Channels — Customer Focus

Customer Values

Customers want value, personalisation and to trust the advice and service they receive. At Halfords we have a reputation for providing unparalleled honest and trustworthy products and service. A comprehensive range of support services makes Halfords a natural destination for those whose "life is on the move".

Customer Centric

To respond to customer values, we think about our customers and put them first. As a customer facing business, we know our customers and aspire to give them the treatment and service they want and deserve.

We understand that journeys are at the heart of work and family life — we combine great products, expert advice and service to help our customers with their "life on the move".

We recognise that our customers are time poor and increasingly intimidated by and impatient to "do it themselves". As cars and products become increasingly sophisticated there is a reluctance and lack of expertise to "do it yourself" and as a result customers simply want convenience and immediacy provided by someone they can trust.

Proactive Customers

Our customers' pursuit of value, personalisation and trust has been further empowered by the Internet. More and more customers check availability online before they visit our stores. Proactive customers get what they need when they need it.

Proactive Halfords

The needs of our customers continue to change and evolve and we encourage our customers to be active rather than passive. We want them to get involved rather than be indifferent. We want them to feel included rather than excluded.

At Halfords we help and inspire our customers, improving the customer experience — whether they contact us or we contact them, Halfords can be counted on as a friend in times of need. We have a progressive approach to service, fitting many of the products we sell. This often results in "trading up" and "accessorising" the transaction.

Understanding and acting on customer feedback is at the heart of what we do — our next generation of customer service is a direct response to the feedback we have received from customers.

"Helpforce" — a multi-channel, customer services team is geared up to cater for the future needs of our customers and stores, putting "that's helpful, that's Halfords" at the heart of our business. "Helpforce" involves a direct customer and store facing team of experts driving all store queries through one point of contact.

Customer Proposition

Halfords provides a unique range and service proposition, involving further advice and fitting services to customers that range from novices to enthusiasts. This approach results in a good segment sales mix offering — building competency and capability in higher margin segments such as our service lines.

Evolving our customer offer, using a competitive combination of range, price and service to augment our retail offer, provides a convenient, value-based solution. A consistent customer experience that is customer ready, customer friendly and customer driven leads to improved customer service and loyalty.

Relationship Management

Our customer relationship management is based on treating our customers as individuals and helping to provide them with a solution. This involves helping our customers to make informed product/service choices — our knowledgeable and experience-intensive customer support process increases our service innovation and penetration rates.

For instance, service innovation has boosted average transaction values as well as pulling in new customer segments. This has allowed us to differentiate our offering based on our "wefit", "wecheck", "weassemble", "werepair", "weservice" propositions.