Argos (retailer)

Argos is most well known for its traditional high street catalogue stores. The Argos shopping process involves completing a small order form with the catalogue numbers of the desired items. Argos provides red pencils (formerly small blue ballpoint pens, then blue pencils) in shops for this purpose. The order form is taken to the checkout and the items paid for, then the customer is given a receipt which indicates where they should wait for their items to be brought to them from the storeroom. Additionally, "Quick pay" kiosks are also available to place orders and pay. Upon handover of the goods (if shopping using the catalogue number method), after receiving the receipt from the checkout and the item has been collected by the customer, the receipt is stamped "RECEIVED" by the shop to ensure that it cannot be re-used.

In October 2012, Argos announced that, as of 2013, that they would be closing a number of their catalogue shops. Thus fewer catalogues will be made available nationwide. This decision was made after a significant profit fall, and also to boost the popularity of their online shop. Claims, however, from the media that the shops themselves would change from their states are false.

Since the acquisition of Argos by Sainsbury's, an increasing number of standalone stores have been moved into Sainsbury's supermarkets. On 25 September 2019, Sainsbury's announced that over 50 Argos stores would be closing or relocating in order to cut costs. Stores also now feature digital computers as well as catalogues to cater to all client bases.

Since the 2016 Sainsbury's takeover, Argos Collection points have been installed inside smaller Sainsbury's supermarkets unable to accommodate a full in-store concession, and inside some Sainsbury's Local convenience stores, with 317 locations as of May 2019.

Despite Argos being known as a high street catalogue retailer, around 58% of sales are now derived online, with the Argos website being the third most visited retail website in the United Kingdom. Customers can shop and pay for their items by the Argos website. The customer can either pay online and get the item either delivered or "fast tracked". However, if delivery is selected then the item(s) can be paid for and delivered.

Argos Financial Services (formerly Argos Credit and Insurance) provides credit to enable the cost of purchases to be spread over a defined period of time. Since the Sainsbury's takeover of Argos, the Argos Financial Services division has been part of Sainsbury's Bank.

In August 2006, Barclays and Argos announced a joint venture to produce an Argos credit card (in the same year Barclays also joined with Thomas Cook).[11][12] Argos cancelled its contract with Barclaycard and a new Argos credit card was announced in 2012, this time in conjunction with Vanquis Bank.[13][14]

During 2007, Home Retail Group launched a trial of five shops, branded HomeStore&More, situated in Aylesbury, Abingdon, Cambridge, Harlow and Cheltenham. These stores were operated by Argos[15] following Home Retail Group's acquisition of a stake in an Irish retail chain with the same name.[16] The Harlow shop also included a "BedStore&More".[17] The trial was abandoned in February 2012, and the stores closed.[18]

The Irish shops still operate, with HRG's remaining interest sold in May 2013.

Argos operated a financial services price comparison website, in conjunction with BeatThatQuote.com.[19] In January 2012, ArgosCompare was taken offline, as it did not comply with new guidance issued by the UK Financial Service Authority.

On 15 June 2011, Argos TV was launched on Sky channel 642 and online.[20] On 25 October 2011, the channel was added to Freesat on channel 819.[21]

On 19 September 2012, Argos TV launched on Freeview nationwide on channel 55 for a limited set of hours, as well as full-time in Manchester on channel 59.[22] As part of a reshuffle of the Freeview EPG, the Manchester version moved to channel 54 on 17 October 2012. Argos had leased the Sky EPG slot from JML Direct TV for 12 months to trial the channel and also used JML's facilities in Kentish Town.[23]

The channel broadcast 24 hours daily, and was produced by ETV Media Group, with four hours of live programming each weekday, and eight hours a day at weekends.[24] Viewers were able to purchase items and collect them from local Argos shops through the retailer's "check and reserve" service.

In 2013 the channel was removed from Freesat on 9 May, Freeview on 12 May and Sky on 13 May 2013 in order for Argos to focus resources in other areas. On Sky, it was immediately replaced with JML Living.[25]

In February 2007, Argos opened five shops in Mumbai, India. Argos had a franchise agreement, run in conjunction with HyperCity; its Indian retail partner. In January 2009, Argos closed all its shops in India due to poor sales.[26][27]

Argos is the registered owner of a number of brands, which feature on a substantial number of products contained within the catalogue, including: Challenge,[28] Visiq,[29] Pro Action,[30][31] Cookworks,[32] Beanstalk,[33] Pro Fitness,[34] Opticom,[35] Grosvenor,[36] Steamworks,[37] Aquarius,[38] Coolworks,[39] Elevation, Acoustic Solutions, Mega Games and the now defunct Elizabeth Duke.[40][41]

In January 2009, Argos also struck a deal to take over the brands Alba, Bush,[42] and Chad Valley.[43] In January 2015, Argos took over the rights to sell the Cherokee clothing line from Tesco,[44] however this was phased out in 2017 in favour of Sainsbury's own Tu brand of clothing.

Former Argos logo, used between 1999 and 2010

In October 2009, it was announced that the Argos visual branding would be undergoing changes from 2010. This began on 23 January, with the relaunch of the main shopping website, and a new logo. The websites claim to make shopping with Argos more accessible. The careers website, and the release of the Spring/Summer 2010 catalogue were also relaunched. The company expect that the rebranding process will take "a number of years",[45] at a cost of £70 million.[46]

Argos Extra shop in Cambridge in 2008. The 'Extra' brand was phased out in 2010.

As part of the Autumn/Winter 2010 rebrand, all Argos Extra shops were planned to be branded simply as "Argos" when they are refitted. Former "Extra" marked lines will be available in all shops. However, stock levels will entirely depend on the area's demand for that particular line. If it does not sell, then the item will have to be ordered in to that shop.

As of 2018, a small number of older stores in operation remain unchanged with the original pre-2010 branding, store layouts and digital calculator-style computers, while others have received a modern revamp with new branding, store layouts, colour schemes and digital computers that are sometimes used for browsing items, as well as checking their stock limitations by entering the item number(s) shown in the catalogue.

Argos publishes catalogues twice a year (a spring/summer edition in January and an autumn/winter edition in July). Current editions have well over 1600 pages containing photographs of items, brief descriptions, prices and a catalogue number. Shop copies are ring-bound and the pages are individually laminated. Since the Autumn/Winter 2015 issue the catalogues are now reduced in size by 1.5x compared to previous issues published over the years.

Catalogues are complemented by seasonal sales flyers, offering price reductions on existing deals. Other items are sometimes available in flyers, such as ex-catalogue goods at reduced prices, especially after the launch of a new catalogue.

In March 2006, Argos carried out a trial of a new catalogue branded Argos Home in over 100 shops in the United Kingdom. This proved successful, and on 5 August 2006, it launched the second Argos Home catalogue, this time in all 200 Argos Extra shops. The catalogue only contains home furniture and styling tips for the current season. Most items displayed in the Argos Home catalogue are also available in the main catalogue too. There are occasionally new lines in the Home catalogue which may not have been available at the time the main catalogue went to print. There is also a Christmas catalogue that is launched annually in October.

In July 2002, Argos sparked a political controversy in Scotland, when it sacked several workers for refusing to work on a Sunday.[51] This action would have been illegal in the rest of the United Kingdom, as the Sunday Trading Act 1994 gave shopworkers in England and Wales the right to refuse Sunday work (unless they were employed to work solely on a Sunday).

The 1994 Act did not apply to Scotland, as there was no legislation regarding Sunday trading applicable to Scotland. Although Argos later retracted its decision to sack the workers and to enforce a Sunday working clause in Scottish employee contracts,[52] its actions led to the passing of the Sunday Working (Scotland) Act 2003 which extended the legal right of employees to refuse Sunday working to include shopworkers in Scotland.

In May 2002, Argos, along with rival retailer Littlewoods Index, was accused by the Office of Fair Trading of price fixing goods from toy manufacturer Hasbro.[53] The decision reached in 2003 resulted in Argos being fined £17.28 million,[54] however, an appeal in 2005 led to that being reduced to £15 million.[55] Argos boss Terry Duddy gave evidence along with David Snow, Jonathan Ward, Alan Cowley, and Ian Thompson.[56] Argos and the other companies appealed to the Court of Appeal, which dismissed the case and ruled in favour of the Office of Fair Trading in October 2006.[57]

In February 2008, Chinese manufactured sofas from Argos and other retailers Land of Leather and Walmsleys were featured in a BBC Watchdog report on skin irritation.[58] The Chinese manufacturer, LinkWise, denied that the furniture was to blame for the incidents. Watchdog praised Argos for its speedy voluntary recall of the affected products, compared to the two other retailers involved. However, during a lengthy case ending in 2010, customers won compensation against the company.

In January 2009, the higher price that Argos charged for goods in the Republic of Ireland, compared to the United Kingdom, attracted criticism.[59]

In 2012 Argos withdrew from its involvement in the controversial Workfare scheme introduced by Prime Minister David Cameron. Argos and its parent company Home Retail Group were heavily criticised by some for their involvement in the scheme failing to offer jobs to those who successfully completed the course. An internal company poster produced by Home Retail Group's owned Homebase, supporting unpaid work to boost profits was leaked to the public, and led to the discontinuation of workfare by all companies within the Home Retail Group and several other major companies.[60]