Soldato
Yeah, Sainsburys bought Argos and I think Sports Direct bought Game. Or at least I think they did as there are now Game stores inside of Sports Direct stores.
Wilko goes into Administration
- Thread starter nam
- Start date
Soldato
Part of Sainsburys. Majority are in Sainsburys stores now.
Soldato
Problem was with the catalogues is that people took one each visit to Sainsbury’s.
Catalogues stopped in 2019.
Now have week long promotions such as 20% off garden furniture, 20% off Lego, 15% off Sony TVs etc and catalogue doesn’t show the offers.
Soldato
I looked at them and think which relative had that crockery set, I had that duvet cover and good grief the TVs look so dated.
Argos is still on search results from google so you still know they are there, but, how there business is different from Amazon is difficult to tell - just 'same day' delivery ?
JL results today losses reduced to 55M, 5% less stuff sold, partners may have to optimise hours for more customer forward roles - have to see if xmas add is less aspirational, more working man.
JL results today losses reduced to 55M, 5% less stuff sold, partners may have to optimise hours for more customer forward roles - have to see if xmas add is less aspirational, more working man.
Soldato
Sainsburys ruined Argos when they took it over by discontinuing the catalogues and closing most of the stores. A counter in the back of a Sainsburys is not the same.
My mate who used to work for Sainsburys said they will eventually close down all standalone Argos stores which are left.
My mate who used to work for Sainsburys said they will eventually close down all standalone Argos stores which are left.
Argos is rather good, I always use it in preference to Amazon and have done for a while now. Prices are often better and free next day delivery to the store 2 minutes away is much better than paying Amazon a subscription. Plus you don't have to wade through a hundred different variants of every product that have all come from the same Chinese factory.
Last edited:
Sainsburys ruined Argos when they took it over by discontinuing the catalogues and closing most of the stores. A counter in the back of a Sainsburys is not the same.
My mate who used to work for Sainsburys said they will eventually close down all standalone Argos stores which are left.
Dunno what the long term will be for all stand alone Argos - in the town I work Sainsburys didn't get permission to open a store (council citing it would kill the highstreet while ironically have done the most harm to the highstreet themselves) and may not build one there in the future, there are no other Argos within a fairly wide area and none of the of nearby Sainsburys are suitable to have a store in store. The stand alone Argos gets a lot of trade so would be odd to close it and leave a large area just to home delivery.
Last edited:
Caporegime
Not sure why you'd still want catalogues lol, there's a hell of a lot of waste in producing them and relying on people to dispose of them properly.
What was so good about a standalone Argos store anyway? It was just some tables with catalogues and then some touchscreens to order stuff, not like you could look at items apart from them cheap jewellery windows they have/had.
What was so good about a standalone Argos store anyway? It was just some tables with catalogues and then some touchscreens to order stuff, not like you could look at items apart from them cheap jewellery windows they have/had.
Last edited:
Permabanned
- Joined
- 9 Aug 2008
- Posts
- 35,711
A whole world in your pocket sounds better than many pages of paper for 1 single store in your backpack.
My mum used to pickup Argos catalogues for some older friends/family - they are the only ones still asking about them - 1-2 even still try to use old ones which is a bit of a pain, pretty much everyone else just uses the website now. They'd still be popular with the oldest generation(s) I think but the appeal for most others I suspect has gone.
You can do views on items in Argos before committing to buy, but at least my usage if I'm buying from Argos I've already likely decided on the item and/or resigned to potential issues like matching colours :s
What Argos was really handy for was when you needed something same day in a hurry i.e. if the Kettle broke and you didn't have a spare.
EDIT: I do think Sainsburys/Argos needs to be a bit careful with their USP though especially same day availability/delivery - without it they are basically just going head to head with Amazon these days which is likely a slow death for the company.
Last edited:
Soldato
Flicking through a catalogue deciding what to buy was easier than the endless scrolling on a website.
The standalone stores tend to carry a lot more stock, or they did back in the day. Sainsburys counter carry very little stock with most stuff having to be ordered in.
This is one of my concerns - Amazon can't easily directly compete with Argos and won't easily take over Argos's first mover advantage in that space in terms of same day, if people are waiting an extra 1-2 days then that narrows the market more towards people who can't wait in for delivery, etc. and many of the rest will be more likely to turn to Amazon unless Argos can offer something Amazon can't - vice versa Argos can't really compete in Amazon's prime space.
Associate
I did snort with laughter at that one. 10 years ago we would have called them the older generation, but with the passage of time we are still trying to differentiate ourselves from them, and kid ourselves we are not old
Caporegime
You don't have to scroll through a website like a catalogue so I can't see why it would be easier to have to physically go to a store to browse what they sell?
The stock thing is probably the only positive if you need something only they offer the same day.
I put it that way as it is only really the generation(s) now disappearing which still cling on to the catalogues - even my parents generation (just into their 70s) have largely embraced the internet now.
Not so sure it is better. Now people often end up in choice paralysis, because the endless choice on the internet is too much.
Id much prefer the internet to be gone, and just buy from the place closest to me.
Soldato
Catalogues are out of date. Can include new products throughout the year when they get released and put offers which the customer can see through the tablets at Argos or online.
I remember the days of the Argos and Index catalogues - carrying three of each for my parents and grandparents (in those days it was Nanan and Grandad - and Grandma)
Also remembered queuing at Argos in the late 80s/mid 90s with a slip of paper with catalogue numbers I wanted for 40 mins to be told the items were out of stock. Now it takes 40 seconds to go onto the Argos website to check products are in stock and which Argos/Sainsburys have it.
I remember the days of the Argos and Index catalogues - carrying three of each for my parents and grandparents (in those days it was Nanan and Grandad - and Grandma)
Also remembered queuing at Argos in the late 80s/mid 90s with a slip of paper with catalogue numbers I wanted for 40 mins to be told the items were out of stock. Now it takes 40 seconds to go onto the Argos website to check products are in stock and which Argos/Sainsburys have it.
Soldato
Argos in Sainsburys change what they stock for immediate pick up. Summer - lawn mowers, BBQs, garden furniture. September - uni essentials December - Christmas trees and other Christmas stuff.
They also have storage in the warehouse for the larger items such as trampolines as saw an Argos worker getting a trolley to push into the warehouse to get the trampoline which is in 3 boxes - stand, trampoline bed and netting.