MARKETING ASSIGNMENT 2012 Report By: Tosh

Introduction
This report aims to introduce an improved bicycle repair service product for Halfords group plc. Halfords is UK leading retailer of bicycles and trades mainly through its retail stores, auto centres and website (GMI, 2012). The company sells household cycling brands and has in its portfolio the following bicycle brands Apollo, Voodoo, Boardman, Jango, Inelli and Tifoso (Craig, 2012). Halfords bicycle sales in 2012 rose by 14.7% and control a 14% share of the total market national coverage (Rupert, 2012) I have chosen bicycle sector for this report as it has seen increased demand for products which includes repair services and continues to grow (Alexander, 2011) and Halfords in particular because they are a leading retailer of bicycles in UK with a service growing market of +7% (Craig, 2012). There is an opportunity for the business to increase market growth in repair services market coming off a successful Olympics where there has been an increase in the sales of bicycles which is explicitly connected to the sale of service repair. (Craig, 2012)

Source: (Craig, 2012)

New service Product offering

The new service product offering for Halfords service-goods continuum will be a service product, providing services rather than physical product. Therefore new service product will not require new customer behaviour by making minor changes to current service by adding quality repairs through staff training increasing better skills, and customers will benefit from improved customer care, greater speed of delivery and increased quality of bicycle repair. Therefore customer buying of the service will depend on staff attitudes in selling and providing the service that will need to be positive, polite and empathetic to customer needs at all times {{29 Langford,Barry E. 1998}}

The service/Good continuum

Pure Goods Pure services
.Tangible .Intangible

Source: Adapted from Palmer (1998) Principles of marketing Market

A report by the London School of Economics estimates the number of cyclists in the United Kingdom to have risen by 11% to 13 million during 2010 (Alexander, 2011) and a 2012 research by Mintel shows that the UK cycling market is expected to grow quite significantly over the next few years with a 23% increase in 2016. It is estimated that 34% of adults in the UK owned a bike (Michael, 2012). Though Asda, Tesco and Argos retail in bicycles, only Halfords offer repair services. Lack of repair services by retailers cause inconveniences for customers and is costly to solicit service from independent businesses. Halfords repair services only control a minimal 5% share of market with the rest left to competitors who tend to be specialist bicycle shops. Therefore service product will offer a continuous improvement in service product that will meet the need of customers while increasing the