Argos catalogue to fade away as retailer targets wealthier shoppers

 
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The Argos catalogue has been a bible for high street shoppers for nearly 40 years but its slow death was announced today after bosses said it was “old technology”.

The company wants to appeal to affluent buyers who currently steer clear of its stores, and the 1,500-page doorstop will gradually shrink and disappear to be replaced by an online catalogue and screens in its shops.

An internal review concluded that the catalogue, which has been published twice a year since 1973, was obsolete. In a £300  million overhaul, Argos will launch its first “digital catalogue” for computers, mobile phones and tablets. The company said a smaller version of the printed catalogue would still be available in five years’ time, although bosses have yet to determine “the appropriate pace of decline”.

However, the huge laminated ring binders used by shoppers in stores to choose their goods will disappear much more quickly and are expected to be replaced by screens next year.

Terry Duddy, chief executive of Argos’s owner Home Retail Group, which owns the Habitat name, said: “The plan will reinvent Argos as a digital retailing leader. The transformation plan is ambitious but achievable.” He added that the chain already had broad appeal but that the typical Argos customer was the head of a family, earning less than the UK average wage of £26,000. He said: “There’s an opportunity for consumers from upper demographics to shop with us a bit more often.”

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