Argos benefits from online sales increase

Friday, May 2, 2014 - 09:28 by Mike Price

Argos is one of the many high street retailers that is attempting to capitalise on the popularity of safe shopping online, with its efforts to encourage more customers to buy on the web helping it to secure a rise in sales and profits in the past year.

Home Retail Group, which owns Argos, revealed this week that while sales were up by three per cent overall, there was actually an 89 per cent rise in e-commerce transactions handled by the company.

This means that almost a fifth of sales that Argos enjoys are carried out online, with yet more growth anticipated, thanks to new digital strategies which are being implemented at the moment.

11.6 million people are now registered with Argos' e-commerce site, while the retailer is rolling out six stores at which it will be trialling fresh concepts, which put digital services at the heart of the shopping experience.

One of the biggest changes in these trial stores will be the use of tablets in place of the traditional catalogues offered to customers who want to browse the products that are on offer, according to The Drum.

Spokesperson, John Walden, said that while the British retail market was still on shaky ground, the increase in sales and profits were certainly a good sign that Argos is handling its multichannel presence successfully.

He also said that Argos will be getting features on its site, which allow people to reserve items they want to pick up in store with just one click of the mouse. In addition, the ways that people can pay when they get through to the web checkout will be expanded, with information on stock availability listed in real time, to help people avoid disappointment when they place an order.