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For other uses, see Argos (disambiguation).
Argos Stores Ltd
Type subsidiary of Home Retail Group
Founded 1973
Headquarters Milton Keynes, England
Key people Terry Duddy, Darren Marson, Sara Weller, Joe Phillips, Richard Tompkins (founder)
Industry Retailer
Products Consumer goods
Revenue Sales - £3. Home Retail Group plc ( is a Holding company for the UK and Republic of Ireland retailers Argos and Homebase. Milton Keynes ( ˌmɪltənˈkiːnz often abbreviated to MK, is a large town England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services 652 billion (2005)
- £4. 2 billion (2007)
Employees circa 51,000
Website http://www.argos.co.uk
Argos store. Part of the Old Street Promenade of Light.
Argos store. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages Part of the Old Street Promenade of Light. Old Street is a Street in east London that runs west to east from Goswell Road in Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington

Argos is the largest general-goods retailer in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland with over 700 stores. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. Argos is unique amongst major retailers in the U. K. because its primary means of displaying goods to customers is via a catalogue. Customers browse through the Argos catalogue, select items to purchase, pay for the items, and then collect the items from the in-store collection desk or have the item delivered to their home.

Argos owns several brands including Elizabeth Duke[1](Dropped in the latest Catalogue) (jewellery, see below), Mikomi[2] and many others. [3]

Contents

History

The original Green Shield Stamps 'catalogue' shops were rebranded Argos beginning in July 1973. Green Shield Stamps were a sales promotion or incentive loyalty scheme using Trading stamps designed and deployed in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Argos launched in July 1973 with 1000 members of staff, taking £1,000,000 during a week in November. [4] Argos was purchased by BAT Industries in 1979 for a deal worth £32 million. British American Tobacco Plc (, KLSE: BAT is a leading British -based Tobacco company The following year, Argos opened its Elizabeth Duke jewellery counter and by 1982 was the UK's 4th biggest jewellery retailer.

Catalogues

Argos publishes catalogues twice a year (a Spring/Summer edition in January and an Autumn/Winter edition in July). Current editions have well over 2500 pages containing photographs of items, brief descriptions, prices and a catalogue number. Store copies are almost identical to home versions except for being ring-bound with individually laminated pages and updated price information.

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

In early 2006, Argos trialed a new catalogue branded Argos Home in over 100 stores in the U. K. This proved successful and on Saturday 5 August 2006, it launched the second Argos Home catalogue, this time in all 200 Argos Extra stores. Events 642 - Battle of Maserfield - Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Bernicia. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The catalogue only contains home furniture and styling tips for the current season.

Shopping in Argos

Customers are able to browse through the catalogue at home or in-store or can view products on the company's website. If shopping in-store, the customer takes a list of catalogue numbers to a till, where the goods are paid for and the customer issued with a receipt. A picking ticket is then printed in the store's stockroom, and a member of staff picks the items and takes them to the collection area. When the goods arrive at the collection area the customer is called forward to receive them.

Most stores have an automated "Call Forward" system in place which issues customers with an order number and estimated collection time. The customer is called forward to the collection counter automatically once the estimated collection time is reached, sooner if staff override the system or later if there is a delay in the stockroom.

Quick Pay kiosks are available in all stores. Using a touchscreen terminal, customers can enter their catalogue numbers, pay by credit , Debit card or Argos store card and be issued with a receipt without the intervention of a cashier. A credit card is part of a system of Payments named after the small Plastic card issued to users of the system A debit card (also known as a bank card) is a plastic card which provides an alternative payment method to Cash when making purchases

To ensure that stock is available when a customer arrives in store, they are encouraged to use the "Check & Reserve" service before going into the store, either using the Argos website, telephone or text message service. This allows a customer to reserve stock until the end of the next working day, or order it into that store, depending on the store format. Customers who reserve items are issued with a reservation number, which is either presented to the cashier or entered into a Quick Pay terminal and the customer pays for the goods as usual. Customers can also check stock in-store using the stock checker terminals, saving them from queuing for items that may be out of stock.

Argos has a home delivery arm entitled Argos Direct, which allows delivery of most in-store items, and also a selection of larger goods in the catalogue which are set for delivery only; customers can order goods in-store or online for home delivery. Argos is currently trialling a new store system that allows Argos Direct orders to be placed from in-store terminals linked to the website.

Differences between Argos and traditional retailers

The method of shopping in Argos differs from most traditional British and Irish high street retailers. Because most stock is held in stockrooms to which only staff have access, much more stock can be held per unit floor area than can be held in a traditional shop. Stock is typically housed in 3 metre high racks with numbered aisles, bays and shelves for fast and efficient acquirement of items. Argos often packages its goods in plain packaging or simple plastic bags, rather than smart packaging for shopfloor display. The fact that customers don't have direct access to most stock means that incidents of shoplifting and customers damaging stock are significantly reduced. Shoplifting (also known as retail theft, or shrinkage within the retail industry is Theft of goods from a Retail establishment by an ostensible

Because of the way Argos operates, less shop floorspace is required but very often a minimum of two staff members to serve each customer (one on till, one acquiring goods and dispatching) is required resulting in different overheads compared to traditional stores. Most of the goods are available tightly packed over the counter, but larger items might be delivered straight to the customer's home a few days after their order is placed. Most Argos stores have small items stacked in the till area (such as water jug filters, light bulbs and batteries) for customers to purchase at tills.

Store formats

There are three main formats of Argos stores:

These stores hold very little stock and specially order in products for collection by customers at a later date.
These stores, which are essentially Traditional stores, hold the traditional Argos range (over 10,000 lines) and the "Extra" range can be ordered from the warehouse within three working days, depending on stock availability. Some stores hold part of the "Extra range"
These stores, which are essentially Extra stores, some formerly known as "Argos Superstore", hold the full range of items (excluding "Home Delivery" items) from the catalogue, including the Extra range. The Extra range taken together with the traditional range is approximately a third larger than the traditional range alone, so most Extra stores tend to be in out of town retail parks, where more space is available at a lower cost. In the United Kingdom, a retail park is a grouping of many retail warehouses and superstores with associated Car parking Its North American

Company information

In the financial year April 2003–March 2004, Argos had sales of over £3 billion. Argos was acquired by GUS plc in 1998 and has its head office at The Retail Centre of Excellence in Milton Keynes. GUS plc ( was a FTSE 100 retailing group based in the United Kingdom Milton Keynes ( ˌmɪltənˈkiːnz often abbreviated to MK, is a large town Argos is part of the Home Retail Group, which also includes the Homebase DIY retailer. Homebase is a British Home improvement store and Garden centre, with 320 stores across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland

Argos used to own Argos Additions, but this is now owned by the Shop Direct Group and is known as Additions Direct. Shop Direct Group (or until May 2008 Littlewoods Shop Direct Group; LSDG; or LWSDG) is a British retail Limited In June 2005, Argos purchased the Index brand from Littlewoods but are not currently using it. Index was a catalogue retailer in the United Kingdom, purchased by rival Argos in 2005 Littlewoods is the name of a former retail and gambling empire founded in Liverpool, Merseyside, England by Sir John Moores. They also purchased 33 former Index stores which were converted into Argos stores.

The Home Retail Group demerged from GUS plc on 11 October 2006. Events 1138 - A massive earthquake struck Aleppo, Syria. 1531 - Huldrych Zwingli is killed Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The other remaining company of GUS, Experian, is going to handle the financial services that were previously handles by Mark Industries.

Controversies

Sunday trading

In 2001, Argos sparked a political controversy in Scotland, when it sacked several workers for refusing to work on a Sunday[5]. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. This action would have been illegal in the rest of the U. K. , 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 Sunday Trading Act 1994 is a UK law governing a shop's right to trade on a Sunday England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The 1994 Act did not apply to Scotland as there was no legislation regarding Sunday trading applicable to Scotland. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Although Argos later retracted its decision to sack the workers and to enforce a Sunday working clause in Scottish employee contracts,[6] their 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. The Sunday Working (Scotland Act 2003 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Price fixing

In 2002, Argos, along with rival retailer Index were accused by the Office of Fair Trading of price fixing goods from toy manufacturer Hasbro[7]. The Office of Fair Trading ( OFT) is a Non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, Price fixing is an agreement between business competitors to sell the same product or service at the same price This article is about playthings For other uses of the term see Toy (disambiguation. Hasbro ( is an American Toy company It is one of the largest toy makers in the world second only to the toy giant Mattel. The decision reached in 2003 resulted in Argos being fined £17. 28 million[8], however, an appeal in 2005 led to that being reduced to £15 million[9]. Argos boss Terry Duddy gave evidence along with David Snow, Jonathan Ward, Alan Cowley and Ian Thompson[10]. Argos is the largest general-goods Retailer in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland with over 700 stores As of 2005, Argos denies price fixing and is appealing the decision.

Furniture and skin burns

In 2008, Chinese manufactured sofas from Argos and other retailers Land of Leather and Walmsleys were featured in a BBC Watchdog report on skin irritation. [11]. The Chinese manufacturer, LinkWise, denies that the furniture is to blame for the incidents. Watchdog praised Argos for their speedy voluntary recall of the affected products, compared to the two other retailers involved.

References

  1. ^ "Elizabeth Duke" trademark registration, UK Patent Office website. Information retrieved 2007-03-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth
  2. ^ "Mikomi" trademark registration (electronics), UK Patent Office website. Information retrieved 2007-03-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth
  3. ^ Argos trademarks, UK Patent Office website. Information retrieved 2007-03-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth
  4. ^ Milestones and Memories, Argos. Article retrieved 2007-03-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth
  5. ^ "Sunday roasting for retailer", news. bbc. co. uk. Article dated 2002-07-01, retrieved 2007-03-04. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. "July 1st" redirects here For the Ayumi Hamasaki song see H (song. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth
  6. ^ "Argos Sunday working climbdown", news. bbc. co. uk. Article dated 2002-07-01, retrieved 2006-11-06
  7. ^ "Inquiry into toy 'price fixing'", bbc. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. "July 1st" redirects here For the Ayumi Hamasaki song see H (song. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 355 - Roman Emperor Constantius II promotes his cousin Julian to the rank of Caesar, entrusting him with co. uk. Article dated 2002-05-01, retrieved 2007-03-04
  8. ^ oft.gov.uk, retrieved 2007-03-04
  9. ^ oft.gov.uk, retrieved 2007-03-04
  10. ^ Agreements between Hasbro U.K. Ltd, Argos Ltd and Littlewoods Ltd fixing the price of Hasbro toys and games, oft. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 305 - Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth gov. uk. Article dated 2002-02-19, retrieved 2007-03-04. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 197 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth
  11. ^ "BBC Watchdog - Itchy Sofas", bbc. co. uk. Article dated 2008-02-18, retrieved 2008-02-21

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External links

2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 3102 BC - Epoch (origin of the Kali Yuga. 1229 - The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II Holy 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 362 - Athanasius returns to Alexandria. 1245 - Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland GUS plc ( was a FTSE 100 retailing group based in the United Kingdom Home Retail Group plc ( is a Holding company for the UK and Republic of Ireland retailers Argos and Homebase.
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