Hornby in trouble?.......

[RDMcG]

Bad financial results for Hornby which includes Airfix and Scalextric


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/re...

[Curry Burns]

Seen this coming unfortunately, putting prices up, but not coming up with new thins, just re hashing older kits and ideas.

[jas xjr]

Products not too bad but they have not got a clue. I deal with a few wholesalers buy refuse to deal with them direct .
Brewery and party come to mind

[chris watton]

I remember my wife emailing Hornby in Italy, asking if her website (very well established by then) could stock Hornby products, and what are their T&Cs. She got a snotty email back stating that they only deal in 'real shops', not online only shops - despite her having a proper company, tax and IVA number for her site - and we were willing to invest 16,000 Euro in stock!

[Eric Mc]

No mention of how their Airfix lines are doing.

[v8will]

chris watton said:

I remember my wife emailing Hornby in Italy, asking if her website (very well established by then) could stock Hornby products, and what are their T&Cs. She got a snotty email back stating that they only deal in 'real shops', not online only shops - despite her having a proper company, tax and IVA number for her site - and we were willing to invest 16,000 Euro in stock!

That's a disappointing attitude, usually only taken with drop shippers.

[Derestrictor]

v8will said:

chris watton said:

I remember my wife emailing Hornby in Italy, asking if her website (very well established by then) could stock Hornby products, and what are their T&Cs. She got a snotty email back stating that they only deal in 'real shops', not online only shops - despite her having a proper company, tax and IVA number for her site - and we were willing to invest 16,000 Euro in stock!

That's a disappointing attitude, usually only taken with drop shippers.

Manufacturers across various industries/sectors are actively pursuing restrictive practices, dressed up in innumerable ways as 'protecting bricks and mortar' which usually translates as 'protecting their biggest distributors.'

The never ending supply of small operators seeking to exploit the notional web opportunity has been largely recognised by such bilateral (manufacturer/supplier <--> distributor/retailer) axes and they are pro-actively seeking flexible anti-trade terms via sometimes absurdly tenuous, legal pretexts, to ensure their various apple carts remain largely on track.

This is becoming entirely academic as web trade tips inexorably towards the Amazon only model of on line provision and this organisation has 'the brand' and resource to put everybody's lights out, as both global monopolist and monopsonist, not to mention market maker.

[russy01]

Curry Burns said:

Seen this coming unfortunately, putting prices up, but not coming up with new thins, just re hashing older kits and ideas.

Hornby are going nowhere. They are having a bad patch which is most likely down to their huge shake up in ownership and management, they have recently appointed a new sales director who is starting to turns things around and inject a bit of life into what was and still is a very old fashioned firm. Give them a bit to get their new plans in action and they'll be fine. Although i do agree they need to spruce the products up a bit.

[Simpo Two]

chris watton said:

I remember my wife emailing Hornby in Italy, asking if her website (very well established by then) could stock Hornby products, and what are their T&Cs. She got a snotty email back stating that they only deal in 'real shops', not online only shops - despite her having a proper company, tax and IVA number for her site - and we were willing to invest 16,000 Euro in stock!

My reply would be 'Yes but I will have a job long after you have not'




I love a good Churchill

[defblade]

Sign of the times, if you ask me.

Modelling of any sort is pretty much a 100% luxury hobby - does anyone need to do it? - and with things as they are, people are cutting right back on their luxuries (rightly or wrongly; don't want to start that debate; but it seems like that is the way people are thinking at the moment).

[Zad]

Interesting. A couple of important points. The article is full of woe about the share price, yet the actual content is that "sales growth was down .. in the run-up to Christmas". Not that sales were down, or profits, but sales growth.

I'm more concerned about the information in the linked article here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/8797437...

It seems that Hornby are cutting back on quality in order to save a few pennies here and there on the quality of fittings. They might want to go for the younger market, but right now it is with the over 50s (and generally well above that) who are the ones with a disposable income and relatively robust. They buy Hornby because they like the tradition. There are plenty more places where they can buy Chinese tat, and if Hornby migrate to this part of the market, they will lose. You simply cannot generate an image of traditional quality and then mediocrity.

[mad4amanda]

russy01 said:

Hornby are going nowhere.

Round and round in circles?

[RikkiGTI]

mad4amanda said:

russy01 said:

Hornby are going nowhere.

Round and round in circles?

Lol. True it must be said! :P

Shame though, Hornby are pretty good still in my opinion.

[RichB]

defblade said:

Modelling of any sort is pretty much a 100% luxury hobby...

Which is ironic because 30 years ago a train set and scalextric was 100% essential kit for all boys.

[Eric Mc]

defblade said:

Sign of the times, if you ask me.

Modelling of any sort is pretty much a 100% luxury hobby - does anyone need to do it? - and with things as they are, people are cutting right back on their luxuries (rightly or wrongly; don't want to start that debate; but it seems like that is the way people are thinking at the moment).

Funilly enough, plastic kit building is going through a mini-boom . By modelling standards, plastic kits (with some exceptions) are realtively good value and can be bought for as little as £5.00.

[chris watton]

RichB said:

defblade said:

Modelling of any sort is pretty much a 100% luxury hobby...

Which is ironic because 30 years ago a train set and scalextric was 100% essential kit for all boys.

So true. It seems that they are now aiming the market at affluent middle age guys who have money to burn - even some plastic kit manufacturers are going down this path (see the £260 for a small plastic Tamiya ship kit thread)

People will always want to make stuff with their hands, it's in our genes - however, stuff like Hornby is different, it's more of a collectors hobby (like pre made die cast toys/models) and downturns in the economy do damage the sales - especially if they start to price what used to be the target audience out of the equation altogether, and rely solely on the older generation whose jobs are in the balance.

Models kits are a little different - historically, whenever there's a downturn, sales are usually good. This is because if someone is made redundant, in-between losing their job and getting a new one, they take up a hobby which will keep them busy.

Seems odd, though. A Flying Scotsman train set which I had and loved playing with as a kid (complete with Airfix soldiers on the train and track…), are seen as ‘luxury items’ now. You can only feed off nostalgia for so long….

[Eric Mc]

Hopefully, Hornby will put even more resources into their Airfix brand - which seems to be where the growth potential is. So far, they've been doing a good job and slowly and surely Airfix is re-0entering the national psyche - and being taken up by youngsters - which is vital for the future.

[Zad]

I disagree about only being able to feed off nostalgia for so long. There is always a new nostalgia coming along. So long as kids are bought trains / Scalextric / Tonkas etc as a kid, they will have a positive memory of it as an adult and want the products. Brands like Thomas the Tank Engine keep steam trains in the minds of upcoming generations. Last summer it was great to see how genuinely enthusiastic children were about seeing real steam trains going through the local station. Not just small kids either, ones that are old enough to get bored easily and be annoyingly picky about what they like. In 50 years time they will be the people keeping Hornby in business.

[dr_gn]

defblade said:

Modelling of any sort is pretty much a 100% luxury hobby - does anyone need to do it?

Does anyone *need* to do any hobby? don't see how modelling is any different from any other hobby where you have to buy things.

As an aside, I overheard a conversation in my LMS recently. There was a sales rep and the shop owner. The owner was saying that he dreads the 'kid with Dad' coming into the shop because he can almost guarantee they'll leave with an Airfix Spitfire - and therefore never return to buy another model ever again. Made me laugh - it's what I've assumed happened for a long time, but that confirmed it.

BTW, 100% true story: don't shoot the messenger guys.

[NismoGT]

dr_gn said:

Does anyone *need* to do any hobby? don't see how modelling is any different from any other hobby where you have to buy things.

As an aside, I overheard a conversation in my LMS recently. There was a sales rep and the shop owner. The owner was saying that he dreads the 'kid with Dad' coming into the shop because he can almost guarantee they'll leave with an Airfix Spitfire - and therefore never return to buy another model ever again. Made me laugh - it's what I've assumed happened for a long time, but that confirmed it.

BTW, 100% true story: don't shoot the messenger guys.

Should be happy to have the sale IMO. I don't know of any kids who have an interest in kit building.
But i'm sure plenty there are plenty who will drag mum and dad out to buy them a new Playstation game.

The items available to build a realistic model railway layout are through the roof these days.

Hornby's Skaledale buidlings and scenery items are very realistic , as are those from others. You even have Oxford Diecast , Base Toys , Classix , EFE , Corgi , Creative master and Gaugemaster selling 1:76 scale road vehicles to fill a layouts roads.

Twenty years ago , you could only dream of having whats available today.

Be a real shame to see Hornby fold.

Edited by NismoGT on Saturday 28th January 18:30