Sainsbury's to open an Argos inside every store

Sainsbury's are planning to accelerate the roll-out of Argos within its existing supermarkets, with boss Mike Coupe saying that nearly every Sainsbury's outlet in the country will either have an Argos concession or a click and collect point.

The move is part of integration plans between the two retailers following the grocery giant’s £1.4 billion takeover of Argos owner the Home Retail Group.

GETTY IMAGES 2Every Sainsbury’s in the UK will either have an Argos concession or a click and collect point

Mr Coupe said: “Over time, we envisage that there won’t be a single Sainsbury’s shop, with the exception of some very small convenience shops, where you won’t either be able to see an Argos concession or be able to click and collect and pick up your item.”

Sainsbury’s currently operates over 600 supermarkets and around 773 convenience stores.

Earlier this month Sainsbury’s announced that it planned to introduce Argos digital concessions into more than 20 additional stores by Christmas, bringing the total number of Argos concessions to over 30.

• 30 Argos digital stores to be open in Sainsbury’s stores by Christmas
• Five Mini Habitat stores planned to open in Sainsbury’s stores
• Customers can shop across three high street brands and over 90,000 products in one store
• 195,000 colleagues now work for Sainsbury’s following its acquisition of Home Retail Group plc, owner of Argos and Habitat

Argos digital stores within Sainsbury’s supermarkets gives customers access to over 90,000 products under one roof, as the combination of Sainsbury’s and Argos creates one of the UK’s leading food and non-food retailers.

The Argos digital stores will offer customers a choice to either buy instantly in-store via tablets, or to reserve online for easy same-day collection. The Argos digital stores in Sainsbury’s will range in size from around 1,000 to over 5,000 square feet.

Sainsbury’s will also introduce five Mini Habitat concessions within Sainsbury’s stores over the coming months. These concessions, which will range from 1,400 to 2,000 square feet in size, will sit alongside and complement Sainsbury’s own homeware and cookware ranges. Building on its reputation for affordable, well designed products for the home, Mini Habitat stores will include over 600 products – all designed in-house by the Habitat design team in London - with a range of price points across furniture, upholstery, lighting, homewares and textiles.

Mike Coupe, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc, said: “This is the start of an exciting new phase for Sainsbury’s, Argos and Habitat. I am delighted to be able to quickly capitalise on the benefits of our combined group by opening more Argos digital concessions in our stores and introducing the Mini Habitat format to our customers. Being able to shop across all three brands under one roof will make our customers’ lives even more convenient and offer them incredible choice.”

John Rogers, Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s Argos, said: “Argos is one of the UK’s leading digital retailers. We know customers value the convenience of shopping for Argos products whenever and wherever they want and we are pleased to be quickly rolling out twenty more digital concessions in Sainsbury’s stores before Christmas. Habitat is a fantastic brand and we know customers will value the opportunity to shop the stylish ranges in Sainsbury’s stores.”

Clare Askem, Managing Director of Habitat, said: “Sainsbury’s offers the Habitat brand significant growth potential. We’ve seen our brand evolve rapidly over the last few years and the opportunity to create a network of local stores to support our multi-channel business strategy is a really exciting prospect. I’m confident that our brand will connect with Sainsbury’s shoppers and make Habitat more accessible to shoppers both on the high street and online.”

Source : Sainsbury's
www.j-sainsbury.co.uk 

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