornby or the rest of the Hornby family? (Humbrol, Airfix etc)

 

[Iskra]

That's pretty poor if I've understood that correctly - so say Hattons get 100 orders for product xyz, they'll only get sent 29 to sell to customers? I've got no experience in this kind of area though.


Personally, I've moved away from buying anything directly through Hornby. Their prices are amazingly high for some things which places like Hattons will sell for much less: take the EMT (ex-Central Trains) Class 153 (153379) they re-released in 2020. I think Hornby sold them for ~£100 (or slightly under) and Hattons sold them for just over £70.

-Peter

This is the crux of it. If Hornby really want people to deal with them direct, they need to compete on price. They could easily match (or close the gap on) Hattons et al prices and still make a decent margin as they would have cut out the middle man. Currently their online trade is just ripping off people who don't do any price research or think Hornby are the only company in model railways. It doesn't make much sense if they want to grow as a business.

 

[Peter C]

This is the crux of it. If Hornby really want people to deal with them direct, they need to compete on price. They could easily match (or close the gap on) Hattons et al prices and still make a decent margin as they would have cut out the middle man. Currently their online trade is just ripping off people who don't do any price research or think Hornby are the only company in model railways. It doesn't make much sense if they want to grow as a business.

You've hit the nail on the head there. Although it would be nice for Hornby to catch up with the times and realise that they're not the only model railway company, people don't have hundreds of pounds to spend on one model, and that the way to get new people into the hobby is not through £200 starter packs, they won't change anything because they've already built up their brand over the last 100 years and they know people will come back to them because they remember having Hornby train sets when they were younger.

-Peter

 

[SCH117X]

The trade would not take kindly to any manufacturer discounting as a matter of course. Hattons problems are largely down to accepting pre-orders before any quantity of a particular model is confirmed. There are many other suppliers who have stocks of models that Hattons have not or have instantly sold out of due to the volume of pre-orders. For orders less than £175 in any case its often cheaper to use other suppliers who have lower post free order values, for example Gaugemaster £15, Derails £20 and Time Tunnel £30. Derails also have an automatic reward scheme of a point (worth 1p) for every £1 spent for use on future order from them.

 

[reddragon]

I have some pre-orders with Hornby via Hattons

My Peco ones have been there months but RoS I did last month & got delivery in 2 weeks

 

[Bevan Price]

I've never used Hornby directly. Most of the time i use rails Sheffield or Hattons. Then most of my loco's are Bachmann/Heljan/Vitrains.

Yoy won't get many new Bachmann products from Hattons currently. Their website lists only second-hand Bachmann stock, plus a handful of unsold new items.

 

[DB]

Yoy won't get many new Bachmann products from Hattons currently. Their website lists only second-hand Bachmann stock, plus a handful of unsold new items.

That's been the case for a year or two now.

 

[reddragon]

Isn't it anti competitive behaviour to ban major suppliers like Bachmann & Hattons or Rails & Hornby?

 

[simonw]

Isn't it anti competitive behaviour to ban major suppliers like Bachmann & Hattons or Rails & Hornby?

In what way? Suppliers are free to choose who they wish to retail their products as our retailers free to decide which suppliers they wish to use.

 

[SCH117X]

Not all model shops stock Heljan and/or Dapol, in both cases partly due to past trading issuse. Heljan notably redcuing prices of models leaving model shops out of pocket and Dapol banning discounting. Its certainly common in other retail market places that some makes are only available from some retailers.