Tag: argos

The company’s online transformation is now a year old and is proving to have been highly worthwhile.

Argos has announced that in the first half of its financial year, its mobile commerce has over doubled and is now representing 16 percent of its total online sales, only one year after having redesigned its entire digital existence.

Approximately 43 percent of all of its sales were made online, illustrating the growing importance of digital.

This figure includes the Check & Reserve service use, which experienced a 124 percent mobile commerce growth over smartphones and tablets, combined. This was led by a new app that was released for both of those devices. Overall, in the multichannel sales experienced by the company are now representing 52 percent of the total sales at Argos. During that period, it represented £899 million in sales.

At the same time, Homebase, an Argos sister company has also seen extensive mobile commerce growth.

Within the half year period, Homebase saw a growth in its own multichannel sales by 28 percent. Both of those companies are owned by Home Retail Group. Overall, that organization saw a rise in sales of 3 percent, reaching £2.6 billion within the 26 weeks that ended on August 31. This includes the figure contributed by mobile commerce.

At Argos, like-for-like sales increased by 2.3 percent, whereas at Homebase, those sales increased by 5.9 percent. That said, at the same time, there was a 70 decrease in pre-tax profits, which dropped to £14.2 million from having been £46.7 million during the same period in 2012. This is explained because last year the organization was able to benefit from a very large credit of £35 million. This year, it faced a cost of £12.6 million instead of a credit. This had to do with the expenses of its “restructuring actions” such as its digital transformation program.

At the same time, if all of those offline, online, and mobile commerce costs are not taken into account, then the benchmark pre-tax profits brought in £27.4 million, which is an increase of 53 percent over the £17.9 million that was seen last year.

Mobile commerce sales make strong progress at Argos

Argos, a leading retailer in the United Kingdom, has been reporting impressive results from the mobile commerce sector. The retailer has been working to become more engaging with mobile consumers in recent years, hoping to offer better services to those tethered to mobile devices. This has become quite common throughout the retail industry. Many companies are eager to engage consumers in new ways, embracing mobile commerce and new marketing initiatives in order to adapt to changes in technology and the shopping habits of consumers.

Sales rise 16% as Argos focuses on the mobile space

Argos has seen its mobile sales more than double during the first half of its fiscal year, rising by 16%. Approximately 43% of the entirety of the retailer’s sales were made online. While the majority of sales were made from traditional computers, sales made through tablets and smartphones grew by 124%. The retailer’s multichannel sales now account for nearly $1 billion, with mobile commerce making up a sizeable portion of that total.

Digital transition makes Argos more relevant with consumers

The retailer is currently undergoing something of a digital transformation. Argos has taken note of the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets among shoppers and has been working to grow more accommodating to the needs of these consumers. In the future, many people are likely to shop from their mobile devices rather than visit physical stores. While this has caused some concern among retailers, companies like Argos are taking a proactive approach to the issue, establishing strong online presences in order to remain relevant with consumers.

Some retailers find mobile commerce to be a challenging problem

Mobile commerce has proven to be beneficial to Argos, but other retailers have not fared as well in their mobile endeavors. One of the greatest challenges currently facing retailers has to do with their websites. Most retail sites are not optimized to be used from a mobile device. This leaves many consumers with a poor experience, making it unlikely for these consumers to participate in any mobile commerce ventures coming from these retailers in the future.