Argos is banking on voice-activated computer systems, iPads, free Wi-Fi and digital screens flashing up adverts to drag its traditional catalogue shops into the digital age.
The retailer, which hopes to open six trial digital stores(Store Fixture) before Christmas, on Tuesday showed off its first in Old Street, east London. Three more are due to open in the capital as well as one in Colchester and one in Dunfermline, Scotland.
The famous laminated catalogues are going, along with the tiny pencils and slips of paper, in a bid to make service(Sign Display) faster and give the stores a cleaner, more modern look.
John Walden, its chief executive, said that, despite the rapid growth of online retailing, brick and mortar stores(Store Fixture) were still an important part of Argos's future as shoppers wanted somewhere convenient to collect goods rather than having to wait at home for a delivery. "Collection in stores is growing faster than home delivery and we are in a great position to make that available," he said.
Walden has embarked on a five-year plan to secure the firm's future by turning it what he called a "digital retail leader". He added that he could close as many as 50 of its 740 stores(Store Fixture) and move another 15 to different premises, but insisted the chain would continue to be important, with 90% of sales involving stores in some way and half of all purchases starting on the high street.
Walden said retailers were competing to deliver "more products, faster and cheaper", and so trials are also underway to offer a broader range in Argos's smaller stores on the same or next day by using the warehouses in the back of 120 large shops as depots. Stores at present stock an average of 12,000 products, or 20,000 in large stores, and it can take three to five days to deliver items which are out of stock at smaller stores.(Sign Display)
The revamped Old Street store, just a stone's throw from the digital developers' heartland known as Silicon Roundabout, is the latest stage in Walden's plan. It and the other trial stores, which have displays of products on pedestals and in cabinets, are intended to appeal to shoppers of all incomes. Staff will be equipped with iPads to give them access(Case and holder) to product and service information and enable them to help the less tech-savvy customer. They will also note what people choose not to buy. In future, Argos is looking at enabling customers to pay via the iPads as well.
The old-school collection counter and queueing system has been ditched. Instead, shoppers order goods via an iPad kiosk, choose a memorable word to distinguish their order, then till staff use(EVA Logo) that word to call up the order, allowing shoppers to pay for goods and receive them at the same time.
A fast track service promises to retrieve a product ordered online within 60 seconds of a customer walking into a store.
Retrieving goods should be quicker overall as a result of changes behind the scenes, where warehouse staff(Letter Logo) use head-sets to access voice-activated technology. The system directs them to whether they should be filling shelves with new products or picking items to send to the shop floor, prioritising delivery when the shop is busy.
Analysts said the changes were overdue but questioned how many stores would get expensive digital screens and other technologies in the near future.
"There are so many stores that are really out of date and look like they are stuck in a 1990s way of shopping," said Matt Rubin, a retail analyst at Verdict. He added that there would be a "learning curve" for Argos(Sign Display) in how many of the new ideas would work, particularly the lack of queueing system.
"Argos is such an institution that everyone knows what they are doing. The company will have to learn a lot about how they can introduce a new way of doing things," he said.
All looked ready to go in Old Street but Walden said(Sign Display) it was not certain that the store would open before Christmas because further tests of the technology were required.
