PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Argos has revealed in his half-year results that it plans to have 50 digital stores open in time for the Christmas period.
So far the retailer has 32 digital stores trading across three different formats.
All digital stores benefit from the ‘hub & spoke’ distribution model together, which makes 20,000 products available to all Argos stores for same day collection.
There are other new capabilities, such as ‘voice pick’, tablet based browsing and ordering, streamlined payment and collection and, for customers paying online, fast track collection in 60 seconds.
In its half-year results, Argos reported that internet penetration accounted for 43 per cent of total sales including mobile commerce, which grew by 45 per cent and accounted for 22 per cent of total sales.
The retailer also reported that like-for-like sales were up 2.9 per cent.
In September, Argos reported that it was hit by a further decline in tablet sales during the 13 weeks to August 30th, but strong performances elsewhere saw its electricals category grow.
Audio vendor Bose recently announced that it has joined forces with Argos. The news comes after Apple removed all Bose products from its stores following a patent dispute with the audio specialist.
