Our history
Argos was purchased by GUS plc in March 1999. At acquisition, the Argos proposition was primarily a single-channel catalogue store offering through 435 stores, selling a smaller range of general merchandise. Its core categories were jewellery, toys, electricals and housewares.
In 2000, the Group was created with the combination of Argos, the GUS home shopping businesses in the UK and Europe, and the Reality UK home delivery operations. GUS subsequently sold these other operations between 2003 and 2006.
December 2002 saw the acquisition of Homebase, the UK's second largest home improvement retailer, which operated from 272 stores. The acquisition expanded the combined product portfolio of Argos and Homebase and offered the opportunity to increase sales in common product areas such as indoor and outdoor furniture, housewares, gardening products and power tools. This overlap in products drove scale economies in merchandise buying and the benefit from significant synergies in operating the two businesses. The Homebase business also gave access to a different customer demographic than the one primarily served by Argos.
In 2000, a financial services operation was launched, which offered a range of credit and insurance products to Argos customers. This offering was developed, operated and funded in-house to ensure that the financial services products fully supported the retail offering. Following the acquisition of Homebase, the business has supported the launch of the Homebase store card.
Key events and milestones: |
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| 1998 | Acquisition of Argos Launch of www.argos.co.uk |
| 2002 | Acquisition of Homebase |
| 2003 | Launch of Argos Extra 17,000 product catalogue |
| 2004 | Launch of Homebase Furniture Extra |
| 2005 | Acquisition of 33 Index stores Argos online sales reached £1 bn Argos Extra rolled out nationally Homebase Furniture Extra rolled out nationally |
| 2006 | Demerger of Home Retail Group |
| 2007 | Launch of trials of Argos in India and HomeStore&More in the UK Acquisition of 27 Focus DIY stores |
Today, we are the UK’s leading home and general merchandise retailer. We have invested in our core retail propositions that have developed to encompass a wide product portfolio, internet leadership and operations which derive their strength from the focus on the UK general merchandise and home enhancement markets.
