Seems since sainsburys took over ARGOS, they have decided that all us plebs should shop online, or use other channels, catalogues are only available at certain stores, and they dont tell you which stores, unless you email them.

Seems as if the management have no idea that most of browse a catalogue and then order online, and some dont even have access to online, to me it seems a great way and an easy way to shut stores by stealth.

Pretty sure most people take an Argos catalogue home to throw in the bin TBH.

Maplin got it right by charging a couple of quid, dissuades the casual picker-uppers and lets those who actually really want one pick one up.

Seems as if the management have no idea that most of browse a catalogue and then order online,

Do they? How bizarre. Where are the figures showing this published? I’d have thought that was exactly the sort of research they’d have carried out.

Seems as if the management have no idea that most of browse a catalogue and then order online, and some dont even have access to online, to me it seems a great way and an easy way to shut stores by stealth.

Last time I looked both Argos and Sainsburys were businesses and not charities. They run to make profit anf they will close unprofitable shops. Surely that’s the way to keep people in work in the fight against Amazon, isn’t it?

I’m sorry, but a massive paper book of things? You’d never invent it today.

If Argos is to succeed again it will have to do what it does well – sell lots of things from a relatively small shop cheaply. The books are a waste of time with pricing being so fluid these days – 2 a year? They’d need 2 a month.

It’s online offering is very good, it’s click and collect service is one of the few places that can complete with the likes of Amazon in terms of range and they’re everywhere. They don’t need books.

Argos catalogue laminated book of dreams

RIP the book of dreams 🙁

use your last remaining catalogue to browse for a tablet grandad 😛

Their instore screens are bloody terrible (as is their search engine/database) so it’d be pretty bold to do away with the instore books…

I am surprised Argos are still in business tbh. Can’t see how they can compete with online retailers.

Dirty beat me to it 👿
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggOa9aSG-Ow[/video]

some dont even have access to online

Its a good job the have lots of good old fashioned physical shops then – and more of them now because since Sainsburies got involved they’ve started to put Argos counters into Homebase stores too. That and the collect-from-argos option available to other online retailers / ebay (saving people the hassle of having to wait at home for online order) having lots of physical stores seems to be the whole point.

I am surprised Argos are still in business tbh. Can’t see how they can compete with online retailers.

Seems to be a perfectly successful model for Screwfix, Toolstation, Tradepoint etc

You are aware every smart phone built in the last 10 years or so has access to the internet and thus access to the Argos catalog?

Seriously I thought this would be one I would see being praised on here. The footprint all that printing paper, ink, lorry delivery, plastic wrapping etc must have. Not only is that saving Argos a pretty penny but it’s benefits are far more stretching.

But I guess you can’t get a woody over the lingerie models whilst your wife is in the same room anymore so yeah lets bring it back.

plyphon – Member

You are aware every smart phone built in the last 10 years or so has access to the internet and thus access to the Argos catalog?

Which is great for the roughly 3/4s of the population that owns a smartphone. Or rather the smaller number that can use it- my mum’s got a smartphone but she can’t go on the internet with it and wouldn’t dream of buying things with it…

Mind you she’d probably not go to argos either. But you see the point. We’re still a long way from internet ubiquity, and the last step’s a doozy.

Mind you she’d probably not go to argos either. But you see the point. We’re still a long way from internet ubiquity, and the last step’s a doozy.

With all due respect, surely that’s exactly the point.

You are aware every smart phone built in the last 10 years or so has access to the internet and thus access to the Argos catalog?

Seriously I thought this would be one I would see being praised on here. The footprint all that printing paper, ink, lorry delivery, plastic wrapping etc must have. Not only is that saving Argos a pretty penny but it’s benefits are far more stretching.

but if you dont have a smart phone , i dont, and IKEA seem to do ok with catalogues, as do toolstation,howdens,wickes screwfix and tradepoint, 2 later owned by Kingfisher owners of Band Q, TRADEPOINT and screwfix.

You only miss the lingerie section don’t you..

(It had one , didn’t it ???)

but if you dont have a smart phone , i dont,

Join the party and get a bloody smart phone then. I got one a good few years ago and the world didn’t stop spinning.

I, I, ….erm… I… nope, I just….. really.. I… just don’t care. I’ve tried.

so, anyway, these people who can’t use ARGOS online, do they look in the newspaper to see what’s on at the cinema? or do they phone the cinema or something?

do they look in the newspaper to see what’s on at the cinema? or do they phone the cinema or something?

Strangely newspapers are a thing of the past and well beyond their sell buy date unless free and supported by advertising eg The Metro, as for cinemas, do people still attend, to drive to a place miles away and watch a film sitting next to a lot of strangers and then paying over the odds for refreshmnets, no remote control, no fast forward, no pause button for toilet breaks etc.

Strangely newspapers are a thing of the past and well beyond their sell buy date unless free and supported by advertising eg The Metro, as for cinemas, do people still attend, to drive to a place miles away and watch a film sitting next to a lot of strangers and then paying over the odds for refreshmnets, no remote control, no fast forward, no pause button for toilet breaks etc.

Judging by the crowds and lack of parking spaces at Cheshire Oaks, I’d say yes, they do.

no idea that most of browse a catalogue and then order online

really?? Most?? I suspect they may have done their research before making this move.

Anyway, they have a potentially great business model, cheap-cheapish pricing generally, e.g. some camera prices can be the best out there, and they offer instant collection or even same day delivery for most of the population. In some ways, they trump amazon. The additional services they offer e.g. a collection point for parcels from other retailers is a great concept.

As someone mentioned above, pricing needs to be so fluid these days in the market which Argos operates – a printed catalogue is outdated.

Screwfix/Toolstation etc… operate in a more specialised market IMO and thus the catalogue model works for them, and yet they even need to publish quite frequently.

I am surprised Argos are still in business tbh. Can’t see how they can compete with online retailers.

the place is literally hell on earth in the lead upto christmas,

As others have said it is all about fluid pricing. Argos had started printing updated supplement catalogues and even they were getting out of date quickly.

Argos were doing well last time I looked. If you have a big store you can usually get the item almost instantly which is a USP over Amazon.

Their instore screens are bloody terrible (as is their search engine/database) so it’d be pretty bold to do away with the instore books…

The older screens, yes. In some stores they’ve been replaced with proper tablets, which are much better. Pretty sure these tablets will be rolled out to all stores in due course

captainsasquatch – Member

With all due respect, surely that’s exactly the point.

Well, no. The point is every person who doesn’t have a smartphone, or the ability or desire to use the internet, not just my mum who doesn’t like Argos much

Screwfix/Toolstation etc… operate in a more specialised market IMO and thus the catalogue model

I wasn’t really referring to the paper catalogue – more the small counter/bigstock room model that they share with Argos as a model for physical stores to thrive alongside online retailers.

Our local Argos has just shut, but there is now a counter in Sainsbury’s apparently, which is about a 5 minute walk away from the old shop location. And has loads of free parking.

I quite like the eBay collect thing.

Well, no. The point is every person who doesn’t have a smartphone, or the ability or desire to use the internet, not just my mum who doesn’t like Argos much

Which is a number that is small enough that Argos consider them insignificant when it comes to doing business, versus the cost of printing catalogues in order to win the insignificant amount of money they’re likely to pull in.

You only miss the lingerie section don’t you..

(It had one , didn’t it ???)

I believe you are reminiscing whistfully over the freemans catalogue.

reminiscing whistfully

Never heard it called that before.

captainsasquatch – Member

Which is a number that is small enough that Argos consider them insignificant when it comes to doing business, versus the cost of printing catalogues in order to win the insignificant amount of money they’re likely to pull in.

Well, that’s an over-reach- it doesn’t have to be insignificant to be not worth it. But that doesn’t change the fact that moves like this are going to suck for some people.

some dont even have access to online,

Then they go into the store and use the catalogues there

Surely someone with no access to the internet would only be buying Werthers Originals anyway?

And their carer could pick them those up for them

Well, that’s an over-reach- it doesn’t have to be insignificant to be not worth it. But that doesn’t change the fact that moves like this are going to suck for some people.

Well, i’m sure they’ve done the numbers and come up with a decision that hits the best cost benefit scenario, and yes, some people will suffer (if not being able to buy from Argos is suffering).
I’m sure that Argos are equally hacked off that I have a mobile device and diposable income, but choose to do my shopping elsewhere.
That’s life.

I don’t find screwfix particularly good value. My local hardware store is cheaper than them (and eBay) and will give you advice at the point of sale. But we still have Argos catalogues too 😉

Well dons Argos. Next take notice.

A new copy of the phone book was delivered yesterday. When I was young, you would see people on tv ripping one asunder as a feat of strength.

They are so thin now a child could do it. When was the last time you needed a phone book?

Print is an outmoded concept. The costs are terrible and these days pricing is so volatile they are immediately out of date.

Internet wins.

Surely someone with no access to the internet would only be buying Werthers Originals anyway?

Internet wins.

Which is why it is such a shame we as a nation are not doing more to get reasonable quality internet to all homes and not just avoiding the last 5% which are proving economically unviable to sort in a reasonable timescale. Or sacking off the firm tasked with the job. My mum might be in her 70s but is fully loaded with iphone, laptop and facebook account ready to be down with the kids and……….128kbps broadband and a 2g only mobile coverage. Yes, she is in a rural bit of the highlands but it’s hardly a bothy half way up a mountain. Trawling something like the argos catalogue online on a modern data hungry site (looking at you STW!) is tedious at best and impossible at other times. On demand tv is a distant dream like on scifi films as far as she is concerned.

Argos were doing well last time I looked. If you have a big store you can usually get the item almost instantly which is a USP over Amazon.

I’m not sure that it’s such a huge advantage – I ordered a calculator for my daughter last night on Amazon, should be delivered sometime today to my place of work.