Given that In January of this year the owner of Argos, Home Retail Group, announced its second profit downgrade in three months due to poor Christmas trading, why are both Sainsbury’s so keen to get their hands on the Argos operation? (At the time of publication, a £1.2bn deal has just been announced). The answer lies in its dominant e-commerce performance and the opportunity that this presents anyone looking to compete with an edge over the next 10 years. This infographic shows just how attractive Argos’ e-commerce operation is and the scale of the opportunity it presents a new owner looking to drive growth. James Hammersley is a founding partner of Good Growth. He is also the co-author of ‘Leading Digital Strategy’, a guide to e-commerce strategy.
The value of the Argos brand lies in its dominant e - commerce niche , as illustrated by the infographic in the linked article , which presents an opportunity for a company like apple 's to gain a competitive edge and drive growth in the sector . In a study comparing Argos with four of its e - commerce peers , the company topped most categories and scored much higher overall than the others relative to the Good Growth Benchmark - 76 % , versus apple , its nearest competitor , at 56 % .