News - PC World owners report “strong performance” over Christmas

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It’s not all doom and gloom, Argos and Primark also did well!

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Read more.

So DSG picked up some would-be Comet customers and a budget shop (Primark) did well, no suprises there. I'm not sure how Argos are doing so well though, I'd have lumped them in with all the "old guard" highstreet chains that are failing. That said, I see quite a lot of Argos deals on HUKD so they must be doing something right!

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Originally Posted by Bagnaj97

So DSG picked up some would-be Comet customers and a budget shop (Primark) did well, no suprises there. I'm not sure how Argos are doing so well though, I'd have lumped them in with all the "old guard" highstreet chains that are failing. That said, I see quite a lot of Argos deals on HUKD so they must be doing something right!

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well I imagine they are being competitive with online prices.

Also as their shops are basically warehouses with a till front I imagine their running costs are lower. You don't really get the same advantages of being able to see what you are buying like a normal shop, but unlike online retailers you can buy it on the spot (sort of)

I've always found Argos to be amazingly cheap, I've just moved to a new flat and bought loads of furniture there. They seem to have pretty good prices on electricals as well. Plus, their website is fairly decent and it's always easy to reserve and collect stuff in store, unlike other places that don't properly reserve items, or sometimes try and charge you more when you pick it up.

DSG are now about the only broad portfolio electronics retail chain left (all others have a narrower selection i.e. just phones/tablets, are much smaller or went out of business), with no major competition they should be able to continue, a lot of people (as in general people not nerds) will value the advisers and hands on etc that you can't get online... so long as they can use their size and buying power to keep prices low.

Argos' catalogue model is a good halfway house between high street and online with benefits of both - instant acquisition, easy returns AND huge stock selection and low prices.

Primark flourish because in fashion where things are short lived anyway the lower quality isn't a huge deal and the low prices keep the flocks coming in when times are hard.

I can see why these three are doing well in a poor market.

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Originally Posted by daniel.phillips

I've always found Argos to be amazingly cheap, I've just moved to a new flat and bought loads of furniture there. They seem to have pretty good prices on electricals as well. Plus, their website is fairly decent and it's always easy to reserve and collect stuff in store, unlike other places that don't properly reserve items, or sometimes try and charge you more when you pick it up.

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You can also buy the exact same furniture in Homebase - same parent company, also owns Laura Ashley and Habitat now AFAIK.

Unlike say HMW, Argos were fairly quick (relative term here, they could have been quicker to react but huge business are often very slow to react to shifts) to try and adapt themselves to changing user habbits. Several years ago they already went through the process of reducing number of stores covering the same areas, seemed to have located some new stores or relocated some old ones to more out of town developments where the rents are lower and started to move to being a physical front to an online business rather than the other way round.

I guess it also helps they didnt put themselves in masses of debt and then not meet repayment obligations! :)

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Originally Posted by kingpotnoodle

You can also buy the exact same furniture in Homebase - same parent company, also owns Laura Ashley and Habitat now AFAIK.

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Homebase doesn't have as much choice. I actually looked to buy off there first as I had a 15% off voucher, but most of the things I were after they didn't have. But yeah seems they have the same supplier, Argos Value stuff is the same as the Homebase Value stuff.

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Originally Posted by daniel.phillips

Homebase doesn't have as much choice. I actually looked to buy off there first as I had a 15% off voucher, but most of the things I were after they didn't have. But yeah seems they have the same supplier, Argos Value stuff is the same as the Homebase Value stuff.

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Really? I had the opposite experience, everything seemed to be on both or neither websites in stock for delivery... I was looking because Homebase had the 15% off weekends often recently. Must just be down to items of interest. Ah well.

I must admit I bought a 60GB SSD from PC WORLD recently for £38!

Yep PC world is alright, SSD pricing is out doing most E-tailers, picked up an OCZ 60GB for £39.99. They are not following the comet root to self destruction through high prices.

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Originally Posted by raven1001

Yep PC world is alright, SSD pricing is out doing most E-tailers, picked up an OCZ 60GB for £39.99. They are not following the comet root to self destruction through high prices.

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That must have been a special deal then - whenever I've gone into my local PCW the range of parts has been pretty poor (lots of empty space), and what was there was priced near RRP. That said, I did manage to pick up a 300GB WD Raptor at 25% off.

Nope, cables and stuff are fine from PCW, but for core components Scan, Aria, etc are still going to get my business (although the last two SSD's I got came from Amazon).

Agree with the general thumbs up for Argos - whenever I've gone past the two we've got locally (one in the town centre, the other in one of those sprawling retail parks) they've been busy. Also like the Argos online (esp the app) quite a lot - 100x more useful than the HMV equivalent.

Problem I have with DSG is that in Curry's they seem to insist on Click N Collect's being done at a particular desk rather than at any checkout (as is the case for PCW or the now-dead Comet). Which is fine if they're not busy, but I've seen the stupid situation where there's been half a dozen folks waiting for CnC while the checkout folks were twiddling thumbs. Last time (for a breadmaker) I did that I hung around for nearly 10 minutes before someone took pity on me and offered to go find what I'd ordered.

PC World/Currys have certainly managed to save themselves from the fall of high street shops, their prices for high end things are very competitive, over christmas, it was the cheapest for the nexus 7, and Ive been looking at a new gaming mouse as well, they are also cheapest, although, for things like cables, they are a complete rip off, they wanted £18 for an AUX cable that was about £1 on amazon

Nice to see that some places are doing well. I recently bought a new camera from Argos.

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Originally Posted by kingpotnoodle

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Originally Posted by daniel.phillips

I've always found Argos to be amazingly cheap, I've just moved to a new flat and bought loads of furniture there. They seem to have pretty good prices on electricals as well. Plus, their website is fairly decent and it's always easy to reserve and collect stuff in store, unlike other places that don't properly reserve items, or sometimes try and charge you more when you pick it up.

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You can also buy the exact same furniture in Homebase - same parent company, also owns Laura Ashley and Habitat now AFAIK.

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I didn't know that, its good to know what other companies are owned by the Argos group : ), Argos are one of those names which you'll probably never see being wiped off the high street!