The name Argos is synonymous with town centres and retail parks across the UK. The company is the largest general goods retailer in the country with sales of over £4 billion per year from over 700 stores. In addition to its physical stores, the company runs a successful website business and has just launched a TV shopping channel.
Argos was established in 1973 launching its home shopping catalogue in the same year. Today it is estimated that two out of every three households in the UK has a copy of the Argos catalogue, which is printed twice a year to cater for the spring/summer market and the autumn/winter market. Current editions of the catalogue run to over 1500 pages, offering thousands of product lines in thirteen main categories. These include home entertainment, garden and DIY, home and furniture, toys and games, and kitchen and laundry. The company is also doing its bit for the environment by making the catalogue recyclable and sourcing the paper from managed forests.
In 1998, the company moved onto the Internet, launching its catalogue online. Today, online sales account for a quarter of all Argos revenue and the website was the most visited retail website in the UK in 2008. Shoppers online can either purchase goods to be delivered or can use the check and reserve service. This allows them to check if a product is available at their local store and reserve it for collection within 48 hours.
In June 2011, it began its own TV shopping channel on Sky where every hour, a new product category is offered to customers. If you have every watched QVC, then Argos TV follows the same principal. A product category is featured every hour with highlighted products and special deals that can be ordered either by telephone or via the Argos TV website.
Over the years, Argos has also branched into other services including ArgosCompare, an online price comparison website, which compares everything from insurance to credit cards, energy companies and savings accounts.
Argos and its sister company Homebase are owned by the Home Retail Group, which also owns the Very and Littlewoods brands.
Over the past forty years, Argos has become a British institution. From its first store opening in Canterbury in 1973, it has grown into a multi-billion pound company that offers products via a vast number of channels. Whether it is the old-fashioned paper-based catalogue, the website, the telephone or the TV, you can purchase Argos products however, wherever and whenever you want.
{ 3 comments }
