Halfords rejig will cost up to 40 marketing jobs

Halfords, the retailer known for selling bicycles and car accessories, is cutting up to 40 of its marketing team.

The shake-up follows the arrival last month of former Homebase chief executive Rob Templeman as chairman and Chris Woodhouse, the DIY retailer’s former commercial director, as deputy chairman.

Marketing and merchandising director David Clayton-Smith, who reports to chief executive Rod Scribbins, denies that the restructure will affect his role.

But he admits that it will result in the loss of 40 posts across the marketing and merchandising division, of which 30 are currently occupied. The division employs 150 people working in a number of different disciplines, from marketing to buying and product management, in each of the automotive, travel and cycling units.

The division will be restructured so that there will be just two business units and one marketing team.

In total, Halfords is looking at making 90 head-office roles redundant, including those within marketing and merchandising. This is to help meet targets set by the new owners, venture capitalist CVC Capital Partners, which bought the company from Boots last year.

Since the acquisition, Halfords has introduced a new fascia with a black and orange logo and launched a new retail sub-brand, Urban Escape, selling tents, rucksacks and hiking boots.