Argos Catalogue History.

Argos was founded by Richard Tompkins and he rebranded the Green Shield Stamp catalogue shops as Argos beginning in July 1973,with  the first purpose-built store opening in Canterbury in 1973.Argos was purchased by BAT industries in 1979 for £32 million. BAT then demerged the company and ARGOS was listed on the LSE in 1990. After 8 years as a listed company Argos was bought in 1998  by GUS in  a hostile takeover valued at £1.6 bllion. It then became part of the Home Retail Group part of GUS which included Homebase and in 2006 they were demerged and relisted on the LSE at an approximate value of £3.6 billion pounds.

Financial Results Year Ended 28th February 2012.

During the year they were the second-largest internet retailer in the UK, with over 430 million site visits. The acquisition by the Group of the Habitat UK brand extends the own brand customer offering and Habitat products will be included in the 2012 Autumn/Winter catalogue. Argos sales decreased by 7.7% or £322m to to £3,873m in total. The consumer electronics market, in particular televisions and video games systems, accounted for the majority of the reduction in Argos’ sales. Laptops and tablets saw good growth while small ticket homeware sales were also ahead. During the year, 13 stores were opened and 16 were closed, with a further four stores relocating to improved locations, reducing the store portfolio to 748. Benchmark operating profit decreased by 57% or £125m, to £94m. Argos also launched Emma Bunton’s children’s clothing range in the Spring/Summer 2012 catalogue.

Financial Results Year Ended 28th February 2011.

For the year Argos were the 2nd largest UK internet retailer with 400 million visitors to argos.co.uk. For the year orders placed online represented 36% of sales. Sales for the year were £4194 million down 3.5% and benchmark profit reduced by 18% to £219 million. Argos has strong market share in a number of sectors including Homewares 3rd, Furniture 3rd, Small Domestic Appliances 1st, Consumer Electronics 2nd, Large Domestic Appliances 3rd and toys 1st.

Financial Results Year Ended 27th February 2010.

The Home Retail Group had sales up £125m or 2% to £6,023m, reflecting growth of 1.5% at Argos and 3.9% at Homebase. Argos made sales of £4,346.8 million (£4,281.9 million 2008) and a Benchmark operating profit £266.2 million (£303.6.million 2008)During the year, 20 stores were opened and five were closed, increasing the store portfolio to 745. The acquisition of the Alba and Bush brands in late 2008 has enabled Argos to successfully reposition its own brand ranges in consumer electronics – particularly TVs and The Chad Valley toy brand, acquired in early 2009, was applied to around 120 products in its first catalogue for Christmas 2009. Chad Valley has already become Argos’ leading toy brand and in thelatest catalogue it has been applied to 200 products and includes extending its use to abroader range of toy categories. Argos is also expanding its use of licensing, exclusive product lines or celebrity brand endorsements, with examples of these expansion plans including Qualcast,Disney, Regatta, Mamas & Papas and Davina McCall fitness. The internet represented 32% of Argos sales and over two-thirds of this or 22% of Argos’ total sales were customers using online Check & Reserve for store collection, with this growing by 36% for the second year in a row.

Argos Retail & Argos Catalogue online website product range.

After Amazon, Argos continues to be the largest internet retailer in the UK, with over 300 million website visits producing £1.4bn of sales in the last year. Around 20% or over £800m of Argos’ sales continue to be home delivered, with over 40% of home delivery sales being orders placed by customers while in store. Of the 10 million products delivered last year, 4 million were larger items delivered via Argos’ in-house and market-leading ‘two-man’ home delivery service. Argos also offers pet insurance and travel insurance. Electricals and toys are amongst those where Argos has continued to gain market share in the last 12 months, with the repositioning of their own brands a key driver of this. Argos acquired the Hygena and Schreiber brands which are now being used on furniture ranges in the new catalogue and  Argos are continue to develop their other own brands like Beanstalk, Challenge, Cookworks and Pro Fitness. The Argos online webiste is allowing Argos to expand the choice beyond the 19,300 lines in the catalogue, with 10,000 further lines currently on trial at argos.co.uk Range extensions include technology categories such as video games, office supplies, photography and consumer electronics accessories; white goods; beds; toys and nursery; and sports and leisure equipment. There has been particular success in Argos white goods, where a further 2,000 lines have extended the main Argos catalogue offer.