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Rising labour costs and EU anti-dumping duties led Halfords to look to new countries to source its bikes, and Cambodia in particular has become increasingly important for the retailer, according to this report from Bike Europe.
Halfords CEO David Wild said: “We are always looking for new suppliers across the globe offering better value in order to maintain our competitive position. Cambodia emerged as a suited supplier for bicycles.
"We believe it offers a real alternative to the Chinese option. The South East Asian country could be the first step of moving production as we are also exploring opportunities in other nations in this region."
According to Wild, the move followed a conversation with a manufacturer who was facing increased manufacturing costs at his base in Taiwan, and was considering opening a factory in Cambodia.
“Cambodia offered cheap labour costs and duty rates, so we provided him some technical help to build that factory.
"We started buying bikes two years ago, in relatively small volumes at first but it has got bigger over time. It’s an example of finding the right partner, supporting them with our technical help and moving to a significant level of production.”
The report added that Halfords isn’t looking to lose its China base.
