Catalogue retailer Argos has conceded that it faces a ‘hard’ period ahead as it seeks to counter the threat posed by Amazon in an increasingly aggressive online marketplace.
Terry Duddy, chief executive of the Home Retail Group, acknowledged this reality whilst delivering an upbeat trading update with the first rise in sales for five years prompted by a surge in tablet sales.
Recently the retailer has been repositioning itself away from High Street sales by promoting its click and collect service, where customers pick up online orders in store, which now accounts for a third of sales.
This helped fuel a 2 per cent increase in like-for-like sales at the retailer for the year to 2 March, reversing an 8.9 per cent drop last year.
Argos is about to embark on a £300m investment plan which will banish its famous catalogues in favour of touch screen computers, ‘fast track’ queues for online orders, an expanded product range and store closure programme.
Commenting on these plans Duddy said: “I don’t think you can call it a transformation without it being a hard thing to do. This is a big thing to do and a big investment.”