IBDs say Cycling to Work needs improvement
Posted on in Cycles News
Following one of the biggest debates to ever take place on the Industry Forum over the last couple of weeks, we have sought to bring together the views of the industry on cycling to work operations and IBDs working with Halfords.
Numerous issues have arisen from the cycling to work thread on the bike industry forum. For bike retailers the main concern is the commission charged by third party cycling to work schemes, with figures up to 20% quoted and Halfords the main culprit for levying high fees.
Some IBDs argue that any sale - irrespective of margin loss through commissions - is better than no sale at all, whilst others suggest that the time spent with a cycle to work customer could be better spent securing another sale at full retail value.
We asked how many IBDs accept Halfords vouchers and poll results suggest the majority of IBDs (59.06%) have not accepted a voucher in the past year.
Have you accepted a Halfords cycle to work voucher this year?
Industry Forum contributors raised the issue of fairness of the scheme, which excludes the lowest earners and self-employed, favours higher earners and even questioned the legitimacy of the majority of the purchases made on the scheme. A surprising number of contributors called for change or even for the scheme to curtailed in its current form.
So we asked: Does cycling to work legislation require updating?
Almost 65% of respondents agree that the legislation needs updating, whilst just c.30% think reducing the IBD commissions would suffice, suggesting that a loss of margin is not the key factor causing frustration among the trade.
The scheme legislation was cobbled together without reference to the impact of delivery and it was never Government's intention that the S.M.E. sector should fund the scheme.
The government has previously removed similar schemes with limited notice. In 2006 the Home Computing Initiative, through which employers were able to subsidise employees' purchase of computer systems, was effectively closed by a Budget crackdown with c.48 hours notice prior to the budget. The next Financial Statement is on 3rd December 2014.
The Dutch Government recently withdrew their C2W scheme despite its success over the past 20 years, helping to make cycling the transport of choice for almost a quarter of Holland's 5 million daily commuters.
If the cycle to work legislation in the UK were to be changed, or even completely removed what impact would it have on the trade, including Halfords, who have just announced positive trading results for their cycling business, without any mention of the contribution of cycling to work?
Please continue to have your say on the Industry Forum thread here or leave your comments below.