Strategic delivery

Croydon concept centre

In October 2014 Halfords opened a concept Autocentre in Croydon. The theme of building trust is central to the proposition, with large viewing windows onto the workshop area, as well as TV screens showing technicians undertaking work on customers' vehicles and orange customer service pods, where colleagues can talk to customers in an open and relaxed setting. The overall environment has been made attractive to customers, with a bright, colourful reception area equipped with comfortable seating, refreshments and free wifi.

The customer and colleague response has been excellent and the key elements of the concept will be applied to new centre openings going forward. There will also be a light touch rollout of the lower-cost, high-impact aspects to the existing portfolio of centres over the course of the next three years.