Total sales at Home Retail Group, the parent
company of Argos and
Homebase,fell 3 percent to £2.72 billion in
the 26 weeks to 28th August. Like-for-like sales were down 6.5
percent at Argos and 0.8 percent at Homebase.
During the period, Argos saw a decline in purchases of big-ticket
items such as furniture but saw shopping frequency and unit
volumes sold increase for smaller items such as toys and
homewares.
Also in the announcement, multichannel sales grew to 44 percent
of Argos’ sales in the first half of the year with online sales
representing 32 percent, up from 28 percent in the comparable
period. The fastest growing channel continues to be online Check
& Reserve, which now represents 21 percent of all sales at Argos.
At Homebase, multichannel sales also grew, but still only
represent 4 percent of the division’s total sales in the first
half.
Brits are expected to spend £6.4 billion online this
Christmas, up from £5.5 billion in December 2009. According
to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, total online spend in
the fourth quarter will reach an estimated £17.4 billion, up
from £15 billion in the same period last year.
The estimated total online spend for 2010 is £57.8 billion,
a 16 percent increase on last year’s total of £49.8
billion.
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