A slowdown in sales of consumer electronics was blamed for a
revenue decline at Argos. Total sales in the
first quarter fell 8.1 percent to £817 million, and
like-for-likes were down 9.6 percent. At sister company
Homebase, sales were flat at £458 million
during the 13 weeks to 28th May.
Group revenue at auto accessories retailer
Halfords rose 4.6 percent in the year to 1st
April, to £869.7 million. Underlying pretax profit was also
up, by 7.2 percent to £125.6 million. Online sales at
Halfords.com grew during the period and now represent 9 percent
of total sales.
The Guardian reports on the speech given by new
Tesco chief Philip Clarke at the British Retail
Consortium conference on Wednesday. Choice quote: “We now live in
a multichannel world. So when we talk about the future of the
high street, we have to see it in this context, not put it in
some silo or reserve. That’s not how consumers view the world
anymore. Their high street, their computer, their smartphone–all
these offer different ways of shopping and all are
converging.”
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